Marie de France’s
“Bisclavret,” tells the story of about a knight who though noble and handsome
turns into a werewolf and roams the woods. During this time in which he is a
werewolf, he leaves his clothes hidden away because without them he can’t turn
back. He entrusts his wife who is also
beautiful and worries much about him of the location of his clothes when he is
in the form of a werewolf. After being frightened his wife betrays him, marries
another and steals his clothes, leaving him stuck in a wolf form. However, the
king befriends him because he expresses certain human based attributes. The
knight turned wolf, is well behaved and loyal but lashes out in rage when
confronted by his ex wife and her new husband. The werewolf even rips her nose
off and all of her children born after the incident have no noses as well. The
king trusts the wolf and questions his actions. Though this is an extremely
violent and monstrous act, the wife is instead tortured and exiled. I believe when analyzing this piece you see
that if an animal posses certain attributes it can be seen as kin and can
represent specific behaviors of humans. I think there are many arguments in this piece
but one of the underlying arguments here is that the betrayal of a women is in
fact justifiable to cause harm. That women have a specific place in society and
that no matter the circumstance cannot and should not break from the
traditional norms. You would think that when you find out your partner is a
wolf monster you would have the right to leave them. Instead she was punished
implying certain actions such as betrayal, can result in outrageous
consequences. She should have not been punished in such a manner and argue that
her actions were logical. She clearly may have feared for her life and marrying
someone else and stealing his clothes ensuring he couldn’t come back was
probably her best option. I think she was the victim here, I don’t know what do
you all think?
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