Space in the Brut or Laȝamon’s Vision of the World - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 1994

Space in the Brut or Laȝamon’s Vision of the World

Marie-Françoise Alamichel
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 986262

Résumé

Space in Laȝamon's Brut is highly symbolical. The sea is the most ambiguous place being both a symbol of rebirth and one of death. Rivers also stand for death. When the name of a stream is mentioned, the reader immediately knows that the Britons' enemies are doomed. Forests and woods play, globally, the opposite role to that of rivers. It is the place of all retreats. In the Brut, paradoxically, open spaces protect better than anything that is enclosed or fortified. Encirclement is the poet's favourite figure to symbolize Man's destiny: human beings are trapped. Man's existence means nothing but solitary confinement, with the Devil as gaoler, but the Saviour has come to pull down the gates of this enclosed world. Good and Evil, God and the devil are then also evoked thanks to the traditional antithesis of the above and the below. Mountains and hills stand for the soaring, the ascent of the righteous to Heaven after their death. Valleys and chasms symbolize the universe of Evil.
Fichier non déposé

Dates et versions

hal-01354970 , version 1 (21-08-2016)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01354970 , version 1

Citer

Marie-Françoise Alamichel. Space in the Brut or Laȝamon’s Vision of the World. Françoise Le Saux. The Text and Tradition of Layamon's Brut, XXXIII, D. S. Brewer, pp.183-192, 1994, Arthurian Studies, 0859914127. ⟨hal-01354970⟩
63 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More