Imprisoned Women in Marie's Lais

Loosely following the thread of Ines’s post on “The Lais of Marie de France,” one can map out a further claim concerning women leading men to being the “monstrous” or “the other.” It is poignant that in several of the lais stories by Marie, the reader encounters the maiden in a heavily guarded prison. This reoccurring motif in Marie’s stories and seems to have the obvious meaning that this prison is for the older jealous husbands to keep their beautiful wives to themselves. However, it could also be to protect society (and handsome knights) from something “monstrous.” The women in these stories are initiators for tumultuous events once they encounter the noble knight. As stated in the introduction, the love between the maiden and knight is the “othering” we see. It is the “virtue of their loving that the protagonists are set apart from the rest of society.” The infiltration of the knight into the maiden’s prison is the initiation of this “othering” done to the couple.

In the story of “Guigemar,” the beautiful lady is kept in a prison “with a thick, high wall made of green marble.” The description of the high security of this prison proceeds for a whole paragraph, creating notions that this lady is either highly prized, or extremely hazardous to society. Granted, the ending to this story is positive – the two lovers are reunited, however the strenuous journeys both face when forced to separate are extremely painful. When Guigemar has to depart from his lady, “[he] sighed and wept, lamenting the lady frequently and praying to Almighty God to let him die a quick death.” Even the lady exclaims, “I prefer to die a speedy death than suffer this misfortune too long.” It appears that this lady causes sickness to her lover and herself, and living on this earth without “the other” is too much to bear.

In the story of “Yonec,” the beautiful wife is yet again imprisoned. Her jealous husband “locked her in his tower in a large paved chamber.” Here also is a lengthy description of the imprisonment for the woman. Once she and the hawk-knight fall in love, it is her alteration of appearance that ignites the suspicion of her husband and the death of her lover. Later her lover’s offspring brutally kills her husband. Indeed, much blood is shed because of a knight entering the prison of a captive woman.

There is something dangerous and desirable to these women who are imprisoned. The neglect and imprisonment they endure in the story becomes their ally in having these relationships with knights and their “othering.” Of course, the secrecy cannot last for long, and difficult circumstances ensue.