the romance of the rose february 3, 2020 · the return of the god of love and the midpoint of the...

The Romance of the Rose, February 3, 2020

Friend

• Deceit

• Wealth and Poverty

• The Jealous Husband

The God of Love

• The midpoint – a site of transformation

• False Seeming

• The murder of Evil Tongue

Friend

• Advances the Lover’s cause

• Practical advice

• Experiential knowledge

• Includes the speech of the Jealous Husband

DeceitA return to the plot, a nod to Guillaume de Lorris, then advice to deceive the deceivers (112-13)

The performance of suffering (114)

Gifts (114-15)

Force (118)

Adapt to the beloved (118-19)

“no man other than a false hypocrite would commit this devilry” (119)

Reassurance of Friend (120-21)

Wealth and Poverty (Valencia 387, fol. 57r)

The road of Lavish Giving (121)

Effects of poverty (a nod to Reason) (122-3)

Experiential knowledge (123)

Friend’s friend (Reason again) (124)

Ci fait mencion de povrete

Wealth and Poverty, cont.

Gifts are useful and necessary (126), but “there is certainly no love in a woman who gives herself in exchange for a gift” (127)

Poems, by the way, make terrible gifts (pace Guillaume) (128)

The Golden Age (128ff): abundance, free love, equality

(Valencia 387, vol. 59v) Ci fait mencion du bon temps de jadis de laage doree

The Jealous HusbandIntroduced as an exemplum: “love and lordship never bore each other company” (130)

Threats and reproaches (130)

There are no honest women (Penelope, Lucretia) (132)

Heloise (golden age, love and lordship, experience vs books, nature vs nurture) (135)

Clothing (136ff; 142)

“All of you are, will be, and have been, in deed or in intention, unchaste” (140)

Men undone by women (Hercules, Samson) (141)

Friend’s conclusion: “Love cannot last or survive except in hearts that are free and at liberty” (144)

Sainte Genevieve 1126, fol. 66r

…back to Friend

• fin’amors vs marriage (144-5)

• Back to the Golden Age (145)

• The advent of Fraud (146) and the emergence of political society (147)

• How to retain a woman’s love (148ff)

• Dreams as pleasant deceits (151)

• “I am not speaking of good women … but I have not found any such” (152)

Women and animals

• The eyes of a lynx (123, 137)

• The horse for sale (133; 143; 165)

• The phoenix (133)

• Boar, lioness, serpent (150)

• The cat (152)

Valencia 387, fol. 61v

LucretiaValencia 387, fol. 61v

Comment on achete chevaux a essayValencia 387, fol. 61v

Implementing the advice of Friend

Rejection by Wealth

“I thought continually about how I could best perform my service without deceit”, but…

“I did one thing and thought another” (158)

BnF 24392, fol. 82r

Sainte Genevieve 1126, fol. 71v

Vesa fain pourtrait

The Return of the God of Love and the midpoint of the Rose

Allusion, abbreviatio, citation, prolepse

“You…almost withdrew your homage from me” (158 and 63)

Love’s commandments (159-60 and 32)

Comment li dieu damours vint a lamant et li demande sil avoit fait ses commandemensArsenal 5209, fol. 70v

Vesa comment li dieu revient a lament et li demande si a fait sescommandemensSainte Genevieve 1126, fol. 72v

The God of Love and the Lover; The God of Love and his Troops, Valencia 387, fol. 74r

The Return of the God of Love and the midpoint of the Rose

Love addresses his troops:

Tibullus is dead, and Gallus, Catullus, Ovid (161)

Here’s Guillaume, faithful lover at the brink of death

To deserve my love he’ll begin a romance and will continue it until… (162 and 61)

Then will come Jean Chopinel, 40 years later, who will pick up from “until…it is daylight and he awakes” (163 and 62)

“Then he will explain the story in such a way that nothing remains hidden” (163)

The Mirror of Lovers (163)

Ci commence mestre Jehan de Meun / Puis vendra Jehan clopinelBnF 1569, fol. 68v

BnF 24392, fol. 85v

Morgan 948, fol. 44r

Morgan 948 fol. 5r Morgan 948 fol. 6r

False Seeming, or, how to recognize “an evil traitor and an utter scoundrel”

• FS as mendicant, false religious (169)

• Words vs actions (170; 172; 179; 182)

• Clothing (170; 172; 182)

• Critique of the mendicant orders (174ff)

• Performance of piety (177; 179; 183-4)

• “I dare not lie to you, but if I could have felt that you would not have noticed it, I would have served you with a lie” (184)

Ci dit lamant comment abstinence conrainte amena faus semblant par la main le dieu damoursArsenal 5209, fol. 71v

Comment faulz semblant pareesche a lostValencia 387, fol. 77v

Comment amours fait faus semblant roi des ribaus de la courtReaction of Love and the troops (184); “Take the risk” (185)Arsenal 5209, fol. 74v

The Murder of Evil TongueBnF 380, fol. 81r

Pilgrimage as pretext (185; also 143)

The sermon (187)

Comment faulx semblant et abstinence contraintevindrent a male bouche

The Murder of Evil TongueMorgan 948, fol. 121v

Evil Tongue’s sin, and the defense of the Lover (188)

“You are a pair of tricksters … I speak the truth” (189)

Evil Tongue repents and confesses (190)