The Role of Women in the Song of Roland

Women are not mentioned often in the Song of Roland. They appear in only seventeen

of almost three hundred laisses. It is because they are included so rarely, however, that the

women stand out amidst the throng of male characters and call attention to the areas of the text

in which they appear. One of the principle woman characters is Queen Bramimionde, wife of the

pagan King Marsile. She plays an important role at the end of the text, becoming by association

the whole of pagandom, and it is only through her that the French emperor Charlemagne can

achieve a true victory over the Saracens.

The first mention of women in the Song of Roland comes in laisse 23, when Ganelon

speaks to Charles: “I well know that I must go to Saragossa;/Whoever goes there cannot hope to

return./Moreover, I have your sister as my wife....” In these lines, Ganelon uses kinship as a

means to link himself to Charlemagne, via the woman. He is in effect communicating his ‘last

words’ to the emperor and, being reluctant to perform the dangerous task set before him, is

attempting to evoke guilt in Charles. A suitable paraphrase of the lines would be: “Remember

that I am married to your sister, whom

. . .
By associating the pagans with frequent mood swings, at one moment

crying and cursing their gods, the next moment reassured and planning the destruction of the

Franks, paganism as a whole is effeminized. In laisse 195 she laments: “What will become

of me, miserable wretch?/O, woe is me that I have no one to kill me. She does not participate

in combat, so perhaps instead of filling the text up with the women, elderly and all other pagan

people who are not warriors, one supplied the readers with Bramimonde. ’” Although the words “Muhammad,” “vanquished,” “slain” and “great shame” are

grouped together, Bramimonde appears to be sincere in her request, as though she will attempt

one more show of loyalty to the deities that “God never loved” that is in effect a last resort to

stave off the “great shame. ” In laisse 195, when an emissary from the pagan emir greets her with a praise of

Tervagant and Apollo, she replies: “Now I hear great foolishness,/These gods of ours have

abandoned the fight;”. Remember that at this point Bramimonde is ‘the pagans,’ and Ganelon,

Bramimonde’s foil, who sold his soul in betraying his country and the Christian God, is now

dead. ” It is not enough for

Charlemagne to have vanquished Saragossa, the Queen must now be delivered to France and

converted to Christianity.

It is Bramimonde who brings the emir to her husband to plan the second attack. the pagans surrender to the Christians. /I shall send your wife two necklaces. : a “miserable wretch” who is better off dead.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 1441
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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