The Lais of Marie de France

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1100

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Lai 1

Lai 2

Lai 3

Lai 4

Lai 5

Lai 6

Lai 7

Lai 8

Lai 9

Lai 10

Lai 11

Lai 12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Lai 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Lais 2 Summary: “Equitan”

Equitan, the lord of Nantes and a man who enjoys “amorous dalliance”, falls in love with the wife of his seneschal, a form of steward. At first, the lady protests that she is not noble or wealthy enough to be the object of Equitan’s affections, and that he would inevitably tire of her, abandon her, and leave her “very much worse off” (58). A lovestruck Equitan implores her that if she assents to being his lover, “you can be the mistress and I the servant; you the haughty one and I the suppliant” (58). She agrees to become his mistress, and they exchange rings to pledge their faith.

The lady comes to fear that the king will abandon her for a princess. If that happens, she would be so grief-stricken that she would die. The king replies that if her husband, the seneschal dies, she could become his wife. The lady thus hatches a plan to run two baths while Equitan is out hunting with her husband. The bath designated for her husband will be so hot that it will scald him to death. The lady places both tubs before the bed. While Equitan and the lady are making love, the seneschal returns unexpectedly and sees them. Equitan jumps into the scalding tub “to conceal his wickedness” and is boiled to death (60). The seneschal pushes his adulterous wife into the tub after Equitan. The narrator warns that “evil can easily rebound on him who seeks another’s misfortune” (60).

Lai 2 Analysis

This lay highlights the role-reversal typical in love stories, both in terms of gender and class. The seneschal’s wife initially refuses to love Equitan because she is not wealthy or high-born enough to be a mistress to whom Equitan would remain true. She tells him “love is not honorable, unless it is based on equality” (58). In order to achieve such equality, an enamored Equitan implores the lady to “not regard me as your king, but as your vassal and lover”, thus putting himself in a position of servitude (58). However, later this wish for equality will come to haunt him, as his shame of being caught in the act of adultery causes him to jump into the bath intended for the woman’s husband. While the woman planned the death of the seneschal so that she would be free to marry the king and raise herself to his rank, both she and the king face the ultimate demotion in social class when they are caught having sex and punished by being boiled to death. At the end of the lay, the narrator intervenes with the explicit moral that “evil can easily rebound on him who seeks another’s misfortune” (60). This is one of the Lais where adulterous love and greed are approached with a Christian understanding of morality, as the adulterers are the ones punished.