Marie de France- 'Lais'

Question 1

GUIGEMAR- sense of love being a wound

Answer 1

la dame l’a si nafré,/tut a sun païs ublié

Question 2

GUIGEMAR- idea of it being natural for an old man to become jealous

Answer 2

car ceo purporte la nature/que tuit il vieil seient gelus

Question 3

GUIGEMAR- Guigemar’s fault/flaw

Answer 3

De tant i out mespris nature/que unc de nule amur n’out cure

Question 4

GUIGEMAR- marvellous nature of love

Answer 4

dunt tuit cil s’esmerveillerunt,/ki aiment e amé avrunt/u ki puis amerunt aprés

Question 5

GUIGEMAR- where Guigemar is wounded

Answer 5

Guigemar fiert en tel maniere/en la quisse

Question 6

GUIGEMAR- emphasis on the natural, the way to the ship

Answer 6

un vert chemin

Question 7

GUIGEMAR- supernatural nature of the ship

Answer 7

n’i out cheville ne closture

Question 8

GUIGEMAR- impossible to enter the woman’s tower except by water, Guigemar has the one thing needed

Answer 8

nuls n’i pout eissir ne entrer,/se ceo ne fust od un batel

Question 9

GUIGEMAR- throws Ovid into the fire (he teaches to fight against love)

Answer 9

le livre Ovide, u il enseigne/comment chascuns s’amur estreigne/en un fu ardent le getout

Question 10

GUIGEMAR- love as torture

Answer 10

ceo fet amurs ki la destreint

Question 11

GUIGEMAR- love as a natural sickness

Answer 11

ceo est uns mals ki lunges tient,/pur ceo que de nature vient.

Question 12

GUIGEMAR- lady gives Guigemar permission to love anyone who can untie the knot in his shirt

Answer 12

cungié vus doins, u que ceo seit,/d’amer cele kil desfera/e ki despleier le savra.

Question 13

GUIGEMAR- the woman can suddenly escape her prison with no trouble

Answer 13

unques nul ne la desturba.

Question 14

GUIGEMAR- Guigemar says all women look the same, can’t recognise his true love

Answer 14

femmes se resemblent assez.

Question 15

YONEC- woman so oppressed that she can’t speak without the permission of her husband

Answer 15

mes ja la dame n’i parlast,/se la vieille nel commandast

Question 16

YONEC- narrow window, difficult to get through

Answer 16

parmi une estreite fenestre

Question 17

YONEC- says if he proves he believes in god then their love will be possible

Answer 17

s’en Deu creïst e issi fust/que lur amurs estre peüst

Question 18

YONEC- escape via the window, emphasises the unlikeliness of it

Answer 18

Ele le siut a mult halz criz./Par une fenestre s’en ist;/c’est merveille qu’el ne s’ocist

Question 19

YONEC- gives her a magical ring that prevents her husband from remembering what happened

Answer 19

li chevaliers l’aseüra/un anelet li a baillié…a sun seigneur n’en memberra/de nule rien ki faite seit.

Question 20

ÄUSTIC- captures the nightingale

Answer 20

Jeo ai l’äustic engignié,/pour quei vus avez tant veillé

Question 21

ÄUSTIC- wraps the nightingale up in the silk cloth embroidered with her story

Answer 21

En une piece de samit,/a or brusdé e tut escrit,/a l’oiselet envolupé.

Question 22

ÄUSTIC- he keeps the nightingale wrapped round his neck, ‘and now we recount the story that could stay hidden for so long’

Answer 22

puis fist la chasse enseeler,/tuz jurs l’a faite od lui porter./Cela aventure fu cuntee,/ne pot estre lunges celee.

Question 23

CHIEVREFUEIL- love so strong they died the same day

Answer 23

de lur amur ki tant fu fine,/dunt il ourent meinte dolur,/puis en mururent en un jur.

Question 24

CHIEVREFEUIL- when she sees the branch, of course she will recognise it

Answer 24

de sun ami bien conuistra/le baston quant el le verra

Question 25

CHIEVREFEUIL- compares them both to the honeysuckle that wraps itself around the branch of hazel

Answer 25

d’els deus fu il tut altresi/cume del chievrefeuil esteit/ki a la coldre se perneit

Question 26

CHIEVREFEUIL- the queen asks Tristan to write a lai about it

Answer 26

Tristram ki bien saveit harper,/en aveit fet un nuvel lai.

Question 27

CHIEVREFEUIL- tells us that she has now written down the lai, it is all true

Answer 27

Dit vus en ai la verité/del lai que j’ai ici cunté

Question 28

ROBERT S.STURGES, ‘MEDIEVAL INTERPRETATION’: interpretation

Answer 28

‘in any love-relationship presented in the lais the lover is always an interpreter…to love, for Marie de France, is to interpret the signs and texts that identify the beloved.’

Question 29

MIRANDA GRIFFIN, ‘GENDER AND AUTHOIRITY IN THE MEDIEVAL FRENCH LAI’ : physical details, suspension of disbelief

Answer 29

‘It is futile to worry about the physical details…when such a window exists purely within the discursive limits of the lai.’

Question 30

MATILDA TOMARYN BRUCKNER, ‘SHAPING ROMANCE’: about Guigemar’s comment on women looking the same

Answer 30

‘an accurate description of the textual world in which he lives’

Question 31

MATILDA TOMARYN BRUCKNER, ‘SHAPING ROMANCE’: link between the lais and human experience, truth

Answer 31

‘The tales may indeed be fictional, but the hypothesis of their truth functions as a link between the lai and human experience.’