Introduction & Passage Lines 191 - 218
Passage: Lines 191-218
Among those chevaliers was he
-so richly dressed, so splendidly!-
who’d wed the wife of Bisclavret.
Little he knew or thought just yet
that he would find his foe so near!
Soon as he came, this chevalier,
to court, and Bisclavret could see
the man, he ran furiously,
sank in his teeth, and dragged him close.
Many the injuries and woes
he would have suffered, but the king
called out commands, while brandishing
his staff. The beast rushed, twice, that day,
to bite the man; all felt dismay,
for none had seen the beast display
toward anyone, in any way,
such viciousness. There must be reason,
the house hold said, for him to seize on
the knight, who must have done him wrong;
the wish for vengeance seemed so strong.
And so they let the matter rest
til the conclusion of the feast.
The barons took their leave, each one,
each to his castle and his home.
All my good judgement counsels me
he who was first to leave was he
set upon by the bisclavret.
Small wonder the beast had such hate!
Introduction
As presented in Bisclavret1 by Marie De France, the bisclavret is portrayed as a monster in which a man shapeshifts into a wolf and can only transform back into a human by putting on his clothing. The poem details the betrayal the bisclavret went through and his thirst for vengeance towards his wife and her new husband for stealing his garments and trapping him in the form of a werewolf. However, despite the ferocity the bisclavret exhibits towards his perpetrators, his humane aspects still persist due to his allegiance to the king and the fact that he did not harm anyone except those who betrayed him.
This exhibition will explore the monstrosity and humanity of the bisclavret and how they coexist with one another. Throughout medieval times, the linkage between werewolves and clothing is apparent as clothes are perceived as a civil form of humanity as humans are the only race that wear clothes to appear presentable. The act of taking off one’s clothes indicates that a person has abandoned their humanity to ascend into the state of monstrosity of a werewolf. As portrayed in an illustration from the Rochester Bestiary, individuals strip off their clothing and transform into werewolves; the only way for them to transform back into humans is to not devour human flesh for nine years and put their garments back on. This artifact relates to the bisclavret as despite the monstrous exterior, they maintain their humanity by avoiding harming humans as much as possible before reverting to their original human forms.