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Marital love as the driving force in Sir
Orfeo
Ryan Renfro
One of the greatest genres of medieval poetry is that of courtly
love. Courtly love poetry celebrated the adulterous desires
between young men and married women and was undoubtedly the
product of a system of arranged marriages. This genre,
however, by no means dominated the period as exemplified by such
poems as Sir Orfeo, in which married couples are shown as
having very loving relationships. The nature of their
relationship becomes evident in the dialogue between Orfeo and
Herodis in lines 102 through 130. It is Orfeo and
Herodis’ exclusive love for one another that not only allows
for the conflicts in the poem, which center around the
struggle to preserve their marital bonds, but also drives them to
resolve those conflicts by seeking reunification.
The first conflict to arise in the poem is when Herodis awakens
from her dream by the grove, screaming and clawing at her face.
This initial problem is solved by the calming words of her
beloved Orfeo, who pacifies her enough to explain that she wails
because she must leave him. If she did not truly love
Orfeo, she would not be driven to such madness at the thought of
leaving him.
An interesting idea in Sir Orfeo and especially present in the
aforementioned passage is the idea of these two lovers sharing
one life. Orfeo refers to her as “lef liif”
(102), just as she later states: “Bot ever Ich have
y-loved thee /As mi liif, and so thou me” (123-124). This
concept of these two people sharing one life is well supported by
marital doctrines in the Judeo/Christian tradition and is the
strongest description of the bonds which may exist between two
people. One needs only extend this concept of one life to
the interrelated concept of one body to bring out more symbolism
in Sir Orfeo. Upon hearing that she must part with
her husband Herodis scratches her body, which can be seen as
their singular body. Before it was “white y-core”
(105), but became “so red, /Is al wan, as thou were
ded!” (107-108). It is her love for Sir Orfeo that
causes her wounds, and because of that love their parting is
described as a physical death for each.
Orfeo’s attempt at preventing his wife’s capture is the
second conflict in the poem. This parting causes him to
depart from his paradise and enter into seclusion in the woods.
He is only fulfilling his vow to her: “Whider thou
gost, Ichil with thee, /And whider Y go, thou schalt with
me” (129-130). It is his love for her that drives him
to the woods. He will remain devoted solely to her: “Never
eft Y nil no woman se. /Into wilderness Ichil te” (211-212).
Orfeo is concern for her faithfulness to him is mentioned as
well: “Whider wiltow go and to wham?” (128).
Orfeo’s anxiety over his wife’s continued faithfulness
to him provides a clear contrast to the glorification of
adulterous love present in the courtly love poems and confirms
his love for her. If it were not for their love, Orfeo
would never have gone into seclusion or have sought out his wife
against a magical enemy against which his military might was
useless.
Once Sir Orfeo wins his wife back the two are then able to return
to their old life at Winchester because the two parts of this
life have been reunited. It is its theme of marital love
which distinguishes Sir Orfeo from other romance
literature of its time and which would have made it more
acceptable to people outside of life at court and certainly to
the religious authorities.
Works Cited
Dunn, Charles W. and Byrnes, Edward T.
Middle English Literature. New York:
Garland Publishing, Inc., 1990.