The Role of Women in the Song of Roland
The Role of Women in the Song of Roland Women are not mentioned often in the Song of Roland. They appear in only seventeenof almost three hundred laisses. It is because they are included so rarely, however, that thewomen stand out amidst the throng of male characters and call attention to the areas of the textin which they appear. One of the principle woman characters is Queen Bramimionde, wife of thepagan King Marsile. She plays an important role at the end of the text, becoming by associationthe whole of pagandom, and it is only through her that the French emperor Charlemagne canachieve a true victory over the Saracens. The first mention of women in the Song of Roland comes in laisse 23, when Ganelonspeaks to Charles: "I well know that I must go to Saragossa;/Whoever goes there cannot hope toreturn./Moreover, I have your sister as my wife...." In these lines, Ganelon uses kinship as ameans to link himself to Charlemagne, via the woman. He is in effect communicating his 'lastwords' to the emperor and, being reluctant to perform the dangerous task set before him, isattempting to evoke guilt in Charles. A suitable paraphrase of the lines would be: "Rememberthat I am married to your sister, whom
By associating the pagans with frequent mood swings, at one momentcrying and cursing their gods, the next moment reassured and planning the destruction of theFranks, paganism as a whole is effeminized. In laisse 195 she laments: "What will becomeof me, miserable wretch?/O, woe is me that I have no one to kill me. She does not participatein combat, so perhaps instead of filling the text up with the women, elderly and all other paganpeople who are not warriors, one supplied the readers with Bramimonde. '" Although the words "Muhammad," "vanquished," "slain" and "great shame" aregrouped together, Bramimonde appears to be sincere in her request, as though she will attemptone more show of loyalty to the deities that "God never loved" that is in effect a last resort tostave off the "great shame. " In laisse 195, when an emissary from the pagan emir greets her with a praise ofTervagant and Apollo, she replies: "Now I hear great foolishness,/These gods of ours haveabandoned 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 nowdead. " It is not enough forCharlemagne to have vanquished Saragossa, the Queen must now be delivered to France andconverted 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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