26 pages • 52 minutes read
Marie De FranceLe Lai de Lanval
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Colors
The motif of color runs throughout Le Lai de Lanval. Colors like white and red are used to indicate beauty. In the first description of Lanval’s beloved, the narrator says she “surpassed in beauty the lily and the new rose when it appears in summer” (Lines 94-96). Many medieval chivalric romances—as well as renaissance poetry—include descriptions of women’s faces comparing the color of their foreheads with white lilies and the color of their cheeks and/or lips with red roses. Furthermore, the skin on the side of the fairy damsel’s body is said to be “whiter than the hawthorn blossom” (Lines 105-06). The lightness of skin is portrayed as beautiful and, in the case of Lanval’s fairy mistress, almost otherworldly.
Purple is also frequently used; it often indicates status or wealth. Purple dye was very expensive in the Middle Ages. Furthermore, in medieval texts, purple does not only refer to a specific hue, but also to a type of fabric—usually silken and manufactured in the far east. The damsel’s servants wear “closely fitting tunics of dark purple” (Line 59), and the damsel herself has a “costly mantle of white ermine covered with Alexandrian purple” (Lines 101-02). “Alexandrian” is an allusion to the Roman emperor, indicating a high-priced item. The fact that both the fairy mistress and her servants are clad in purple ties to Lanval’s description of his beloved’s servants being better than Queen Guinevere.
Feasts
Feasts are an important motif in many Arthurian romances. These meals are where conflict, or the beginning of a quest, is introduced. There are two significant feasts in Le Lai de Lanval: the Pentecostal feast where King Arthur forgets to give Lanval any gifts, and the feast Lanval enjoys with his beloved in the meadow (green space). In the first instance, the king “during the summer, at Pentecost [...] gave many rich gifts to counts and barons and to those of the Round Table” (Lines 11-15). Lanval watches Arthur grant other knights lands and wives during this feast. This creates the central conflict in the poem: Lanval has faithfully served Arthur, but is not recognized for his service.
When he is feeling despondent over Arthur’s actions, Lanval ends up at the second feast with the fairy damsel. Unlike the king, the unnamed—but very wealthy—damsel spoils Lanval. This supper “was not to be disdained […] He was very courteously served and dined joyfully. There was one dish in abundance that pleased the knight particularly, for he often kissed his beloved and embraced her closely” (Lines 181-88). At this feast, the damsel gives Lanval affection, which is metaphorically referred to as food. She offers herself as a wife and this romantic gifting (partially poetically described in terms of a feast) is at the root of why Lanval chooses her over Arthur in the end of the poem.
Gold
Gold—another motif—symbolizes wealth and is related to generosity in Le Lai de Lanval. When Lanval encounters the damsel’s tent in the meadow, it is topped with a “golden eagle” (Line 87). Golden eagles, especially on top of a structure or flagstaff, are a common symbol used to indicate the power and majesty of the Roman Empire at its height. Even before he meets the mysterious fairy, her seemingly unlimited wealth is on display in her temporary lodging in the green (undeveloped) space. Furthermore, when the damsel gives Lanval money, she expects him to spend it: “[T]he more he spent, the more gold and silver he would have” (Line 142). Generosity is considered a courtly behavior—one Lanval’s fairy mistress requires of him.
