In “’Pagans are wrong and Christians are right’: Alterity, Gender, and Nation in the Chanson de Roland,” Sharon Kinoshita asserts that Bramimond, the ‘Saracen’ or ‘Pagan’ Queen, is given the opportunity to ‘actively embrace Charlemagne’s God.’ After examining Lais two-hundred-sixty-six, Kinoshita writes: “ No trace of the carnal or profane compromises Charlemagne’s desire to convert Bramimond…’love’ signals not the romantic desire but the voluntary nature of her conversion.” Despite her convincing arguments, I did find this particular assertion a little problematic.
The degree to which Bramimond willingly embraces Charlemagne’s God or that the ‘nature of her conversion’ may be voluntary is questionable in light of several factors. The line on page one-hundred-ninety, Lais two-hundred-sixty-five, states, “All of her towers Queen Bramimond surrenders,” and I think this speaks to both her figurative and literal captivity at the end of the story, for she is the only allowed to live among the Christians, and like Marcile who proclaims, “Myself I’ve lost, my people, and my kin,” she in a sense has lost her culture, religion, protection, and quite literally her own ‘world.’ Bramimond is an isolated character, for she’s one of two women that are featured in the story, and in the end, despite the factors that suggests her ‘conversion,’ she is the only ‘Pagan’ left; this not only directly influences the ‘nature of her conversion,’ but facilitates it as well. Although the ‘tower’ is a phallic symbol, it is also closely associated with the feminine principle or a certain feminine power; when Bramimonde surrenders her towers, she is quite literally defeated, and the tower becomes symbolic not only of her submission, her descent or downfall, but the end of ‘Paganism.’ In addition to this, Bramimond’s surrender is the last act in the story that solidifies ‘Christian’ dominance, for “the Paynims are all dead or fled in terror.’ She is singled out and abandoned by the last of the Paynims, to such a degree one may even argue Bramimonde exists figuratively as an orphan, and has no other choice then to assimilate to the ‘French’ or ‘Christian’ culture and religion; the alienation she experiences at the end bears some influence on the ‘nature of her conversion.’ Moreover, by ‘surrendering her towers,’ she is relinquishing the power or authority she exhibits on page one-hundred-fifty-one and one-hundred-fifty-five; this speaks to how she is literally at Charlemagne’s mercy and under his rule, further debilitating her willingness to reject the Christian God. Carlon’s ‘love’ may speak to Bramimond’s ‘voluntary conversion,’ but attached to it is his authority. One must have in mind Carlon’s words, “Never to Paynims may I show love or peace, Do though confess the faith of God revealed,” that figuratively implies Paynim’s can choose Christianity or death - this still applies to Bramimond at the end who we still find ‘captive.’
In light of these arguments, the ‘nature of Bramimond’s conversion’ may not be ‘voluntary,’ given the circumstances she finds herself in at the end of, “The Song of Roland.” We do not know enough at the end of the story in order to be certain of Bramimond’s ‘true’ conversion. Although she rejects her gods in Lais one-hundred-ninety-five, she asks, “Why is there none to slay me?” The statement expresses Bramimond’s feelings of abandonment, disillusionment, anger, and desperation; in the same instance, it figuratively invokes her position at the end, one that relies on Charlemagne’s mercy, authority - on the questionable ‘love’ that promises and dictates the Queen’s religious conversion.
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2 comments:
I agree with you. I think its also important to note just how much a male dominated world this is. The only other woman to appear in the text, Aude, dies when she hears that Roalnd is dead. Like Bramimonda who in a sense dies, as you have pointed out by losing her identity, Aude loses hers. The only identity Aude is given is her identity in terms of her relationship to Roland. she is betrothed to him. Without this identity she dies. The two women in the text are given their identities in relation to the men who dominant every aspect of the text.
To jump off a bit from Katlyn's comment, these women are used very much as mirrors for the men. Bramimond is very much a woman who is having things inflicted on her, as Ines demonstrates. She is used to show French hopes for the Saracen hordes. Once she is held up as an example of a good pagan she is silenced and done away with.
The same with Audre, who is offered another suitor (a strange thing to say to someone who's partner just died, I feel). She is tied only to Roland and her death reminds me of the connection between twins - one does what the other does. She cannot exist alone, she's simply his mirror image and when he's gone, she shatters.
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