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Minstrel Disguise in Medieval French Narrative:
Identity. Performance, Authorship
by
Marilyn Lawrence
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of French
New York University
May 2001
Professor Evelyn Birge Vitz
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UMI Number 3009333
Copyright 2001 by
Lawrence, Marilyn
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© Marilyn Lawrence
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TO BRYAN
“Then Beren and Luthien went through the Gate, and down the
labyrinthine stairs; and together wrought the greatest deed that has been dared by
Elves or Men. For they came to the seat of Morgoth in his nethermost hall, that
was upheld by horror, lit by fire, and filled with weapons of death and torment.
There Beren slunk in wolf s form beneath his throne; but Luthien was stripped of
her disguise by the will of Morgoth, and he bent his gaze upon her. She was not
daunted by his eyes; and she named her own name, and offered her service to sing
before him, after the manner of a minstrel. Then Morgoth looking upon her
beauty conceived in his thought an evil lust, and a design more dark than any that
had yet come into his heart since he fled from Valinor. Thus he was beguiled by
his own malice, for he watched her, leaving her free for a while, and taking secret
pleasure in his thought. Then suddenly she eluded his sight, and out of the
shadows began a song of such surpassing loveliness, and of such blinding power,
that he listened perforce; and a blindness came upon him, as his eyes roamed to
and fro, seeking her.
“All his court were cast down in slumber, and all the fires faded and were
quenched; but the Silmarils in the crown on Morgoth's head blazed forth suddenly
with a radiance of white flame; and the burden of that crown and of the jewels
bowed down his head, as though the world were set upon it, laden with a weight
of care, of fear, and of desire, that even the will of Morgoth could not support.
Then Luthien catching up her winged robe sprang into the air, and her voice came
dropping down like rain into pools, profound and dark. She cast her cloak before
his eyes, and set upon him a dream, dark as the Outer Void where once he walked
alone. Suddenly he fell, as a hill sliding in avalanche, and hurled like thunder
from his throne lay prone upon the floors of hell. The iron crown rolled echoing
from his head. All things were still.”
- J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion (180-81)
iv
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At times this dissertation has itself seemed to don an impenetrable
disguise, cunningly masking its true self from its own author. I would like to
thank the committed team of scholars who have guided progression towards
revelation and recognition of my own subject: my Director, Evelyn Birge Vitz;
my primary readers, Nancy Freeman Regalado and Kimberlee Campbell; and the
other members of my committee, Kathryn Talarico and Philip Kennedy. Wearing
as many hats as the protean minstrel figures this thesis examines, these professors
have served as invaluable advisers, teachers, mentors, role models, and friends. I
deeply appreciate their aid in my own anagnorisis, the movement from ignorance
to knowledge, that is, and always should be. a continual process in life as well as
in academia.
I also would like to thank my husband, Bryan, for all his support, and my
son, Max, whose eagerly awaited birth — which occurred four days after I
submitted this dissertation — motivated the final push to complete this project.
v
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ABSTRACT
This study examines questions of identity, performance, and authorship
that medieval French narratives raise when characters disguise themselves as
minstrels. In minstrel disguise, issues of identity are magnified because a
character assumes the mask of the protean minstrel, a shape shifter and boundary
crosser who himself epitomizes ambiguity and plurality of identity. The episode
of minstrel disguise is the key moment in a narrative when we, as readers or
auditors, witness the process by which an author constructs the character of the
proteiform performer. Unlike other kinds of disguise found in medieval literature,
minstrel disguise enables the author to create and define the identity of an artist
whose craft includes the composition and transmission of narrative, an art that
overlaps or is intertwined with that of both the author and the performer.
Since they highlight performance and the narrative art, representations of
minstrel disguise invite analysis of authorial attitudes towards and perceptions of
the professional performer, performance, and authorship. Such episodes enable
us to examine how the construction and deconstruction of minstrel identity —
which occur in scenes of masking, unmasking, and recognition — affect plot,
structure narrative, and generate meaning. In addition, our study explores how
authors perceive and present the protagonists who don minstrel disguise —
vi
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including such principal medieval characters as Tristan, King Arthur, and Renart
the Fox. Our subject also leads us to analyze how characters within our narratives
interpret signs of identity and what those modes of interpretation reveal about
characters and their relations to each other. Although we refer to a corpus of
fifteen narratives, our analysis concentrates on a few select texts: the Folie Tristan
of Oxford, Gerbert de MontreuiTs Continuation de Perceval, branch lb of the
Roman de Renart. Ysave le Triste. and Le Chevalier du Papegau.
Our study adds a literary dimension to the body of scholarship on
minstrels and minstrelsy which to date has focused primarily on historical and
social realities. We focus on the minstrel and his art as authorial constructs that
invite exploration of literary questions, including issues of disguise, performance,
and literary composition, as raised by authors of narrative fiction.
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