Comparing Love and Marriage in Canterbury Tales, Lanval,...

Love and Marriage in Canterbury Tales, Lanval, Faerie Queene, and Monsieurs Departure Medieval and Renaissance literature develops the concepts of love and marriage and records the evolution of the relation between them. In Chaucers Canterbury Tales, Christian love clashes with courtly love, as men and women grapple with such issues as which partner should rule in marriage, the proper, acceptable role of sex in marriage, and the importance of love as a basis for a successful marriage. Works by earlier writers portray the medieval literary notion of courtly love, the sexual attraction between a chivalric knight and his lady, often the knights lords wife. The woman, who generally held mastery in these relationships based on†¦show more content†¦The anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exposes the stupid games and atrocities of Arthurs Camelot, the superficiality of courtly love in Morgan le Fays realm, and the infidelity of wives trapped in arranged, medieval marriages. In the Millers Tale and in the Wife of Baths Prologue, Chaucer unearths many silly consequences of marriages not based on love, while in the Wifes Tale he provides an example proposing the possibility of love within marriage. The Wife of Baths account of the battles for supremacy and the family assets with her five husbands puts forward the perverse effects of medieval marriage law, the macrocosm of religion and state subverting the microcosm of marriage. Alisons survey of antifeminist theological, philosophical, and fictional literature indicates changes in peoples attitudes that are needed for marriage to develop as a healthy, productive institution. Moreover, given the circumstances of her times and the nature of women, she presents a convincing case that sex is of utmost importance and that women should rule. Following Chaucer, Spensers Faerie Queene stresses the importance of religion as a mediator in love, marriage, and other secular matters. The pride inherent in sexual love opens one to temptation of the other deadly sins of lust, avarice, sloth, wrath, envy, and gluttony, abnegating ones spiritual joy