Analysis

The selected passage and the artifacts featured in this exhibit highlight the uniqueness of Bisclavret and the behaviours he displays. The poem and the objects included in this exhibit and their portrayal of the beasts they feature makes us question what it means to be human and the characteristics that determine this. These characteristics displayed by Bisclavret demonstrate that humanity or monstrosity isn’t determined based on outward features, but rather by behaviour.

Although Bisclavret has the outward features of a monster, he doesn’t behave like a typical monster. As Sell notes in his article, Marie uses a werewolf— a creature that is typically depicted as vicious and antagonistic— as the hero of her poem (Sell). However, it can be observed in this passage and throughout the poem that Marie’s depiction of a werewolf does not display these typical characteristics of a werewolf. These human characteristics differentiate Bisclavret from other monsters. Marie herself signifies Bisclavrets difference from other beasts. At the beginning of the poem Marie states that “a werewolf is a savage beast” (9) that “does great harm” (11). Despite this vivid description of how werewolves ought to behave, she asks readers to ignore this when speaking of Bisclavret, thus signalling his difference from other beasts before Bisclavret is even introduced.

It is apparent in Bisclavrets encounter with the king that he displays uniquely human characteristics and displays human desires such as the desire for clemency. We also see him display distinctly human behaviours such as when he “put a kiss upon the leg and foot” (148) after encountering the king. This is not how a vicious monster would respond. The fact that Bisclavret does react in this way is indicative of his uniqueness and his difference from other monsters. The rare cases in which Bisclavret does act in an aggressive manner, such as when he attacks his wife, are justified. The attack on his wife was not a result of his vicious, monstrous nature, but rather a reflection and indication of his human principles. He attacked his wife as a husband who was betrayed, not as a monster exhibiting typical vicious behaviour.

The humanity depicted in Bisclavret can also be observed in the artifacts presented within this exhibit. The primary object of this exhibit features werewolves that bear striking similarities to Bisclavret. The wolves depicted in that image display distinctly human characteristics similar to Bisclavret and even have the ability to speak. The image and the story associated with it do not depict werewolves in the ferocious way they are expected to act. They are expected to act in the vicious way that the animals act in Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia. Similar to Bisclavret, their humanity persists, and they display human desires, demonstrating how a monster cannot be considered a monster based on physical attributes alone.

Bisclavret’s humanity is juxtaposed with other characters in the poem such as his wife. Bisclavret’s wife matches Marie’s description of a monster more so than Bisclavret does. For example, his wife “does great harm” (11) when she steals her husband’s clothes, forcing him to be stuck in the form of a werewolf. Therefore, rather than Bisclavret behaving in the typical monstrous way, it is his wife who exhibits these monstrous behaviours. This further exemplifies how the distinction between monster and human can’t be considered based on physical appearances of monstrosity or humanity. At the end of the poem, we observe how his wife is treated for her betrayal of Bisclavret. Despite her human appearance, she is treated more like a monster than Bisclavret. She is “banished and chased out of the country and disgraced” for her vicious behaviour (305-306). Bisclavrets act of revenge through the removal of her nose serves as both a punishment for her betrayal and as a way to separate her from humanity (Sell). Thus, the wife’s inner monstrous behaviour is physically manifested in her disfigurement, cursing her and all her future children with the same fate she forced upon Bisclavret.