Loyalty and Treason in Some Middle English Breton Lays - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Etudes Epistémè : revue de littérature et de civilisation (XVIe - XVIIIe siècles) Année : 2014

Loyalty and Treason in Some Middle English Breton Lays

Résumé

Middle English Breton lays often depict a feudal world that rests on mutual trust and fealty between a lord and his vassals, and in which love relations are conceived in terms of a covenant that binds the knight to his beloved, whether mortal or fairy. Be it a court, a family or simply a married couple, the harmonious unity of a social group depends on the loyalty of its members to its representative, values and beliefs. The stability and order of a group and the lovers’ unbreakable vow of fidelity are always jeopardised by a felonious character that acts as a treacherous opponent in thwarting the designs of the hero or heroine in their quest for self-fulfilment. The author of the article has chosen to examine the subtle and meaningful interaction between loyalty and betrayal in the lays edited by Laskaya and Salisbury. The severance of close political, familial, marital and amorous ties at the hands of a traitor brings about a crisis that needs to be resolved. Though a secondary figure in the plot, the villain actually fulfils a significant dramatic role in his obstinacy in impeding the main protagonist’s progress to successful recognition by the community and/or the beloved. The study of the lays on the agrégation syllabus, as well as The Franklin’s Tale but also The Erle of Tolous and Sir Gowther, focuses on a multi-faceted key notion in the Middle Ages: pledging and keeping one’s word and its opposite, breaking one’s promise and betraying.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Article Loyalty and Treason in MEBL.pdf (310.08 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-01894582 , version 1 (12-10-2018)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01894582 , version 1

Citer

Agnès Blandeau. Loyalty and Treason in Some Middle English Breton Lays. Etudes Epistémè : revue de littérature et de civilisation (XVIe - XVIIIe siècles), 2014, 25 | 2014 : ‘Gode is the lay, swete is the note’ : Résonances dans les lais bretons moyen-anglais, 25. ⟨hal-01894582⟩
37 Consultations
63 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More