Introduction

            When reading Marie de France’s Bisclavret, the introduction leads the reader into a false sense that the titular werewolf will be the story’s monster. However, upon reading the story, it is made clear that the bisclavret’s wife is monstrous, as she betrays her husband by trapping him as a werewolf and leaving him for another. The wife’s monstrosity is made even more concrete near the end of the lai in lines 288-313, where the bisclavret is re-humanized, while the wife is simultaneously dehumanized and exiled into the forest. This theme of dehumanization will be explored through Folio XII of the Nuremberg Chronicle, which depicts people with unusual appearances.

            When examining this passage and this artifact, it is clear that being a monster is not related to form. Instead, monsters are recognized by their dehumanization of others. This is first shown through the bisclavret’s wife, who later acts as a mirror, displaying the reader’s own monstrosity.