The Treachery of Bisclavret's wife Puja Harikumar College

The story of Bisclavret is a lais poem, written by Marie De France in the 12th century. The titular character is a knight cursed with the ability to change into a wolf. However, the true monster of this story is made out to be his unfaithful wife. In this essay, I will proceed to discuss how Bisclavret’s wife is depicted as a villain by the stories narrative.

Firstly, within the lais, Marie makes it clear to the readers that Bisclavret’s wife is being unfairly hard on her husband, upon learning about his condition. While under normal circumstances, one might have been able to sympathize with her alarm over being married to a werewolf, Marie De France has gone out of her way to point out that during the period the story takes place, this phenomena of men with the ability to turn into wolves is not uncommon. “ In days gone by one could hear tell, and indeed it often used to happen, that many men turned into werewolves and went to live in the woods.” (68) This is stated by Marie at the very beginning of the story, before we even learn about Bisclavret, himself. If werewolves are so common, then it doesn’t seem fair for Bisclavret’s wife to consider her husband being one as cause to leave him.

Secondly, Marie De France emphasizes...