Comparing Love and Marriage in Canterbury Tales, Lanval, Faerie Queene,

Love and Marriage in Canterbury Tales, Lanval, Faerie Queene, and Monsieurs Departure Medieval and Renaissance literature develops the concepts of love and spousal relationship and records the evolution of the relation between them. In Chaucers Canterbury Tales, Christian love clashes with courtly love, as men and women grapple with such issues as which partner should rule in marriage, the proper, acceptable role of sex in marriage, and the importance of love as a basis for a successful marriage. Works by earlier writers give the medieval literary notion of courtly love, the sexual attraction between a chivalric knight and his lady, often the knights lords wife. The wo soldiery, who generally held mastery in these relationships base on physical desire and consummation, dictated the terms of the knights duties and obligations, much like a feudal lord over a vassal. This microcosm of romance between man and woman was anchored by the macrocosm of the bonds among men and their fealty to their lord. The dominance of women and fealty to the leader in courtly love contrasts with the dominance ...