| “Lanval” is one of the more “courtly”
stories in the textbook. Lanval starts out as a noble, but impoverished
knight, and his love for a superior, magical lady greatly improves him.
Go through some of the “rules” at the
The Art
of Courtly Love and show how they apply to Lanval. |
| Read the Courtly
Love Study Guide and the selections from
The Art
of Courtly Love. Focus on the "rules" at the end. Do
you think people actually lived by these rules or do you think they
were part of an elaborate court game? Can you find any similar rules
nowadays? Write your own list of modern rules of love. How are your
rules similar to those in
The Art
of Courtly Love? How are
they different? What does that tell you about how people have or have
not changed in the past 800 years? |
| Read Andrew the Chaplain's list of the
rules of courtly love in
The Art
of Courtly Love. Then, write your own "modern" rules for the game of
love. After you have done
so, compare them to Andrews's list and comment on how they are the
same, and how different, and why.
Be thoughtful here--we are living in a very different world.
Be sure to support your comments with specific examples. |
| Consider the roles of the woman in Marie
de France’s “Laustic” and Boccaccio’s “Tenth Story of the
Tenth Day,” otherwise known as “Patient Griselda.” Can you
reconcile these subjugated women with the “myth” of courtly love?
How? Give specific examples from both stories and from the “rules”
in
The Art
of Courtly Love. |
| Select two or three medieval lyrics that
deal with the pains and desires of love for an unattainable lover.
Cite the lyrics by author and title. Then, discuss themes they have in
common and support your ideas using specific examples from the lyrics.
Do you think there are any significant differences between
these lyric views of unattainable love and modern attitudes? Be
specific in your response and develop your ideas. |
| Look closely at the mixture of religious
and earthly love imagery in Petrarch's poems (Petrarch is in Volume C;
all the rest of the readings here are in Volume B; you can search the
Internet if you want to find Petrarch's poems online).
Compare this to the descriptions of love you have read in one
or more other texts during this course, such as the love of Odysseus
for Penelope, or the love of Enkidu for the prostitute, or the love of
Dido for Aeneas, or the love of Medea for Jason.
Can you find any similarities?
What, exactly, are the big differences?
Support your answer with specific examples from both texts. |
| The Queen in “Lanval” falsely
accuses Lanval of having made improper advances to her, because she is
angry that he refused her improper advances. He is put on trial and is
only saved by the arrival of his lady. This story has an ancient
analog in the story of Joseph in the Hebrew Bible. When Joseph is in
Egypt, Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph and he rejects her.
She then falsely accuses him of making improper advances to her and he
is actually thrown in prison. Compare these two
stories and see if you can find any interesting similarities and/or
differences. Be sure to support your ideas with specific examples from
both stories. |
| Go to the database of Medieval Movies.
See if you can locate a film in your area that deals with the matter
of Courtly Love. Watch the film and write a critical review,
indicating what you think was genuinely "medieval" about it
and what you think was simply film fakery. |
| First read the introduction to The Story of Ying Ying,
which suggests that both lovers are unpleasant, deceitful people. After
reading The Story of Ying Ying, decide whether or not
you agree. Why or why not? Support your ideas with plenty of specific examples from
the text. |
| Compare attitudes towards sex outside of
marriage in the story of Brother Alberto
(it is at the Decameron web site, but not in our textbooks) in the Decameron and The Story of Ying
Ying. Do you see any interesting similarities? Any interesting
differences? And so what? Support your ideas with plenty of specific examples
from both stories. |
| Select two or three medieval lyrics that
deal with the pains and desires of love for an unattainable lover.
Cite the lyrics by author and title. Then, discuss themes they have in
common and support your ideas using specific examples from the lyrics.
Do you think there are any significant differences between
these lyric views of unattainable love and modern attitudes? Be
specific in your response and develop your ideas. |
| A common theme of courtly love is the
ennobling of the lover by love. Select two or three lyrics that deal
with the relationship between love and a noble or gentle heart. Cite
these lyrics by author and title, and then discuss the way they
present the ideal lover and the impact of love on him/her. Can you
think of any modern parallels? Be specific in your response and
develop your ideas. |
| Write a poem about a hopeless love for a
superior and unresponsive beloved.
Use Petrarch's basic ideas and images and adapt them to modern
circumstances. If you do
this one, put some real work and thought into it; otherwise stick with
a more objective question. |
| Some
of the lyrics are clearly about sexual love, not marriage. Select two
or three of these, cite the lyrics by author and title, and then
discuss the way they present the pursuit and satisfactions of love,
using specific examples from the lyrics. Do you think there are any
significant differences between these lyric views of love and modern
ones? Be specific in your response and develop your ideas. |
| Compare the representation of women in
Marie de France’s stories, “Lanval” and “Laustic,” to that
of women in any one or two tales from the Nights.
What are the interesting similarities?
What are the significant differences?
Support your answer with specific examples from all three
texts. |