What I Meant to Say: Part Re-Attempt

It is easy to link Aude with Ophelia, as though they do not live similar lives, they are noble ladies involved with, and therefore entirely dependent upon the men in their lives, father and then husband. It is safe to say that Aude’s father must have been thrilled with the prospect of having Roland as a son-in-law, on his own heroic merits as well as him proximity to the main power in the land. In class, we discussed the possibility of this meaning that because she is so linked to Roland, she bears a part of his otherness. This twinning of the characters forces a comparison, which begins to suggest that Aude is the softer part of Roland, emblematic of his devotion to his cause and beliefs, and innocent of the bloodthirsty realities.

The Aude River in the south of France locates Roland in a specific sense of a hometown. Though that region specifically may have no relation to him whatsoever, the name of this river linking with that of his beloved helps the reader to identify where they originate, tucked in near the Pyrenees, which makes it easy to wonder if the narrator had some ties to that region themselves. Now we have a river in which our Ophelia-like maiden can drown. The name Aude is linked to the name Oda, or Saint Oda, wife of the Duke of Acquitaine and mother of Saint Hubertus. If you were to look Hubertus up, you would find he is a patron to hunters, which illustrates Charlemagne’s company as a whole both in terms of sport and war. There is also interesting mention of him communing with a speaking stag, a la Marie de France’s Guigemar, which is just interesting. What matters is that the name of Roland’s beloved derives from this point, and leads into the story, giving us the story of the lady that is neglected within the song.

What also stays with me is that the story of Saint Oda, who went to a convent instead of being forced to marry in Scotland, ends much like our Aude’s. Charles sends her body “unto a convent of nuns,” who keep vigil for her until “near an altar, she’s entombed with solemn rites” (Ln. 3730-2). Before her death, when Ophelia is going mad, the King bids someone to watch over her; centuries before, a king placed enough value on a woman, or simply had enough compassion for her (which is unique itself in terms of Charles’ treatment of the “weaker” sex), to have Aude kept vigil for and buried with the proper rites, though the causes of her death were mysterious.

Then, we must go back to Greece, the roots of so many empires, where an ode was a type of lyric poetry. The ode was a time when the poet spoke for himself, supported by a chorus. Pindar devised the elaborately structured heroic ode, which was often only accompanied by a flute, and evolved into Horace, Sappho, and Catullus before its resurgence in the 17^th century. Is this character, so briefly mentioned, a hint into the poet’s mind? Aude is offered a second choice, Charles’ own son and heir, again speaking to her status and his esteem for her, and it is reminiscent of the biblical concept of having the brother take his own sister-in-law to wife to keep alive the name of her first husband. But it would also be the name of the woman as well, suggesting that Aude is significant in her own right, enough to be future queen. Is the poet using her as a means of reflecting his own sorrow at the losses that take place during war while he adds to the heroic element of his protagonist? The poet represents Roland as an ideal, and without him we cannot “live on when Roland’s life is spent” (Ln. 3719).