Guigemar; A journey into desire and self-consciousness in 12th century Europe
...t Guigemar finally finds love, along with lust. He finally faces up to the fact that he cannot live without these two things, just as society itself was facing these two things in the 12th century. It seems that items such as Marie’s Guigemar must have had something to do with this rebirth of love and lust in society. The story of Guigemar is a metaphor of how desire overcame forbidden sanctions in the 12th century. When Guigemar finds the lady, she has been locked away by her jealous husband. Until Guigemar arrived, she had to be content with her companion girl and her bible. Together with Guigemar they find unbridled desire, even through blockades and barriers. Once they are found out by the lady’s jealous old husband, Guigemar is made to leave, and the lady is locked away. She later escapes so that they may be together. 12th century cultures were going through similar barriers to let their desires be known. The acceptance of desire faced many obstacles, and even after the renaissance was over, it was not completely free to express. This also goes along with the repressive chastity that was widespread in the cultures of the renaissance, mainly Europe, and the scorn for love that was still a very widespread attitude. Although chastity was not often practiced in this time, the idea of it was. The story of Guigemar is one which goes against this belief in chastity. In the story, Marie tells of a painting in the lady’s chamber of Venus throwing away a book which “instructs lovers how to control their love…she was excommunicating all those who ever perused the book or followed its teaching” (Marie 37). Obviously, not everyone in society felt that love should be given free reign as Venus did. Besides the jealous husband of the lady who has held her back for so many years, another character in the lai who is against love is Meriaduc, the captor of the lady near the end of the story. He holds her for her beauty, and does not relinquish her to her love, Guigemar, for he sees himself as the owner of her. He does not give validity to the strength of love and desire, but instead keeps on with the old beliefs of male and female relationships. It is the lady and Guigemar who demonstrate the new attitudes and actions which became more widespread in the 12th century for the sake of love. The power of love is explicitly demonstrated in Guigemar. An example of how it affects people is found in Guigemar himself. When you look at the transformation from a boy who “gave no thought to love” to a full-fledged, sexual male is represented when he defies Meriaduc because of his love for the lady. It is this that shows how Guigemar is willing to give up everything and everyone for one lady, for the power of love. This idea was taking hold in the 12th century, although it was often still considered a romantic idea and nothing more. Self-consciousness in the 12th century was not only about self-awareness and self-perceptions as it is today. A person’s image was not what one was concerned about in these times. It was much more involved with inner motivations, connections with God, as well as individuality. The quest for inner motivations were exceptionally laid out for interpretation in Guigemar, as in the following excerpt: The knight was alone now, preoccupied and in distress. He didn’t yet know what was wrong, but this much he could tell: if the lady didn’t cure him, he was sure to die (Marie 41). This small excerpt seems to be a great example of the feelings that many inhabitants of this time must have felt. Although they felt compelled by or for something, they were still trying to uncover their own motivations for doing things. People were coming to terms with their own instincts, strengths and weaknesses, something that had not been done for a long time. The argum...