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  • Essay / Bisclavret: The manipulation of Marie De France and why we hate women

    Bisclavret is the only lay of Marie de France which deals with a couple who fall out of love (Creamer 259). The lycanthropic theme is used by the poet as a test of love and respect for her husband, because the baron's wife does not approve of his lupine nature. The central problem that we see everywhere is the refusal of the Baron's wife to accept and understand. The wife's situation and power slowly deteriorates from the very beginning during the interrogation scene (he was honest, but she didn't respect him), until the very end when she becomes a missing criminal. Marie de France constructs this story with the aim of degrading the woman and defaming her presence by making her disloyal and not accepting the nature of her husband. From the way she writes the verses and the wife's absence for most of the poem, it is clear that Marie de France's goal is for the reader to dislike the wife. “Marie creates in her text an insidious universe of hatred of women.” (Creamer 259). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Betrayal is one of the first themes we encounter with Bisclavret, who remains the reason for the Baron's misfortune. The woman's first betrayal stems from simple deception, she asks him if he is going dressed or naked (in werewolf form), also a form of foreshadowing of his ongoing request. The location of his clothes signifies his next betrayal. She now knows the location. To the husband, the revelation doesn't seem as dangerous, because it comes from an honest place. “We readers must understand that her husband's revelation of her humiliating secret should have been enough” (Creamer 265). In addition to the context of the story, Marie de France's stylistic choices reveal her contempt for the wife. Throughout the story, we see that the Baron is genuine and down to earth, while his wife is manipulative and even commits adultery. The wife's description is one-fifth the length of the werewolf and one-third the length of the baron. This demonstrates the devious and unfaithful nature of the woman according to the narrator (Creamer 264). The description of the woman is only two lines long (in the poem itself). This shows that she is not very important in the story, and not only that, but that she is negligible. Very slowly, she begins to be criticized more and more by the narrator. Marie's way of writing reveals the scenario to us, the way in which she writes the verses and the style in which she formulates the story. “All his love was directed towards her, and all his love was returned to her. Only one sorrow had this lady”. We know there is something wrong on the surface, because the wife and the baron are presented as almost perfect for each other, and with his grief we can see what could be happening. This line indicates that things will no longer be as mentioned at the beginning. “Verse 62 “he had hidden nothing from her” and again in verse 67 “he had told her everything” (in the poem itself) - these two verses are another allusion to the narrator abandoning objectivity in choosing the husband rather than the woman” (Creamer 264).From the beginning of the story, we are aware that the werewolf is harmless. He goes out into the deep woods and does nothing but hunt (for animals, not people) and wander in solitude. He can't really hurt anyone. The woman should have no reason to distrust him. They've been married for a while and he hasn't scared her yet. This makes the woman even more repulsive to the reader, because she knows he won't hurt her, since he didn't, and when he answers her questions, he..