The Lais of Marie de France Themes

In the Lais of Marie de France, a collection of 12 short tales from the 11th century, the idea of courtly love is everywhere. Courtly love is a medieval literary motif in which a knight undertakes chivalrous quests in pursuit of a noble lady whom he loves from afar. But in Marie de France’s stories, love isn’t always particularly romantic—it’s a source of profound joy, but it also brings about peril and misery…

The Lais don’t always offer clear-cut moral lessons. To an extent, they emphasize chivalry, a code of virtuous conduct for knights, and Christian behavior more broadly. The knight Lanval is an exemplar of chivalry: he stays devoted to his fairy lady despite jealous accusations from Arthur’s queen, and he wins acquittal at trial and a happy ending. And in “Le Fresne,” when Le Fresne’s lover Gurun chooses a nobler lady to marry, Le…

In the Lais, supernatural elements (like talking animals and fairy lovers) are sprinkled throughout the stories in no obvious pattern. When love is involved, such phenomena are simply expected. Often, magic is mainly a narrative element that serves to entertain the audience while moving a story along. For instance, the knight Guigemar, who’s been unable to find love elsewhere, is conveyed in a magical ship to the city where his future beloved lives…