Zimmermann

ENGL 2322

Archetypes, Mythic Heroes, and Joseph Campbell

 

Some Background Odds and Ends

“Lanval” and Marie de France

  • Lai: a short narrative in the form of a song.  Originally it referred to melody with or without lyrics.
    • Marie de France claimed that her lais were based on Breton or Celtic legends.    In her work, she seems to claim that love is a good in itself.
    • A discussion of behavior (the implicit comparison of Arthur and Gawain)
    • Fatalistic (Arthur’s response ad faerie’s choice)
    • Subconscious versus Conscious; masculine versus feminine; court versus nature
  • Troubadour: A traveling poet, bard.  Their focus was on love, courtly love; their sources may have been Arabic.  They flourished in southern France in 12th and 13th centuries.  And they may have been associated with the Cathar Heresy (did not accept the humanity of Jesus).
  • 1160 Norman Invasion
    • William the Conqueror defeats Anglo-Saxons at Hastings
    • French influence
  • Henry II & Eleanor of Aquitaine
    • Most powerful woman (person?) in the Middle Ages
    • Associated with courtly love (Andres’s Capellanus’s The Art of Courtly Love)
    • Emphasis on adultery and secrecy
  • Celtic Groups
    • Brythonic Celts—Britons, Welsh, Cornish, Bretons
    • Goidelic (Gaelic) Celts—Irish, Scottish, Gaels
    • Gawain as cultural hero

 

Instructions

Complete the following table.  Under “Event/Passage” note the scene from “Lanval” which best fits the stage.  Whenever possible, use quotes; always include page numbers.

 

Stage

Event/Passage

Rational

Separation

  • Call to Adventure
  • Threshold
  • Protective Figure

 

 

Initiation

  • Tests
  • Totem
  • Nadir
  • Supreme Ordeal

 

 

The Return

  • Threshold
  • Society
  • Rejuvenation