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 marriage and records the evolution of the relation amid 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 sexual practice in marriage, and the importance of love as a basis for a successful marriage. Works by earlier writers portray the medieval literary sentiment of courtly love, the sexual attraction between a chivalric knight and his lady, often the knights lords wife. The woman, who generally held mastery in these relationships based on physical confide 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 ...