In Book II of Troilus and Criseyde, the character Pandarus states: "Women are born to slavery and penitence, /and to be under the rule of men." (Chaucer, line 286-7) Excerpted from an exchange between the maiden Criseyde and her uncle, Pandarus, the passage speaks volumes about contemporary views on romance and the ways in which those views were influenced by prevailing attitudes toward women. women. The highly ambiguous Germanic poem The Wife's Lament, although it considerably predates Chaucer, documents the position of a submissive woman who experiences exile from her husband, her relatives, and her own relatives. In consultation with Elaine M. Treharne's publication, Writing Gender and Genre in Medieval Literature: Approaches to Old and Middle English Texts, the poem breaks conventions with traditional literary representations of female figures. Treharne establishes a framework for “female romance” in Middle English poetry, a form of aesthetic expression that favored male heroes and chivalric concepts of male identity. A woman, however, dictates The Wife's Lament and offers divorced or abandoned women a message of pain and suffering; this language is considered by scholars as the vehicle of "lament". In Carol Parrish Jamison's article, “Traffic of Women in Germanic Literature: The Role of the Peace Pledge in Marital Exchanges,” she provides historical context for the wife's unfortunate position, that of a marital commodity in political exchanges. Considering Jamison's argument, the voice of the woman speaking may be isolated from her physical situation – which is barely disclosed in the poem – and a focus placed on her pained language may suggest a dissatisfaction in the title. Perhaps a more appropriate title for the poem is "The Wife's Lament," as in the opening lines she proclaims that her mission is to speak for herself and her sorrows, and in the closing lines she curses her male counterpart for his negligence. By interpreting the speaker's “lament” as “whine,” the position of the submissive woman changes; the poem instead encourages a feminist reading that takes into account the precedence of female language and writing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Primarily, The Wife's Lament is intended as a frauenlied, more literally a "woman's song." The content describes the isolation and victimization of an unnamed protagonist following an exogamous relationship, a situation typical of the Anglo-Saxon heroic tradition. Interestingly, the absence of the “hero” problematizes the genre of the poem and, consequently, a concrete interpretation of femininity. David Salter, whose essay “'Born to Thraldom and Penance': Wives and Mothers in Middle English Romance” is found in Treharne's compilation, demonstrates the various gendered readings of early Middle English verse and the patriarchal approval that pervaded these texts. Salter claims the opposite position of the woman in texts such as The Wife's Lament: “…If we accept that romance is indeed a feminine gender, we are still faced with something paradoxical, because what seems to confront us when we examine romance is a feminine gender practically no female heroines. poetry; her voice, therefore, can be considered a universal and all-encompassing articulation for the repressed woman. Salter continues: "Although to a large extent Middle English romance tends to marginalize the female experience, it nevertheless recognizes the centrality of women in shaping and developing the identity of the male hero." (Salter, 43) In accordance with this statement, athe role reversal is evident in the poem; the speaker, through the harmful actions of the husband and the absence of his voice, is "shaped" into the dominant character. The speaker's vocalization functions as an exception in the romance genre, it is inherently "anti-romantic" as the woman's experience is not marginalized. Salter also comments on the roles of female figures in the poem: "And it is primarily through their roles as wives and mothers that women in romance are able to accomplish this formation of male identity." (Salter, 43) As the title suggests, the speaker's role was that of a wife, however, over the course of the poem that label becomes unsatisfactory. In terms of the romantic genre, The Wife's Lament is considered unconventional due to the lack of male presence, the prevalence of the female voice and the absence of a plot revolving around the "hero". Now that the poem has been contextualized as atypical of the Middle English romance genre, it is possible to conceive of the speaker's message as one of protest, rather than one of sorrow or regret. Considering the opening lines, the poem begins with a statement: “I make this song myself, deeply sorrowful, the journey of my life. I can recount all the hardships I have suffered since I grew up, but new or old, never worse than now, I always suffer the torment of my exile. ” (Mitchell, lines 1-5) The speaker, although preoccupied with painful feelings, adopts an assertive tone when announcing the poem as “her song.” She is “able to tell all the hardships” on her own and does not need to a male filter to convey his story. It is essentially the “journey of his life” and, by establishing these oppressed circumstances and giving voice to his victimization, perhaps the poem or “song” is a mechanism of liberation Jamison is helpful regarding the speaker's situation and the reason for her exile: “To unite men together and ensure peace, the highest-ranking Germanic women sometimes served as peace pledges. Usually the daughter of an important warrior or king, the promise of peace would be married to a high-ranking man who might be perceived as a potential threat to her relatives in hopes of forming an alliance, or at least preventing conflict” (Jamison), 14) It is likely that the situation Jamison postulates afflicts the speaker, as she suffers in exile, isolated from her husband and family. The concept of arranged marriage was potentially oppressive to women, as they became the necessary component in political exchanges; the speaker is aware of her confinement and perhaps her singing will allow her to overcome female inferiority. Jamison also considers the theme of human exchange: "...In a society that valorizes war, marrying women as a means of ensuring peace could prove negative, in these cases emphasizing the unfortunate situation of the woman as an object of male exchange." (Jamison, 15) The wife, in Jamison's terms, is degraded to a commodity that satisfies both parties in a political exchange. The speaker is aware of her role as a “commodity” and in the act of speaking provides a feminine account of victimization; this influences his narrative as hindered by anguish, but driven by injustice and the desire for freedom. In examining the narrative, it is significant to consider that the author of The Wife's Lament was likely male. Reminding us of this does not hinder the poem's attitude and speculations about female oppression. Jamison ultimately makes the connection between the speaker's status and the historical context that was outlined earlier: “The narrator of The Wife's Lament appears to be a peace pledge whose husband has left hishomeland, perhaps in exile for some undisclosed crime, or perhaps to lead his men into battle." (Jamison, 16) Jamison's argument is compatible with the pain and longing that pervades his narrative: "First the my lord left his people / for the raging waves; At dawn I worried/where the hell my leader of men might be. ” (Mitchell, lines 6-8) The speaker's primary concern here is her husband's position, but, when she refers to him as the "leader of the men," perhaps this signals a rejection of his leadership over her or her women in general.The speaker does not seem grieved by the return of her husband; rather, the poem is saturated with painful language and neglects to expose any desire to recover the marital bond. Jamison comments on the purpose of the poem and characterizes it as a response to the process of marital exchange: "Early Germanic women had, in fact, a number of possible responses to marital exchanges and could find ways to move far beyond the role of object, asserting their influence as mothers and diplomats by making or breaking the king." in the homes of their new husbands.” (Jamison, 31) Viewing The Wife's Lament as a response to humiliating exchanges and as a means of “moving beyond the role of object,” significantly changes the connotation of the lamenting language used to convey it; it would instead be more appropriate to connote the language as that of 'complaint'. The speaker is not aggressive in taking on a 'diplomat' role, however it is clear that she is in favor of her husband carrying a burden identical to hers. Compared to the content of the story, it is equally important, if not more necessary to understand the function of female language in general. The wife, by speaking, performs an action that was rarely permitted to women; the act of writing a 'song' of one's own experience further enables the female figure to achieve independence in political unions. Barrie Ruth Straus in her essay “Women's Words as Weapons: Speech as Action in "The Wife's Lament", interprets poetry as a form of speech act. She states at the beginning: "The concept of illocutionary act is introduced to specify the way in which the same proposition can be used differently: to make an assertion, to ask a question, to give an order, to express a desire, and so on. and so on, depending on the situation.” (Straus, 269) Straus's adoption of the "illocutionary act" in determining purpose and meaning in the poem elevates the precedence of feminine speech in Anglo-Saxon culture by applying this concept to the narrative. it becomes evident that the speaker's intention goes beyond the expression of simple sadness. Straus's argument can be characterized by the following passage: “The way the wife tells her story, that is, the way she uses words, reveals that she does not simply do so passively. accepts her fate, but rather takes advantage of a form of agency available to women of her time.”(Straus, 270)Straus places the face in the form over the content of the poem. He is aware that the intentions of the speaker are precisely those. “speak out” and promote a message of empowerment for women through her unfortunate passing. Returning to the initial lines of the poem, Straus' proposal is also relevant: “The presence of a marked overt performative at the beginning of "The Wife's Lament" therefore indicates the speaker's attempt to make his listeners understand his act deliberate to make a statement." (Straus, 272) However, most of the speaker's frustration and desire for independence comes through in the concluding lines: "Let all his worldly joys belong to himself! let him be outlawed In a land. 2012.