The Figure of Medea in Medieval Literature: A Thematic Metamorphosis

342 Pages·1983·13.99 MB·English

by  Joel Nicholas Feimer

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Feimer, Joel Nicholas
THE FIGURE OF MEDEA IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: A THEMATIC
METAMORPHOSIS
City University of New York Ph.D. 1983
University
Microfilms
International
300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106
Copyright 1983
by
Feimer, Joel Nicholas
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THE FIGURE OF MEDEA IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE:
A THEMATIC METAMORPHOSIS
by
JOEL N. FEIMER
A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty
in Comparative Literature in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy, The City University of New York.
1983
©
COPYRIGHT BY
JOEL N. FEIMER
1983
ii
This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate
Faculty in Comparative Literature in satisfaction of the
dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy.
Cicu/(x^t' 3 / 7 f 3 Ju.eU ^ /l y j____
date I Chairman of Examining Committee
Robert 0. Payne
Fred J. Nichols
The City University of New York
Abstract
THE FIGURE OF MEDEA IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE:
A THEMATIC METAMORPHOSIS
hy
Joel N. Feimer
Adviser: Professor Frederick Goldin
The figure of Medea has undergone many thematic transformations since
its first appearance in the epic poems and dramas of ancient Greece.
In Hesiod, Medea is a type of fairytale princess. In Euripides, she
is a vengeful woman whose wrath inspires the greatest of enormities,
the slaughter of her own children. Apollonius portrays a young Medea
struggling valiantly, but fruitlessly against a divinely inspired
passion. The Latin poets and philosophers depict Medea as titanic,
frightening, often a criminal. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Medea degen­
erates into a blind destructive force. In the twelfth century Roman
de Troie, Medea undergoes a remarkable transformation when she is
placed in the context of fin1 amor. Here she is a positive, life-
sustaining figure motivated to perform helpful deeds by her noble
passion. In medieval literature, the fortunes of the figure of Medea
follow the writers' attitude toward secular love. When the medieval
poet approves of fin' amor, Medea is portrayed positively. However,
when secular passion is denigrated in favor of divine love, Medea
is characterized as a type of wilfull, destructive woman, at the
mercy of her unrestrained lust. In the French prose versions of
the Roman de Troie, Guido delle Colonne's Historia Destructionis
iv
Troiae, and Boccaccio’s Da Mulieribus Claris, such, a negative Medea
may he found. However, in Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women and Gower's
Confessio Amantis, Medea is portrayed as a saint of secular love for
her unstinting fidelity to Jason. At the hands of Chaucer and Gover,
Medea receives her most radical transformation, sanctification in
the context of fin' amor.
v
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction 1
Chapter I: The Greek Medea 12
Chapter II: The Latin Medea: Ennius to Ovid 45
Chapter III:The Last of the Roman Portraits 106
Chapter IV: Medea in the Twelfth Century 153
Chapter V: Medea in the Thirteenth Century 195
Chapter VI: The Medeas of the Fourteenth Century 243
Conclusion 309
Bibliography 320
vi