Is the fairy world in "Lanval" a world of feminine supremacy? The fairy world appear as a world with not masculine presence at all. The fairies travel alone and that is very uncommon for the medieval human women:they are enormously rich and they are in control. On the opposite there is Arthur's world. He is in the middle o finishing a war against Picts and other tribes and spreading presents among his knights. Women has no name and we do not even know if his queen is Guinevere or another previous wife.
Lanval gets rich after his erotic encounter with the fairy, but he is questioned about his masculinity. Have he lost his male virtues because of the encounter with the fairy?
The fairy finally came in his help. The man is rescued by the girl and taken to the other world... this world is also the world of the death. Arthur himself will be transported there at the end of his life...
At least in this story, fairy world looks as women dominated world, maybe with no man in it. The doubt is if we can take Lanval story separated and assume this view as general view of this other world or if it is just a fantasy of the author... who happens to be a woman, a literate woman and probably an ambitious one.
Arturo, I'm actually not quite sure how to view the fairy lady's rescue of Lanval at the end of the story, but I'm not comfortable calling it part of a feminist fantasy.
ReplyDeleteLanval's lady had said to him "you would lose me forever if this love were to become known. You would never be able to see me or possess me" (75). And yet, she rescues him at the end anyway, revealing her existence, and their relationship, to the court, something she had been adamant about not wanting to do. Considering her warnings, and Lanval's failure to follow them, is this rescue a sign of a strong lady saving her lover, or of a woman weakened by love for a man unworthy of her trust, who exposes herself rather than lose him?
Who can understand her, anyway!!
ReplyDeleteLol