Fortune in Two Late Medieval French Morality Plays [thesis]

164 Pages·1985·4.874 MB·English

by  Francis Xavier Moore III

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Moore, Francis Xavier, III
FORTUNE IN TWO LATE MEDIEVAL FRENCH MORALITY PLAYS
The Pennsylvania State University Ph.D, 1985
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The Pennsylvania State University
The Graduate School
Department of French
Fortune in Two Late Medieval French Morality Plays
A Thesis in
French
by
Francis Xavier Moore III
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
December 1985
I grant The Pennsylvania State University the
nonexclusive right to use this work for the University's own
purposes and to make single copies of the work available to
the public on a not-for-profit basis if copies are not
otherwise available.
Francis Xavier Moore III
We approve the thesis of Francis Xavier Moore III
Date of Signature:
? i<ite
Alan E. Knight, Professor of
French, Thesis Adviser,
Chairman of Committee
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John L. Logan, Assistant
Professor of French
Richard L. Frautschi, Professor
of French, Head of the
Department of French
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Michael C. Danahy,^Associate
Professor of French
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Jeanne E. Krochalis, Assistant
Professor of English
iii
ABSTRACT
There are numerous references to the goddess Fortuna in
the literature of the western world. This deity provided
answers to complicated questions confronting mankind in an­
cient Greece and Rome. She remained a dominant character in
the literature and the art of the Middle Ages and her power
was equally manifested on the stage in two late medieval
French morality plays, Bien Advise et Mai Advise and L 1 Homme
Juste et 11 Homme Mondain.
The medieval tradition of Fortune is rooted in the
works of Boethius and Alain de Lille, Both authors depict
the goddess of chance in dualistic terms, wavering from hap­
piness to sadness as she pushes all people from wealth to
poverty on her wheel of chance. It was this image of the
goddess of chance that was portrayed in art in Europe during
the Middle Ages.
A discussion of the goddess of chance as represented in
Bien Advise et Mai Advise illustrates how the author of this
morality play remained faithful to the tradition of the
goddess Fortuna as established by Boethius and Alain de
Lille, L 1 Homme Juste et 11 Homme Mondain, however, shows a
definite evolution in the portrayal of Fortune and her fa­
mous wheel. Several theories of staging, as well as the
texts themselves, assist in describing how the goddess of
chance and the rota fortunae might have been staged in these
morality plays.
TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT....................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. . .............................................vi
INTRODUCTION..................................................... 1
Chapter
I. THE FORTUNE MOTIF IN THE MIDDLE AGES:
A SURVEY OF CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP...................... 9
II. FORTUNA IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE...................... 19
III. FORTUNA AND MEDIEVAL ICONOGRAPHY.......... 42
IV. THE DUAL NATURE OF FORTUNE IN
BIEN ADVISE ET MAL ADVISE............................55
V. FORTUNE AS GODDESS AND MOTHER IN
L'HOMME JUSTE ET L'HOMME MONDAIN....................84
V
VI. FORTUNE ON THE MEDIEVAL FRENCH STAGE.............. 107
Le Jeu de la feuillee..................119
Bien Advise et Mai Advise.............122
L'Homme Juste et 1 1 Homme Mondain 128
CONCLUSION....................................................139
BIBLIOGRAPHY 143
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude and
respect to Professor Alan E. Knight, Committee Chairman and
Thesis Advisor, for his guidance in helping to choose the
topic and for his support and encouragement throughout.
Sincere appreciation is expressed to the other members of
the doctoral committee for their valuable critical comments:
Professors Richard L. Frautschi, Michael C. Danahy, John L.
Logan, and Jeanne E. Krochalis.
The author would also like to thank Sara Poole, a doc­
toral student at the University of Reading, England, who
offered much needed encouragement during the early stages of
the thesis.
Finally, to Sonja, whose constant support, love, and,
most of all, understanding, are without measure.
INTRODUCTION
In Agamemnon Seneca reiterates that the goddess Fortuna
was a powerful force in the ancient world.
But beyond question Fortune holds sway everywhere.
It is she that makes all events famous or obscure
according to her caprice rather than in accordance
with the truth.
And yet surprisingly, this omnipotent goddess of chance has
long been ignored by many literary scholars. There are num­
erous references to the goddess Fortuna in literary works
from ancient Greece and Rome. This deity often provided so­
lutions to questions about the world perceived
not as an ordered and properly ruled domain, but as
the realm of the mutable and haphazard forces which
we generalize and characterize as "chance".2
1 Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Frank Justus Miller 2
vols. (Cambridge, Mass. and London England: Harvard Univer­
sity Press and Heinemann, 1961) 2: 9.
2 Howard R. Patch, The Goddess Fortuna in Medieval Lit­
erature (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1927)
4.