The Beast Within: Bisclavret’s Body as a Cultural Body
Introduction
Bloodsucking vampires and werewolves on the rampage are ubiquitous in both modern day literature and modern television. We have become accustomed to such beings, which are essentially half-human, to the point of identifying with or sympathizing with their plight. However, what does the act or process of transformation mean? Transformation implies more than outward alteration, which has been captured quite graphically using modern special effects and technologies in the media. Transformation alludes to a mutation of morality. The animal lurking under the skin of all humans, therefore, is able to pursue its enduring desires without being restrained by the dictates of human society. A beast, either in the form of a bloodthirsty vampire or a tormented werewolf, therefore, is no longer bound by man’s laws.
In Bisclavret by Marie de France, Bisclavret and his tribulations are mere representations of our foibles, inner fears, and inner ‘beasts,’ in addition to the challenges and effects of having to hide from society. While the werewolf is afraid of other people seeing his true self, including his own lovely wife, we get a glimpse of the wife’s inner beast through her actions that reveal her ulterior motives. This essay, therefore explores how Marie de France uses symbols in Bisclavret to represent hidden desires, ulterior motives, and common struggles that persist in human nature and culture. Bisclavret is a tale about a loyal husband under the shackles of lycanthropy. He is duped and ensnared by his unfaithful wife when she steals his clothes, condemning him to a wolf existence. In Bisclavret, Marie de France explores the prevailing notions of savagery and nakedness while presenting an upright man trapped in a dishonorable body who has a disgraceful and duplicitous wife.
The Beast vs. the Man
According to Cohen 4, ‘the monster’s body is a cultural body’. In thesis I in Monster Theory, Cohen argues that monsters are products of specific cultural moments, which may take the forms of either time, space, or feelings. Consequently, monsters’ bodies, such as vampires and lycanthropes, harbor desires, anxieties, fears, as well as fantasies, which ‘gives them life and an uncanny independence’. A monster, therefore, is an embodiment of something other than itself and should be treated as such. Monsters ‘reveal’ and ‘warn’ and thus are cultural inventions (Cohen, “Monster Theory” 4). The notion of a bestial alter ego may be observed in every culture or mythology. Comparing humans with animals has been one of the most effective means of establishing or suspending the boundaries between what is deemed human and what is not.
In Bisclavret, the female human character is generally portrayed as a purveyor of infidelity and sin. Following the discovery that her husband has werewolf tendencies, Bisclavret’s wife deliberately steals and hides his garments so that he may not transform back into a man. This would facilitate his disappearance and allow her to marry a more endowed man. Therefore, the wife serves as a foil to the suffering and wholly trusting hero in the form of Bisclavret. Again, a wolf has a dual symbolism since it can be regarded as both a representation of rapacity and evil, or as a loyal, intuitive, and social animal (Pocs 59). Consequently, in Bisclavret, the lycanthrope and the cohabiting wolf and human forms may be interpreted in the dual forms. In addition, while the human is to be regarded with sympathy, the rapacious wolf ought to be destroyed before it inflicts grievous harm. Furthermore, Bisclavret’s unjustifiable torment could as well be regarded as a trial on man’s morality and willpower. Unfortunately, the wife fails the test terribly.
The conflict between man and animal is further illustrated when the king and his party set out on a hunting expedition only for the hounds to pick up Bisclavret’s scent. Luckily, Bisclavret recognizes his king. Bisclavret is desperate to prove his human nature: “But then he picked out the King and ran there for mercy. To beg, he seizes the king's stirrup-ring, and kisses his foot and leg.” In such a context, Bisclavret’s chivalric credentials in his former life are adequate to persuade the king to glean past his dreadful exterior and be astonished at the civility of a woeful werewolf. Therefore, Bisclavret’s ability to triumph over his beastly manner and pay proper homage to his king signifies the triumph of society’s culture and refinement over nature’s bruteness. Consequently, this serves as a reminder to the readers that willpower has the capacity to overcome even the basest animal impulses.
While Bisclavret’s chivalric act could have been sufficient to emancipate him and restore him back to society, Marie de France explores additional storylines in the Lais to reveal how different individuals’ actions in society influence the existences of others. Werewolves were convenient animal vessels for meditating on human identity in the Middle Ages (Cohen, “The Werewolf’s Indifference” 355). Bisclavret’s desire to return to his ‘pure’ human form could signify the desire of society in medieval times to return to God. Similar to the way humans were allegedly flawed and soiled in the eyes of God, in comparison with the blemishless Christ, Bisclavret monstrous countenance could be a representation of man’s internal inadequacy with regard to virtue.
The disfiguring of Bisclavret’s wife’s face could symbolize punishment meted out in the form of physical ugliness. Her nose is bitten off. This could be a form of punishment for her treachery and infidelity. She could as well represent individuals in society who earn their monstrous features owing to their actions towards others. Therefore, for such individuals, monstrosities in their being or physical existence are because of moral judgment carried out on them. In the case of Bisclavret’s wife, her beguiling human form was a mask that concealed a treacherous and conniving self. In addition, the king subjects her to torture in order to reveal the truth. “The lady's taken, on the other, and seriously made to suffer. From pain just as much as from fear.” To make matters worse, she is banished from her community and her affliction becomes the bane of even for her offspring through generations.
The lady, now, they expel. From that realm, from that time forward. He goes with her, as well, For whom she betrayed her lord. She had plenty of children; grown, They were, all of them, quite well-known, By their looks, their facial assembly: More than one woman of that family Was born without a nose to blow, And lived denosed. It's true! It's so! – Bisclavret, Marie de France, translated by Judith Shoaf, 1996
Although Bisclavret is nearly redeemed by his actions when he approaches the king during the king’s hunting expedition, his act of mauling his wife and her new spouse, although certainly gratifying, remains an immoral act. Bisclavret’s vengeful act reveals that he is once again under the spell of his beastly persona. Nevertheless, in this case, Marie de France may be compelling the audience to acknowledge that even the virtuous, when hurt or pushed to the wall, could turn to their basest instincts. This metamorphosis is critical in depicting the extremes that can exist within one being in the form of moral and upright men, versus wicked individuals whose basest desires triumph over their desires for an honorable existence in the community.
Conclusion
Every culture will generate its own monsters that are unique to them. Since monsters are borne out of cultural dynamics, including time, place, and feelings. Monsters’ key features and how they are viewed within society are bound to change since culture itself is dynamic. As time passes, people’s fears and beliefs change too, and so do the monsters associated with that culture. Consequently, a monster is an embodiment of something separate from itself. In Bisclavret, by Marie de France, the author spins a tale with characters that mutate from honorable members of society to being helpless under their basest desires and motivations. The actions as well as outward appearances of the major characters, mainly Bisclavret and his wife, represent dual extremes under different circumstances. The beasts within them portray the struggles endured not only by individuals but also by societies in general.