ENGLISH/WMST 408B SPRING 2019 MEDIEVAL WOMEN WRITERS FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT: LAIS OF MARIE DE FRANCE DUE Wed March 6—upload to Canvas by midnight GOALS: This assignment requires close reading of the text of Marie de France’s Lais. You will write a paper that focuses on your literary analysis, critique, and responses to the text. Your major goal for this paper is to formulate and develop a thesis—a controlling idea—about the topic and texts that you choose. You should aim to produce an analysis that also presents the best writing of which you are capable. This assignment provides an opportunity to develop your skills in writing a coherent, well-structured argumentative essay. THE ESSAY: Your paper should develop a thesis—a main idea—regarding your chosen topic. Ideally, a thesis is in idea in which you have some investment and/or in which something is at stake. That is, an argumentative thesis is a controlling idea that could be challenged— that’s where the argumentative part comes in. But a successful thesis need not have a strong argumentative edge or stake out a bold position. For example, in writing about one of the topics below, I might argue or claim that, in her lais, Marie de France employs impetuous actions and/or instances of rash speech to accomplish ___ (something; you fill in the blank). That would be a perfectly acceptable idea around which to organize your essay. To do justice to these topics, you will probably want to focus on two or three (but no more) of Marie’s lais. I encourage you to consider including discussion of at least one of the lais not assigned as part of our class reading (Les Deus Amantz, Le Chaitivel, Chevrefoil). Imagine the class as the audience for your paper. A successful paper will present, clearly and coherently, evidence from the text that supports your thesis. The best way to prepare for writing this paper is to read (and reread) the primary text carefully. This is not a research paper (we will talk about and do research later in the semester). I want to read your opinions based on your analysis, not a summary of ideas you have found in secondary print or online resources. I can envision, however, the need to consult an outside source—perhaps dictionaries or encyclopedias—if you require additional information about a specific item or feature of Marie’s text, for example, the significance of the weasel that appears in Eliduc. The version of text ordered for our class contains supplemental readings that you should at least review as you conceptualize your paper. If you use outside sources to illuminate terms and/or ideas, you must also include citation of these in the form of endnotes or parenthetical references within the paper. Of course, you will also cite Marie’s text as you develop your thesis and quote (strategically) from it (but please avoid lengthy citation of the primary text just to reach the required word length). 1 DOCUMENTATION: Your paper will include a works cited list, prepared according to standard MLA documentation for sources (we will review this—and citation-- in class). Unless you consult outside sources for the purpose noted above, your works cited list will have only ONE item on it, the edition of Marie’s work that you have used. Your work must be your own. Please review the statement about plagiarism on the syllabus, and please include the student honor pledge at the top of your paper. LENGTH 4 to 5 pages (approx. 1200-1500 words) Papers will be uploaded to Canvas as an MS Word doc. FORMAT Please use regular size typing paper, with at least 1 inch margins for comments. Papers must be typed; please don’t use a font smaller than 12-point. TOPICS The topics are deliberately open-ended; you are free to develop them in any way you choose. If–and only if--you touched on aspects of any of these topics (e.g. secrecy, violence, etc.) in your short writing assignments, you may use your paper to develop what you addressed in that contribution. For this paper, I recommend that you analyze lais that you did not discuss in your previous writing and/or ones that we did not talk about very much in class. 1. In the lais, the function/role of ONE of the following: Secrets and secrecy Violence Impetuous action or rash speech The “little people” (nameless maids, servants, guards, chamberlains, etc.) Names and naming Material wealth Human and animal 2. The scholar Laurie Finke says that Marie’s lais “could appeal to the fantasies both of aristocratic women and bachelor knights. … While the fantasy on which the romance genre is based might seem to involve the relations between men and women, closer analysis reveals that the homosocial bonds by which men established relations with one another, using women as tokens of exchange, are central to courtly ideology. Within this homosocial system, women are defined solely in terms of their sexuality, which becomes the reward for competition and the grounds for co-operation between men. Within this ideology, sexual conflicts become the grounds for disputing other social, political and economic conflicts.” (from Women’s Writing in English: Medieval England) How does your reading of Marie’s lais relate to Finke’s characterization? You can use your reading to elaborate, critique, or challenge her claims. 2 3. Another recent edition of Marie’s lais that I have used in previous classes includes two other anonymous texts, The Lay of Melion and The Lay of Tyolet. Choose one of these texts and compare it to what Marie’s concerns and/or accomplishments in her lais. Or, imagine how, based on your reading of her work, she would respond to one of these. You can find a pdf of these works on our Canvas site; I will provide full bibliographical citation in a separate communication. 4. A series of prompting questions centered on the general topic of Marie’s ethics and morality: What value systems govern the world of the lais? Are these moralizing stories? What do you make of Marie’s intermittent moralizing statements? 5. Transformation and metamorphosis are important themes in the lais. Discuss transformation, however you want to construe it, in one of the lai, making a claim about its significance for the work. For example, you might think of transformation and/or metamorphosis in terms of the relationship of animal and human or fantasy to reality; but you could also consider these themes in light of a specific character or characters in one of the lais, i.e., how a particular individual is transformed (emotionally, physically, ethically) by a specific experience. 3
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