While reading through the blogs for "Roland", I noticed that Ines and Jolie had both touched upon the topics concerning Roland and Ganelon as potential Others in the poem. Although I agree with both posts, I wanted to suggest that there could be a deeper psychoanalytical reading of the text that is not apparent on the surface and can be argued by taking a deeper look at the text.
Dorothy Sayers introduction states "Roland has pointed out that the proposed mission is dangerous and that Marsilion is not to be trusted, he does not at once volunteer to bell the cat himself" (p. 11). Instead, Roland volunteers Ganelon, his step father adding that "I'll take your place if the King says I can (p.62), knowing full well that the King does not want Roland to partake on the mission.
It is interesting that Roland volunteers his stepfather. As Sayers also notes there is an unstated reason why Ganelon and Roland feel such animosity towards each other. Reading the text on a psychoanalytical level, it is apparent that Ganelon's relationship to Roland (being his stepfather indicates that Ganelon has in some way usurped the role of Roland's father and bedded Roland's mother). Here the poem presents an interesting take on the idea of projection. It can be argued that Roland feelings stem from an assumed Oedipean love for his mother and an unvoiced desire to kill his stepfather Ganelon. Therefore, Roland's volunteering Ganelon for the mission may not be as innocent as it seems.
On the other hand, it can be presumed that this is not the first instance of familial jealousy the two have shared. Ganelon's jealousy seems deeply seeded. Roland is after all Charles' right hand man. Ganelon anger is almost immediately too severe. He threatens Roland’s life because Roland has volunteered him. Yet, succeeding in this mission could bring Ganelon fame and glory. "I'll wreck on thee such ruin and such wrack / That thy life long my vengeance shall not slack" (p.62). There is more to Ganelon's anger than being volunteered for the task. He is jealous that Roland is so special to the King that he cannot be sent on this mission. Ganelon wants to occupy Roland's place.
Finally, Roland and Ganelon serve as two parts to a whole, the narcissistic duo. Roland is the cherished knight, loved by all. He has prowess in battle and is most importantly faithful to the end to the King. Ganelon is the complete opposite; he betrays the King and all of France over his jealousy of his stepson. When Roland nominates him for the mission all of the French quickly agree. "Quoth Roland: 'Guenes my step-sire is the man.' / The French all say: 'Indeed, he is most apt; / If he's passed over you will not find his match'" (p.62). Roland and Ganelon are complete opposites that make one uniform whole. What one is not, the other is. Roland without a doubt is all that Ganelon hopes to be, and perhaps in Roland there is a desire to be everything that Ganelon is.
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It's interesting that the Oedipal complex is brought up between Ganelon and Roland. I would tend to agree with that idea, except that we never hear anything about Roland's mother. We don't even have evidence that she is alive in this story. If she was, she wouldn't be happy with the outcome of her husband and son being dead. That would have been an interesting character to have in the story as well. Most likely, her reaction to the gloom events would be similar to Aude's (but let's not put too many Christian women in here, right?).
When thinking of the Roland/Ganelon relationship, I couldn't help but think of the story of Yonec, with the same situation of a son killing his stepfather. Granted, Roland doesn't directly kill his stepfather, but he does volunteer him to what appeared to be a doomed mission.
Regarding the ghostly status of Roland's mother/Ganelon's wife, the poem ever so subtly gestures towards her presence at two moments. One (mentioned by Kinoshita in her article) is when Queen Bramimonda, as part of the ceremony sealing the deal with Ganelon, gives him jewelry for his wife: "This pair of owches on your wife I bestow" (76, laisse 50).
The second instance, much less explicit but still, I think, textually supportable, occurs in the Aude scene. Charlemagne revealingly calls Aude "sister": "Sister, sweet lady, you ask me for the dead" (192, laisse 268). Obviously, "sister" mainly functions as a courtly form of address, but I also think calling her this allows Aude, beyond her other roles, to act as a stand-in for Charlemagne's real sister - wife of Ganelon and mother of Roland.
This identification also might explain why the scene with Aude abruptly interrupts the trial of Ganelon before it can even really begin. We hear, at the end of laisse 267, that "Ganelon now must stand to be arraigned," but Aude appears and dies before we can return, at the beginning of laisse 270, to "Ganelon the false, in iron bands" and his arraignment. The superhuman grief of Charlemagne's sister, as channeled through Aude, for what has happened to her son Roland, is also for what will happen to Ganelon, her husband, because of this trial.
The only women in this poem thus figure, among their other roles, as stand-ins for or pointers towards this most important woman whom we never see. What passes for her poetic identity comes from the intersection of the other two. Maybe her (if only we had as much as a name!) reaction would combine attributes of Aude and Bramimonda, specifically Aude's grief and Bramimonda's unholy rage: I'm reminded of Hildeburh, in the Finnsburg sequence of Beowulf, grieving for, in that case, her son and brother, killed basically fighting each other.
Having written myself into a mini-obsession with this non-character character, I'm wondering if her invisibility is due to her being completely one of "Us" in the poem - that is, an ideal Frankish Christian woman, neither seen nor heard - or because she is an "Other" herself. After all, both her son and husband are othered in different ways. Hmm.
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