Cunning Women and Their Entrapments of Men! MWAAHAHA

Marie De France

            

(I saw this meme and thought that after all the we have read, it was pretty relevant lol!)

           Women in the majority of the stories that we have read have had to be cunning and calculating to ensure their survival. However, many of these women I feel entrap their male counterparts out of spite such as Guinevere does to Launfal because he turns her down and blatantly calls her ugly. I would like to focus on the women in Sir Launfal.

Promiscuous Queens seems to be a common thread through these stories. I kind of chuckle at the predicaments these women are able to entrap these men in. Guinevere blatantly asks Launfal to sleep with her, and for him to give her his love, and when he refuses, not only does that bait him into spilling his guts about his much fairer lady-friend, but also Guinevere takes this horribly and runs to Arthur. Of course Arthur wants Launfal’s head; he just called his wife ugly! This puts Launfal into even more of a pickle, if that’s even possible, because now Launfal is being ordered to identify his lover and we all know how his story ends.

The women in these stories are not only cunning and mischievous, but also educators of sorts. They help facilitate life lessons being learned by their male counterparts. Launfal learns to not only have a filter, especially when what you have to say may not be the nicest thing in the world, even though it may be true; he also learns that sometimes sugar coating, and kissing up to someone is better than being put on death row due to your inability to filter your verbal diarrhea. 

So… my questions to you folks are:

1)  Do you agree with my findings, and if not…PLEASE feel free to disagree!! I want your gut reactions as well as your reaction after taking a second to process. Have fun with this!! You can give examples of your own if you so choose!

2)  On the topic of sugar coating, those of you that know me well will know that sugar coating is not one my strong suites. However, do you think there is a time and place to sugar coat things and/or be more mindful of your words in Launfal’s case? Or do you think that Launfal was totally justified in saying what he said even though the repercussions of his actions were quite extreme?

3)  If you were Launfal, would you have done anything differently, and if so what would you have done differently? Keep in mind, we do know the ending…so you can use that to your advantage… i.e. would you ask someone to be standing around when Guinevere comes on to you? Would you expose her, and if so what would HER repercussions be? (Again have fun with this! Be creative and make your own twists and turns! I’m excited to see what you come up with!!!)

What the hell is the point?

Never in my life have I read something (or heard of anything for that matter) so intricate, detailed and lengthy. As the book goes on we learn name after name and sin after sin of countless people. Dante seems to playing god as he describes which sins are  more dastardly (>>>>>>>>>). Which seems odd and a bit contradictory since one of his motives of "Inferno" seems to be to humiliate and tarnish the name of those who defy god.
This may be a stretch, but isn't he actually committing a sin by judging others when the one true judgement of people that matters comes from God? Let me know your thoughts on this.

Now for my main point, what is his motive for all of this?

Is he trying to entertain people by offering a description of what is perhaps one of the most mysterious and important circumstances of humanity?

Do you think that he truly believed that his depiction is exactly what hell is like?

Was he simply trying to further a political agenda by "exposing" all of the sins of his enemies and people who didn't share his beliefs?

A combination of things? Or something else? I look forward to reading y'all's ideas and explanations for this wacky and twisted masterpiece.
-Cam

Dante's Sympathy Or Scorn

    

          In the Inferno, Dante distinguishes between the different people he encounters in Hell. He is extremely scornful to some, but pities others. In the Wood of Suicides, Dante meets one of the tree trunks, Pier de Vigne, who was “unjustly blamed” in his service to Emperor Frederick II and committed suicide to avoid torture (Canto 13, line 69). (See also the footnote, which reveals that Pier was famous for his mastery of Italian poetry; was Dante biased because of this?). Similarly, Brunetto Latino is in circle seven, where Dante finds him and is eager to spend time with him. Dante wants “with all [his] soul” to have Brunetto walk with him for a bit (Canto 15, line 34). He is not at all scornful to these men.

            However, he reacts much differently in other sections. Perhaps some of this is due to the fact that he is progressing into “worse” layers of punishments, but this is not the only reason. Speaking to Pope Nicholas III, who is in the Simoniac layer (for corrupting the things of God), Dante declares, “stay as you are; this hole well fits you” (Canto 19, line 91). In the same way, Dante yanks out the hair of Bocca delgi Abbati, an unrepentant traitor in circle nine. Dante is adamant about some people being awful, while others he feels compassion for.

            Why does Dante (and Virgil) differentiate between the people he meets? Could he have personal or political reasons? One thing I noted was that Dante, as he distinguishes between those who should be pitied and those who should be scorned, makes a judgement call about the severity of their sins. He wishes some were not punished so severely, but he adds to the punishment of others. Dante puts himself in a position to “judge for [himself]” the sentences of the people he meets (Canto 33, line 21). Is Dante acting as a judge when he pities some and not others? Or is he simply reacting – as any human would – to what he sees?

 Image: https://scholarsandrogues.com/2013/10/30/dantes-inferno-and-contrapasso/    

Dante's Inferno

I think this story has a lot we all can relate to. In the beginning of the first canto Dante gets lost on a path, that leads him going to hell. In a way I think we all can relate to getting lost on a path and us going to a place we call hell, but not literally hell. We all get lost in life, and we think it takes us to the worst place possible. In reality when we get lost it is just because something does not play out how we thought it would. In the case of Dante he literally gets lost and ends up in hell going through the layers.
I think that Dante going through the nine circles of hell can relate to people going through something personal in their head or in real life. Granted I know people do not actually go to hell, but each circle represents something that someone could be struggling with. For example the second ring of hell is lust and a lot of people these days lust after people, ans we see lust on T.V.. In a weird way lust is in all out lives everyday weather we feel it, or we see it on T.V. lust impacts us everyday. Another great example of how we can all relate to Dante's Inferno is the third and fourth circle of hell are Gluttony and Greed. I think we all become guilty of these things weather it be greed of money, or trying to have the best and most liked Instagram photos. Two more of the rings in Hell include anger and violence, which I am 100% positive that we can all agree that we have definitely felt anger towards something or someone, and have witnessed anger.
I also come to believe that each of these circles has a lesson to teach Dante and the rest of us. No matter how much all of us try, there is no way for any of us to be perfect, this story teaches us that to reach heaven seems impossible. There are very little things in life that can set us off our path in life, and cause us to get lost. Some of the things that can set us off in life are the rings in Hell. I am not saying that because we get lost in life over these things that we are going to Hell I am saying I am simply just saying I think there is a deeper reason for this story.
Below I have decided to include a picture of the 9 circles of Hell in the story as a reference for people to see.