Close Reading

Depicted in literature since the classical period, werewolves highlight the tension of good and evil in humanity. Werewolves are often described as committing violent, animalistic acts, but then feeling human remorse for their actions, creating a battle within themselves. The second stanza of Bisclavret illustrates this duality of a werewolf’s nature. Marie de France acknowledges the common depiction of the werewolf as “a savage beast” but urges that this is not what Bisclavret is, he is not the type of werewolf to attack and eat humans. She begins her lai by asking the reader to put aside these opinions and ideas of the traditional werewolf. Bisclavret’s werewolf character is a knight with bad luck, as opposed to a savage beast on a killing spree, described by Marie de France as “known to be all that makes for nobility”. The only person he attempts to harm is his cheating wife, who is the very reason he is unable to change back into a man, as she has hidden the clothes he requires to transform back.  His rage towards her seems rational, targeted, and human. His pain seems palpable. The idea of simply requiring clothes to change back from werewolf to human is seen in classical depictions of werewolves by Pliny and Ovid as well.  It suggests the human is trapped inside of the animal body.

The idea of a transformation from man to animal was repulsive and rejected by Christian sentiments of the time. A werewolf or those who fraternized with a werewolf, were perceived as connected to the Devil. Bersuire’s Reductorium examines this idea of metamorphosis, with many references to Ovid’s ideas on the same topic catalogued in his writing Metamorphoses, Eventually Bersuire was charged with heresy over his strong ideas and writings and the pages about werewolves were the final nail in his coffin. Although it is possible that writers, like Marie de France, did not know about the Orthodox Christian opinions, it is much more likely they chose to disregard it.  Perhaps the humanity of her creature was meant by Marie de France to soften religious stance about the werewolf’s perceived evilness.

Other werewolf stories showing the docile nature of wolves, contrasted with the evilness of women, began to be more popular.  Stories like Melion, another breton lai, is very similar to Bisclavret, in that a man is stuck in the form of a werewolf due to the treachery of his wife.