FACULTY OF ARTS

Coursework Submission Cover and Feedback Sheet

TO BE COMPLETED BY STUDENT

STUDENT NUMBER
(7 digits): 1 6 2 4 7 9 0

YEAR OF STUDY: 2016 WORD COUNT: 1313

UNIT CODE: ENGL10042 UNIT TITLE: Literature 1150-1550

TITLE OF WORK: Critical commentary: Sir Orfeo

ASSIGNMENT NUMBER FOR UNIT (if

UNIT TUTOR: Sebastiaan Verweij
appropriate) e.g. 1,2,3,4:

DATE DUE: 08/11/2016 EXTENSION DATE (IF GIVEN):

BY SUBMITTING THIS WORK ONLINE USING MY UNIQUE LOG-IN AND PASSWORD I

DECLARE THAT I HAVE READ THE HANDBOOK CONCERNING SUBMISSION
PROCEDURES AND REFERENCING, THAT THIS SUBMISSION IS ENTIRELY MY OWN
WORK, AND THAT IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY PLAGIARISED MATERIAL. I
UNDERSTAND THAT IT MAY BE SUBMITTED TO TURNITIN PLAGIARISM DETECTION
SOFTWARE.

PENALTIES ARE:
Late submission -10 marks within a week, mark of 0 thereafter
Incorrect word length -5 marks if you go over the word length
Details on what is included in the word length are included in the handbooks available on
Blackboard.

All marks are provisional until ratified by the Faculty Examination Board.

1
FEEDBACK SECTION A: PERFORMANCE AGAINST ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

You should note that the three sections do not imply that these criteria are equally
weighted.
The marking criteria are used holistically in determining the mark for this piece of
work.
Knowledge and understanding

Argument

Presentation

FEEDBACK SECTION B: OVERVIEW AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS

Please see your unit tutor to discuss this further, either in a regular consultation hour
or by appointment. You may also wish to discuss your overall academic progress with
your academic personal tutor.

2
 Critical Commentary: Sir Orfeo (II.234-330)

Sir Orfeo, as a medieval romance, adheres to the Norton definition of said genre

following a classic tripartite structure, and this passage, located in the middle of the text,

belongs to the so called disintegration section: Orfeos self-exile destroys the normality

described in lines twenty-five to fifty-six, and begins the recuperation of his character that is

responsible for the eventual return of his wife and his kingdom1. It is this structure that allows

the denouement to differ from the traditional Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridice, upon

which this text is loosely based. This journey from the regular to the unusual can be viewed

through Jacques Lacans various theories of an imaginary order, so-called normality, and a

symbolic order, the disruption of that normality. This section of Sir Orfeo, therefore, takes

place entirely in the symbolic order.

The passage itself is notably short yet covers a period of ten years or more (264), and

through repetition within the excerpt and repetition in relation to the text as a whole, the poet

conveys the length and severity of Orfeos exile without excessive description. For example,

the use of Ofte, otherwhile and somewhile (lines 281, 289 and 297 respectively) list

the abundance of things that pass Orfeo by, and the use of these specific time related words

do as much to speed the passing of time as to highlight the monotony and perpetuity of

Orfeos solitude. Furthermore, the things he witnesses are exact copies of things he enjoyed

as king: a hunting party (284-288), a troop of knights (290-6) and al manere minstracy

(302). Indeed, the description of ten hundred knightes/ Each y-armed (291-2) is an exact

copy of the knights Orfeo employed to protect Heurodis in lines one-hundred-and-eighty-

three to one-hundred-and-eighty-four. The repetition serves to test Orfeo, as he must not

1
Stephen Greenblatt, gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: 9th ed. Vol.
A. (New York: Norton, 2012)

3
pursue these activities he once revelled in as they were the reason for the loss of everything

he held dear in the first place, mainly Heurodis.

In this the religious allegory is very apparent. Not only does Orfeo take to exile as

Jesus took to the desert, he is tested just as Jesus was by the devil. Neither money nor all his

knights could protect Heurodis from the fairy king (181-194), and only in following Jesus

example, abandoning all the pleasure for the wilderness as a form of penance, can Orfeos

character truly reform and all original rights be properly restored. The doctrine of life as a

hermit to atone for ones sins was a popular idea in medieval culture- one must be made

humble to and acknowledge the greater power of God in order to live properly on Earth. That

is why it is essential that Orfeo must go so poorelich out of town (236) and why the

repeated comparatives between what Orfeo once possessed and what he now has to cope with

(from line two-hundred-and-forty-one to line two-hundred-and-sixty), should be taken as an

extreme didactic example in the following of a religious purpose. This allegory resolves

superficially with Orfeo regaining his wife and kingdom, yet its true resolution is shown in

the literal coronation of the king: Now Orfeo newe corouned is, (597). It is only through his

sacrifices that Orfeo becomes king in more than name, implying of a more worthy reward in

heaven than any in the material world. The message, therefore, is on how to be a better

Christian, and would be easily perceived by the nobility and wealthier merchant classes of the

late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, amongst whom this Breton Lay would have

circulated.

The passage builds upon an interpretation that Sir Orfeo is constructed around

antitheses2, shown generally in the differences between the imaginary and the symbolic

orders, (that goes to say the passage compared to the text as a whole) and specifically in the

2
Anne Laskaya and Eve Salisbury, eds, Introduction to Sir Orpheo, in Middle English Breton Lays,(Kalamazoo:
TEAMS, 1995)

4
likening of the aforementioned section of comparatives (241-60), and the choice of rhyming

couplets presented there. The easy, relaxing life Orfeo lived is described through the rhyme

of towres and flowres (245-6) yet immediately compared in the next couplet to the much

harsher freese and meese (247-8). The security and warmth of solid castle walls has

fallen away and been replaced by the freezing weather of the open wilderness, while the

image of well-kept royal gardens and beautiful flowers has deteriorated into damp, mossy

turf; the rhyme emphasises Orfeos disastrous situation in contrast to his regal life before this

extract begins. In addition, the contrast between Orfeo and Heurodis is evident in the passage,

not just in physical appearance, as Orfeo grows gaunt and thin, and his beard grows down

To his girdle-stede (266), but in character. Heurodis, upon seeing Orfeos condition, breaks

into tears (327) and the narrator implies all she cares for is the physical as Orfeo hadde been

so riche and heigh (326); she attributes his outward presence as representing the inner man.

Yet the text is focalized through Orfeo, and the narrator, often keen to describe vividly that

which Orfeo sees (for instance the description of the ladies hawking, lines three-hundred-and-

seven to three-hundred-and-thirteen, not to mention the description of the fairy kingdom,

lines three-hundred-and-fifty-one to three-hundred-and-seventy-six), fails to note Heurodis

physical appearance. There is a strong implication here that Orfeos self-exile has been

worthwhile, that he has developed as a being to look beyond the material of which ultimately

there is not meaning to. It is this encounter and his ability to not react as he would have

before the extract, where the narrator described Heurodis as The fairest lady for the nones

(53), that spurs Orfeo to follow the group, travel to the fairy kingdom and regain his wife and

his place as king.

A significant symbol throughout the text is Orfeos harp, and this passage reveals the

importance and power behind the instrument. Certainly the poet glorifies the heritage this

written text belongs to, that of the performed verse, by adorning the harp with such powerful

5
qualities, yet the harp was an important symbol in medieval culture as a whole, as a

metaphor for the harmonious cosmos3. Its contextual importance is mirrored in the text and

while before the passage it made men think of the joyes of Paradis (49), a wondrous

attribute indeed, within the extract Orfeo brings paradise to wherever he plays it: the harsh

and dangerous wilderness is transformed into a peaceful, tame environment, where even the

beasts and the birds will sit and listen, losing all their animalistic ferocity (269-80). The

playing of the harp improves Orfeos mood as well, a particular couplet not only describes

how the sound of the harp resounds about the woods but pairs wille with shille (271-2);

Orfeos pleasure resonates with the music. In this way Orfeos spirit is undisturbed for the

first time since the loss of his wife and the decision to leave his kingdom in line ninety-seven,

and the true importance of the harp is eluded to. This calming of Orfeos spirit foreshadows

his use of the instrument to impress the fairy king and reclaim Heurodis from him.

Interestingly the harp is the only thing in the text that remains unchanged when travelling

from the imaginary to the symbolic and vice versa. Perhaps the only thing stopping Orfeo

from collapsing into the purgatory like nature of the symbolic order is the harp, and that the

playing of it keeps him firmly enough in the imaginary in order to return to it eventually. The

ability to transgress these opposite states is what brings about the satisfying conclusion: the

harp is essential to the text and essential to Orfeo.

3
Anne Laskaya and Eve Salisbury, eds, Introduction to Sir Orpheo, in Middle English Breton Lays,(Kalamazoo:
TEAMS, 1995)

6
 Bibliography

Geenblatt, Stephen, gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: 9th ed. Vol.

A. (New York: Norton, 2012)

Laskaya, Anne and Eve Salisbury, eds, Introduction to Sir Orpheo, in Middle

English Breton Lays,(Kalamazoo: TEAMS, 1995)

7
 Louis, Kenneth R. R. gros, The Significance of Sir Orfeos Self-Exile, in The

Review of English Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967)