Nightingale's Gone Wrong

Nightingale's are commonly seen across literature as a singer and symbol of love. They are birds with gorgeous stories to tell, but within the story of Laustic a nightingale's life comes to an untimely end due to love; which is clearly ironic. The lady of one castle and the lord of another were in love and that, in turn, ended the life of a bird who embodies love itself.

Other than this ironic twist from Marie de France there is a very obvious lack of any courtly love and medieval romance characteristics. There is a forbidden longing and love story, but it has no climax or outcome. The lord is not actively pursuing his lady love and, even though he longs for her always, their stories never cross again after her husband kills the bird. It slightly idealizes chivalry, but only to describe the lord's to begin with. He does not have many noble deeds to speak of, considering he is a well-known "bachelor", and the only thing done to show his love is carrying the dead bird with him after their love affair dies. There's no extraordinary challenge and there is no large deed done to win over his lover.

Compared to Marie de France's other works, Laustic is shockingly simple and realistic. There is nothing dramatic, other than the Lady's intense husband, or supernatural that really defines the story. There isn't much to go on that leads the reader to very clearly see that it's a medieval romance or supposed to be courtly love. To some extent I would almost say that it is not a courtly love story (defined by Barbara Tuchman) at all.