A Dream is Kind of a Wish Your Heart Makes

After the discussion we had today in class, I definitely think that viewing this story as kind of the Disney revamp version of Orpheus is the way to go. Even though there is some scary stuff in there (like there is in most Disney movies, let’s be real), the ending is a straight-up crazy happy fairytale. It takes the original Orpheus story and tones down all the super intense stuff, adds in a little heartache, but then comes at you with a comically happy ending that feels just a little too happy.

I feel like the comparison of the underworld to the fairy garden was really interesting, especially in what it can say about our own ideas of goodness and evil. At first glance, it seems like going to the fairy garden would obviously be the thing to do – I mean, even if there is some evil, at least it isn’t an ugly underworld. But when you actually start to think about it more, it’s easy to see that while the underworld is, well, the underworld, the fairy garden clearly seems to have more evil in it, at least in the way that it disguises itself as a paradise.

Reading this story, I was reminded of the early Disney cartoon The Goddess of Spring, which came out in the 1930s and has vivid images of a cheery garden, and then of course the underworld (and a pretty weird version of the devil in my opinion). The more I think about it, the more it is clear that that cartoon clearly has connections to this story. I haven’t watched the short in a while, but I think watching it and comparing it to my earlier comment about this whole story being like a Disney remake would be a super cool thing to do.

Moral of the story is that the time has come for Disney to make a new version of Sir Orfeo for this new generation. Or maybe they could just do Orpheus, and we could all compare that movie to Sir Orfeo and see how many similarities there are. I think viewing the two stories as essentially one and the same is a super interesting way to look at it, especially when we see what specific changes were made, and what ideas stayed the same. I’m not sure which one I like more (I mean, I appreciate the tragedy of Orpheus… but also I love me some happy endings), but I think looking at them next to one another can be really interesting.

Why love someone when you can just treat them like an object? - Palamon and Arcite at some point probably

Okay, after spending a large chunk of my weekend trying to decipher Middle English (I… still need a lot more practice), I think I have at least a little idea of The Knight’s Tale and its themes/plots… which mainly just seem to consist of two dudes fighting over a lady like she’s not an actual person but a toy.

But on a serious note, I do think it’s interesting how Emelye does kind of have an active role in the story at certain points, even if neither Palamon or Arcite treat her like anything other than an object of their affection. When Theseus wants to kill them, it is after all Emelye and her sister who tell the king not to do so. (I think it’s really interesting when you compare the role of the women in this story vs. their role in The Wife of Bath, and how both stories have instances of women asking their king not to kill someone and being successful. Obviously, I’m a lot more okay with it in this story, since, you know, Palamon and Arcite aren’t rapists.) She is a character who actually does things.

Still, both of the guys fighting over her don’t seem to actually care about her as anything more than an object. I think it is really interesting how themes and plot points from the stories we have read in class can be so transferable to a modern time? Trying to be seen as something more than an object by men is something that a lot of women still deal with, since we live in a society that oftentimes treats women like we exist for male pleasure. This story spends a lot of time going into the guys’ feelings on their situation (namely that one apparently called dibs, and his friend just doesn’t care), but neither of the guys take a second to consider that Emelye might actually have an opinion on the matter. (Unless that did happen and I just didn’t understand it in Middle English, which I am going to be honest it possible…)

For me personally, even though Palamon or Arcite are in slightly different circumstances throughout the story, I still basically see them as one and the same. They both are “in love” with Emelye without knowing anything genuine about her, and they both treat her like an object instead of an actual freaking human being. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to be with guys who didn’t respect my autonomy enough to just ask me who I would rather be with, and I would probably ditch them both for a sexy Brazilian guy. 

Pretty sure that Kay was right all along...

Going to be honest – my favorite part of the entire story was probably Kay’s existence? Like obviously he is a dick, and also there is a lot more going on here, but I just need to get my Kay obsession out of the way, because his doucheiness is hilarious and the reactions it inspires are off the freaking wall. There is literally a point where Yvain is thinking about all the dishonor and contempt he will get for murdering a dude (not the moral ramifications…) and his first fucking thought is that Kay is gonna be mean to him? Seriously dude, you’re not worried about anyone else, just this one dude being a dick. Yvain is literally sitting there all worried.

But like, if we’re looking at things on a slightly more serious level, I feel like the most interesting part of this story so far is Yvain and the wife of the dude he killed. Their relationships is such a freaking roller-coaster. First they’re down, then they’re up, then they’re down again. I really appreciate at the start when he totally understands why she would be angry at him, and that definitely gets at the whole Courtly Love theme of putting women on pedestals and bowing at their feet and such. (Side question: what’s the Courtly Love stance on falling for a widower?) Even if their romance is obviously a little forced (since, you know… falling for the guy who killed your beloved seems pretty hard), I think he does at least have some real respect for her.

At least until… you know. That part where he totally freaking forgets about her. Like bro, she spent a seriously long time laying out her rules for him going off, and he’s like, “yes yes, I love you, I am dedicated, I got this,” and then gets too caught up in his own adventures to notice the time? Honestly, Yvain is kind of an idiot and doesn’t deserve her, and maybe Kay was right for being all shitty to him, because he ain’t that bright.

Literally, all the problems in this dude’s life are his own damn fault. Like I don’t think he’s a mean person for whatever, but like… jesus christ dude. Think about how your acting next time.

(But also… was I the only one who kinda thought Yvain might go for the handmaiden chick? Like obviously she isn’t as fancy as the lady, but she had the good sense to know that Yvain was the stronger dude (since he… actually won). They totally could have had a Some Kind of Wonderful thing going!)

Let's Get Crazy (and not listen to people who actually might have good advice...)

Compared with what we have read so far (which have all been super great stories, but have also been kinda short for the most part), there is something to be said for how long and detailed Erec and Enide is (thus far, of course), and how much action has already been packed into it. Some of the other stories we have read just sort of have things happen and don’t really explain them, which is fine. Here, however, we get so much detail in how everything comes about.

One of my favorite earlier parts is when King Arthur is deciding to revive the weird old custom of going on the hunt for the white stag (and then, of course, the winner getting the right to have some action with the prettiest lady in town), and Sir Gawain is like, “dude… bro… this is a really bad idea. Let me specifically lay out the details of why this is a bad idea and you should not go ahead with it.” And King Arthur listens to his logic and then is just like, “you have a point… but imma do it anyways, but I’m the king.” (In my head, he’s also maybe shouting YOLO and has on some pretty douchey sunglasses.) Besides the obvious hilarity of the king flat-out refusing god advice, this bit is also pretty funny considering the fact that Sir Gawain ends up being wrong, and that there actually is one woman who is clearly the prettiest girl around.

Enide’s introduction is also pretty damn hilarious. I appreciate that, rather than just saying, “this girl was pretty,” we get can entire paragraph going into all the various details of her beauty, and how she is like some gift from nature or whatever. We get details on her eyes, her forehead, her face, and everything. We even hear about how impressed Nature is with its own efforts. This does a good job of sort of establishing that Enide’s beauty is not just in Erec’s head. He may be enamored with her (so much so that he doesn’t even really notice her blushing), but she has clearly been created to be basically the prettiest thing to walk the earth… like ever.

I think her reaction to being presented to Erec later on speaks volumes, and says a lot about what women were supposed to be during that period. She is keeping quiet, but inside is overjoyed to be potentially a queen. The ease with which they enter into their romance is pretty intriguing.  

Medieval "Chick-Lit"?

I think the most interesting thing about the “Courtly Love” readings was learning that it was a genre that was most enjoyed by women (and was, in some respects, empowering to women – at least compared to the rest of the literature being written at the time), and was also on some level looked down upon by the majority of “intelligent” society (i.e. those who read things in Latin). While this genre was obviously very different from how we view the romantic genre today, it’s fascinating to see how some of the fundamentals of the current romance genre seem to have been present even then.