Sexuality In Medieval Literature

12 Pages 2997 Words

the male character hardly ever deviates from his masculine role. In medieval literature, the men are very masculine and chivalrous, and if they stray away from that role then they are perceived as weak or just down right strange. It is the woman’s character in medieval literature that has no boundaries. She can be portrayed with many different character traits. Even though there are certain standards for a woman’s sexuality, in medieval literature there is no confinement of these ladies.
Even though we, as readers, delight in categorizing and labeling typical character roles in literature, there is no set role for the women in medieval literature. Of course the man has a set role, but not the woman. She can be portrayed as tricky and conniving, like in “The Knight Who Could Make Cunts Speak”, or graceful and heroic like the mysterious lady in “Lanval”. She is portrayed as the seductress in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, and yet in the “Miller’s Tale”, she is the seduced. In “Yvain” she is feisty, but loving, and in “Lanval” , Queen Gwenevere is the spiteful liar. She is the difficult and agitating wife in “Sir Hate and Lady Hateful”, and in “Berenger of the Long Arse” she actually puts on the appearance of a man. Medieval literature allows the sexuality of the woman to overstep boundaries and show an array of the female characteristics.
On the other hand, there is the male character in medieval literature. Unlike his versatile and forever changing female counterpart, he is the same at all times in most medieval literature. Of course, he is indeed boring. Besides his specific character flaw and his specific “supernatural specialty”, he is just simply the same. He is so common that he can be taken out of any medieval literature text and replace another male character in an entirely different story. The plot will stay the same because he will be chivalrous, heroic, humble, but ...