Magic, Monsters and Marvels

An in-depth discussion on the Loathly Lady tradition and trope found in medieval romances and examples on the Wife of Bath, Sir Gawain, The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle and Sir Orfeo. We also look at what the Loathly lady is and whay she represents.

An indepth discussion on what fairies were and what they meant to a medieval audience, as well as their function within the text especially how they reflect on courtly love and court life.

For the purpose of this essay, I will discuss the magical objects of a brass horse, the ring, mirror and sword that appear in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Squire’s Tale and the celebrated magic girdle in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, before analytically considering in detail their individual roles within the text.

Sir Orfeo is a Medieval Romance - in this seminar, we discussed the plot, key themes, similar texts that were also medieval and shared ideas about how we could interpret the otherworld or the 'fairy' world with suggested reading to do with Wade, Cooper and Byrne. We also looked at the parallels that exist between this medieval text and the classic texts such as Ovid and Virgil.