The Medieval Woman: Unfaitful, Angelic, or Dominatrix?

            Women in medieval society held a variety of roles. They were wives, mothers, nuns, homemakers, spinners, weavers, cooks, and healers. A man could revere a woman, such as the Virgin Mary, or be completely devoted to his secret, unattainable love. Women were also seen as sly and deceitful creatures, and a man was often warned to watch and control his wife closely, lest he be cuckolded. These conflicting views of what a woman is or should be often lead a woman into an unhappy marriage.
             In both Biscalvret and Yonec, written by Marie de France, the reader sees a woman betray her husband in some way. In Bisclavret, a noble man tells his wife (after much coaxing on the wife's part) that he sometimes goes out into the woods, takes off his clothes, and turns into a garwolf; were he ever to loose his clothes, he would remain a garwolf forever. She promises to keep the hiding place for his clothes secret, but the very next time he goes out, she tells a knight who is in love with her (and who she later marries) the secret; "she sent [the knight] to get his clothes. Thus was Bisclavret betrayed/ And by his own wife waylaid- (Marie de France). This leads the reader to believe that a woman will betray her husband in three ways: by telling his secrets, by making his life extraordinarily unpleasant, and by marrying another as soon as he is out of the way. Our sympathies lie with the husband, because before the secret came out, "He loved her, she him: they loved each other- (Marie de France); Bisclavret had done nothing to receive this treatment from his wife. In his wife's defense, she got more out of this husband than she bargained for "he was not completely honest with her in the beginning, and why should she be expected to bring more little garwolves into the world simply because she unknowingly married one?.
             In Yonec, another lais of Marie de France, a young woman locked in a tower by her old, overly-jealous husband prays for and gains a lover.