Paul Wiles' Essays


The Medieval Romance and Reality

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VII - Part VIII - Part IX - Part X

by Paul Wiles

When regarding the role of ‘realism’ in Medieval Romance, we must acknowledge that any definition of what is ‘real’ has a degree of subjectivity that varies not only from individual to individual but from age to age.

Stevens (John Stevens: “Medieval Romance”) claims the fabliaux were looked on as a “slice of life” in the fourteenth century, but quite rightly adds that to the modern audience such scurrilous tales are no more realistic than a West End (London theatre district) farce.

Conventions like the Romance are not merely arbitrary, but arise from the human mind seeking forms of expressing experiences common to the rest of humanity. Thus, at its most basic level, the Romance can be seen as an expression of the deeply fundamental human experiences of sexual love, bravery, fear and adoration.

The experience is highly idealised and the author is able to free himself from the sordid aspects of real human feeling, concentrating more on the feeling itself.

What, then, are the obstacles that prevent us sympathising with so-called basic human experiences as presented in the world of Romance?

Good examples of the highly idealised way of presenting the world in romance are to be found in the idealism of behaviour. Chivalry and courtesy were not merely superficial attributes of a world of faerie, but concepts which deal with the basic questions of how we relate to people and institutions around us and also how we behave in our relations with the opposite sex.

“Cortaysye” is classed as “courtesy, manners and virtues of chivalry” by Tolkien and Gordon, but a far better impression of the heightened consciousness of the importance of these virtues is gained by glancing at its negation, “vilayne”.

Gawain wonders if he can leave Gwenore’s side at the table “withouten vilayne” – that is, it is seen as socially unacceptable in the most trivial of affairs. This sense of decorum, of what was proper, inevitably found its expression in literary forms and devices. Thus we have the poet, who is telling a story of action, suddenly stopping to focus on details. This, undoubtedly forms an obstacle to our sympathies, because it is difficult at times to see these as anything but gratuitous and self-indulgent.

Nevertheless, these descriptions reflect, albeit in a disordered and exaggerated manner, the courtly, aristocratic life and in the case of the description of the pentacle in GGK ([Sir] Gawain and the Green Knight), have a wider meaning in that they add to our knowledge of the nature of the hero.