Yonec and Yonec Jr.

Before talking of any comparisons between the story of Yonec and the rest of the world, it is hard to not talk about the very clear explanation within the medieval romance about medieval romance. The lady in the tower sits there and thinks about stories she has been told of adventures, knights, lovers, ladies, and never being blamed for having an affair if it was considered true love because, hey, who could blame them? I found this so interesting that Marie de France literally put the parameters of her own writing within the thoughts of one of her characters. Marie de France uses it to show that even the young girls in her time were effected by this type of writing because they believed it to be true and possible when it really wasn't. Marie de France is bringing to light the issues with writing fanatical stories such as these and pushes the idea that there must be a more realistic look at life and these apparently true adventures.

While reading about Yonec and his lady lover, who is all locked up in a tower for her husband's use and abuse, it is hard to not draw comparisons to two different stories. One story is Lanval, also by Marie de Frane and which we previously read, and the other is Rapunzel. Rapunzel was locked up in a high tower, also for her captors use and abuse, and was only freed when a knightly prince came along to win her heart and be her lover. In Rapunzel's case, usually, the story does not have such a grim ending with her own death in front of her only son.

When thinking about Lanval, instead of Rapunzel, it is very easy to see parallels to his story as well. Both Lanval and the maiden within the tower wish for a magical lover to come and save them from their sorrow. Both of them are granted their wish, but Lanval's story turns out so much better than Yonec's did. This simple fact leads me to question why. Why did Marie de France doom one pair while the other rode off into the sunset with each other? Is she trying to make a note about gender and how women were punished much greater than men were for the same actions? Or were these simply the versions she was told by others and she didn't feel the need to change anything? Are there symbols in the stories? Within Lanval there was many different kinds of metals and gems. In the story of Yonec there were hawks, rings, and swords.

Something that I took note of was the fact that Yonec turned into a hawk when he was to travel to his lover. Within a book called Old Magic, by Marianne Curley, the evil sorcerer, Mordid (someone else from King Arthur's time), would commonly take the shape of a black hawk or crow. I always found these birds to be associated with evilness so I was very surprised when Yonec did not turn out to be evil. It's something seen it works across time and genres and yet it was not applied to Yonec's story.

#literature #MariedeFrance #Arthurian #women #writing #medievalmarriages #reading #medieval