The Hunt and Homosociality in The Lais of Marie de France

Example of academic work. Written for ENGL 223: Writing Medieval Women.

Female writers have oft not been treated as seriously compared to male writers within the literary canon and the English lyric tradition. The challenges female authors had to overcome in the Middle Ages were compounded by the expectations for women at the time and the actual access – or lack thereof – to educational resources which were afforded to individuals based in part on gender and social status. Despite the fact that men dominated medieval literature and discussions concerning it, Marie de France carved out a space for herself within the lyric tradition through which she could make her stories visible, and therefore potentially influential – eventually, undoubtedly so. By placing her writing firmly within the lyric tradition and basing the format and function of her tales on those lais which had come before her own and then subsequently subverting distinct elements in order to make her stories unique, Marie forced readers to treat her writing with the utmost seriousness. Marie de France’s lais challenge the assumption that the Middle Ages in Europe were highly restrictive and a time of relative conservatism by current standards. In many ways, men and women had more personal and social freedom. Namely, homosocial relationships among men were seen as natural and in line with expectations for young boys. They were viewed as part of a boy’s normal development, but always with the assumption that men would eventually grow and mature, seeking romantic and sexual relationships exclusively with women. In Marie de France’s lais, specifically “Equitan” and “Guigemar,” she portrays the idea that homosocial relationships are to be expected, but that the “real” man proves his emotional maturity and overarching masculine identity through heterosexual relationships. However, she intersperses these lais with homoerotic subtext with the use of the hunt motif in order to challenge and complicate this belief.

The lais of Marie de France are heavily inspired by Celtic folktales, which becomes most apparent when considering her adoption of the Celtic motif of the hunt (according to tradition, typically for the white doe) in many of her stories. Hunting for sport was a widespread activity among men of status in the Middle Ages, and one which called for lavish celebration. Men would gather together to assert their dominance and emphasize their masculine identity through the pursuit and eventual killing of animals for fun, and this act was considered of great importance to them. Hunting required intense preparation and often spanned a significant amount of time, and proceeded according to a set of complex rules which could never be deviated from. Thus, men had to commit themselves to the sport in its entirety. It was undoubtedly an historically male-dominated, hyper-masculine, and communal activity.

In “Equitan” and “Guigemar,” the hunt functions as a rite of passage and a maturation device. By embarking on the hunt, boys are given the opportunity to become men and assert themselves as such. Through the taking of an innocent animal’s life, they establish themselves to be “real” men, men who are capable, brutish, and powerful, as that was the ideal they had to aspire to. Most importantly, they matured into sexual beings through this activity. The hunt for the white doe draws obvious connections to ideas about female sexuality, purity, and the taking of female innocence by men through the taking of the body. In pursuing a pure white, female animal, men are subsequently proving their ability to pursue and “take” a human woman for their own pleasure. However, what is most interesting here is that young men achieve this status of sexual being through an all-male, overtly homosocial activity. These men gather together in close quarters, partaking in a physical activity which is closely tied to eventual sexual gratification, and thus the desire to hunt becomes conflated with the desire for love and assertions of dominance over the physical body. However, it is also connected to a desire for all-male companionship and deeper connection.

Guigemar is introduced at the beginning of “Guigemar” as having never yet felt the desire to love a woman, either romantically or purely sexually. “No one could discover in him the slightest desire to love,” (31) and so it is assumed that because Guigemar does not want to pursue the love of a woman, or anyone at that time, then he must therefore be “broken” or lost in life. It is only when he is “seized by a desire to hunt” (32) and cursed by the very stag he is hunting that he is able to feel attraction to a woman. The fact that it is a stag, a male deer, who curses him to love is integral to an understanding of Guigemar’s burgeoning sexual attraction. For the Celtic motif has it that men hunt for a doe, a female deer, and Marie explicitly subverts this tradition in choosing to have Guigemar hunt a male deer. In doing so, she suggests a homoerotic undercurrent to the act of the hunt. Guigemar seeks to dominate another through the hunt, but ends up being the one who is dominated. It is only through the power of a male figure that Guigemar is able to leave behind his boyhood proclivity towards asexuality and embrace an exclusively heterosexual relationship which he is later completely transformed by. While he does find happiness with the woman he comes to love, he first considers this twist of fate to be a curse. He is told he will “suffer” in this relationship, which suggests that he does not really want to fall in love with a woman, but is forced to by decree of the stag, who sees this to be a fitting punishment for deviation from the norm.

When considering the function of the hunt, then, it becomes clear that Guigemar is simultaneously being dissuaded from any attraction he could potentially feel for a man. His first desire – the first real desire he has ever felt – is for the hunt, the homosocial and implicitly homoerotic activity; in ultimately completing this hunt and finding the deer, he hopes to quell his desire by tracking down and showing his dominance over a male deer. Yet as soon as he does and he wounds the stag, he instantaneously wounds himself. His affections are therefore established as abhorrent and in need of fixing, for “in forming him nature had so badly erred” (31) in that he now only experiences desire for male companionship. The stag must curse him to be healed solely by a woman’s love, because if he were to not wound him, or to wound him and send him back to his fellow men for successful treatment, his newfound desires would run rampant – and in the wrong direction. It is acceptable for boys to desire male companionship up to a certain point in life, but eventually they must redirect their affections towards the female sex and become men. Therefore, the love of a woman that Guigemar must find becomes a revitalizing force, a healing force. His future lover not only heals the wound he incurs in his flesh from shooting the stag, but also the deeper wound in his soul which has caused him to not feel attraction to women. The physical wound of the hunt then becomes supplanted by the spiritual love of a woman. For the “real” man, the “right” man, must find in the hunt a sexual prowess directed exclusively at women. To feel any other way is considered detestable.

While “Guigemar” presents a view of homosocial relationships which simultaneously paints them as both acceptable and unacceptable depending on which phase of life a man is in, “Equitan” offers a different perspective. In “Equitan,” the homosocial relationship as represented by the king and his seneschal persists into adulthood and functions as the crux of this lai. Equitan is established as a sexually promiscuous man from the beginning of the lai, when he is described as “[loving] sport and lovemaking, and so he kept a body of knights in his service.” (60) This description suggests that “sport and lovemaking” are of equal importance to the king, as they both serve the same purpose in keeping him entertained and pleased. At this time in history, the only sport which would have been considered acceptable for a man of such high status to engage in would have been hunting; therefore, Marie de France is once again conflating the hunt with overt sexuality. Furthermore, the use of “and so” here implies that because the king enjoys lovemaking so much, the knights in his service are employed specifically to satisfy that desire for sex. The narrator goes on to say that “whoever indulges in love without sense or moderation recklessly endangers his life,” (60) suggesting that it is the king’s very promiscuity which determines his fate. However, while this statement’s placement immediately after the aforementioned quote appears to suggest that Equitan’s homoerotic desires were his fatal flaw, over the course of the lai it becomes apparent that it is actually his heterosexual relationship with his seneschal’s wife which is the real error of his ways.

Equitan and the seneschal’s wife establish a relationship which they are distinctly aware has the potential to ruin both of their lives and reputations. In having an affair with the seneschal’s wife, Equitan is trespassing upon the relationship that he has previously established with the seneschal. The seneschal is perceived as having been nothing but loyal to the king, and Equitan knows that “if, by some means, he found out about this I know how much it would upset him.” (62) Therefore, in order to save themselves suffering and to ensure they can remain together for the remainder of their lives, the two lovers concoct a plan to kill the seneschal. They plot to have Equitan and the seneschal bathe together, at which time they will fill the seneschal’s tub with boiling water in order to kill him. The act of bathing with another is considered sacred and intimate, as it puts both parties in an intensely vulnerable position. Considering the fact that frequent bathing was not commonplace at the time, this typically would have been seen as a special event for the two men to enjoy together, without interruption, and one which the seneschal would feel honored by. Equitan tells the seneschal, “Bathe with me…and the seneschal [replies], ‘Willingly.’” (67) Therefore, it is further emphasized that this act is of great importance to both men and that they recognize the valuable space it occupies in their relationship. The seneschal’s reply of “willingly” makes it clear that they have bathed together before and it is mutually enjoyable. Thus, in using the act of bathing to murder the seneschal, Equitan is intruding upon a relationship which, according to the social standards of the time, should mean far more to him than that of a lover. He is corrupting the standard for homosocial relationships in both his relationship with the seneschal’s wife and his attempted murder of the seneschal.

Equitan also trespasses upon his relationship with the seneschal by nature of merely starting a sexual relationship with the seneschal’s wife. He arrives at the seneschal’s castle under the guise of a hunting trip, but he is actually there to see the seneschal’s wife. Therefore, Equitan betrays the homosocial contract which is unspoken in his relationship with the seneschal by not recognizing the importance of the hunt as an important activity for the two men to engage in as a pair. Their time hunting together should be private and sacred, not to be sullied by simple desire for a woman’s body. The only desire both should exhibit is for the act of going hunting together. While Equitan is on the “hunt” for sexual gratification on this trip, the seneschal is doing right by the king in only wanting to partake in the literal hunt. Thus, Marie de France once again conflates the hunt to desire in this lai. Therefore, in beginning an affair with the seneschal’s wife, Equitan becomes a sexual stand-in for the seneschal, occupying the role of lover which should only belong to one’s husband. He takes on a portion of the seneschal’s identity. In having sex with the seneschal’s wife, he is simultaneously tying his own sexual acts to those of the seneschal, implying a certain homoeroticism to Equitan’s explicitly heterosexual relationship. The improper desire he exhibits is therefore not for the seneschal, but actually for the seneschal’s wife. When Equitan jumps into the bathtub in place of the seneschal, killing himself instead of following through with the plan to kill his friend, he is consequently completing his assumption of the seneschal’s identity. It is Equitan, not the seneschal nor the seneschal’s wife, who must be punished for betraying the implicit homosocial contract the men have established together.

Homosocial relationships in the lais of Marie de France are neither outright nor automatically condemned. Rather, they are accepted as an integral part of a developing masculine identity. However, it is important to note that the actual masculine identities which Guigemar and Equitan exhibit are not necessarily hyper-masculine, dominant identities. Both men must be saved and bettered by the love of a woman, for they are unable to save themselves. In order to be made into “real” men, these two characters, as well as many of the other male characters in Marie de France’s lais, must find the love of a woman. Subsequently, they are being rescued from their developing homoerotic desires. They must divert any attraction they may feel for men and redirect those sexual feelings towards women. Male-male connection is integral to healthy masculinity, but it must always stay homosocial and never cross the line into homosexual. Both Guigemar and Equitan are wounded in their respective lais, either – or in Guigemar’s case, both – spiritually and physically. They are healed solely by the love and affection, both sexual and non-sexual, of a woman, for there is no other way to make a real man. Heterosexuality determines proper and functional masculinity. However, in other tales, Marie de France complicates the view of homosociality and masculinity presented in these two lais in order to challenge the notion that the lais are, in and of themselves, moral tales.

In The Lais of Marie de France, there appears to be only one moment of value judgment against and outright objection to homosexual feelings. In “Lanval,” the queen tells Lanval “people have often told me that you have no interest in women. You have fine-looking boys with whom you enjoy yourself…my lord made a bad mistake when he let you stay with him. For all I know, he’ll lose God because of it.” (112-3) This is the only time that homoeroticism is portrayed as a sin and a corrupting force. And yet, over the course of “Lanval,” it is the queen who is later proved to have been in the wrong about Lanval; she is the one who becomes the ultimate villain. Thus, is her judgement of Lanval’s homosocial relationships and potential homoerotic desires erroneous? There does not appear to be a clear answer, for there is no one type of love relationship or masculine identity that is posited throughout The Lais of Marie de France as “correct.”

While homosocial relationships do play an important role in the romances Marie de France depicts, ultimately, focusing solely on such relationships dismisses the role that the female characters play and the different spaces they occupy in each lai. The lovers in “Equitan” and “Guigemar” remain unnamed, and the lais themselves focus on the men as the central players, clearly exhibited in how each lai is named for its male protagonist. While the men are undoubtedly the ones around whom these lais revolve, their female companions play an important role in establishing both men as men. However, they therefore come to function solely as devices which help men to improve. They exist to heal men, to make them into better overall people, to save them; women are objects of desire, not subjects who can be desired, and therefore they become passive players in their own romances. Thus, women are left to bear the brunt of male identity development. Despite any homoerotic subtext which can be read into Marie de France’s stories, heterosexuality is the central focus of the majority of the lais, and men are clearly established as the ones in charge of these relationships. However, they only got there with the help of the women they surrounded themselves with. Whether that puts women in a position of power or not remains to be investigated.

Homosociality exists in many different forms and the perception and/or reception of such relationships varies depending on culture and history. Intimacy of any kind will always vary depending on context, and the complex look at masculinity and homosociality which The Lais of Marie de France offers readers further serves to support this point. The conscious and careful subversions which Marie de France includes in her lais sets them apart from the other Breton lais of the time and complicates the overarching perception of medieval literature and the Middle Ages as a whole as stifling. Homosocial relationships have always existed and will always persist, even if they do not all look the same or serve the same purpose. The hunt may have existed as a place in which homosociality flourished during the Middle Ages, but its pervasive role in medieval literature does not track to the modern world. However, it is important to recognize and accept homosociality’s important place in society and identity development, and to query how it came to be so significant and in what arenas. By offering different perspectives on various masculine identities and how these identities interact with one another, readers can gain greater insight into how gender roles are crafted and operate on a broader scale. It will never be easy to pin down exactly what masculinity is, for there is no one correct way to be a man, and there never will be. In “Guigemar” and “Equitan,” Marie de France proves this.