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From Epic to Romance: the Paralysis of the Hero in the Prise D'orange

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From Epic to Romance: the Paralysis of the Hero in the Prise D'orange Minnette Grunmann-Gaudet From Epic to Romance: The Paralysis of the Hero in the Prise d'Orange N HIS Essai de poétique médiévale, Paul Zumthor attempts to establish a basic structural model for the Old French epic, (Schema I I).1 He bases his schema upon a typological classification of the principal characters of the chanson de geste proposed by Pasqualino in 1970. On the primary horizontal axis we find an opposition between good and bad characters, or in socio-religious terms, between Christians and pagans. This axis is broken by secondary diagonal axes which gauge whether individuals change, becoming good by repentance or conversion to Christianity, or bad by political treason or renouncements of the Christian faith. This model clearly illustrates the moral polarities inherent in works such as the Oxford Roland and the Chanson de Guillaume, but does not account for a great number of gestes in which the conflict is between lord and vassal, uncle and nephew, husband and wife, or even two friends. Schema I 'Paul Zumthor, Essai de poétique médiévale (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1972),p. 326. 22 Grunmann-Gaudet / Paralysis in the Prise d'Orange 23 In a more recent endeavor to define the structure of the Old French epic, P. Van Nuffel develops a similar but more elaborate schema, based upon the Greimasian model for determining deep structures (Schema II).2 Schéma II defense of Christianity defense of Muhammedanism betrayal of Muhammedanism betrayal of Christianity Here the horizontal axes represent the axes of contraries (defense of Christianity vs. defense of Muhammedanism; betrayal of Muhammed- anism vs. betrayal of Christianity); the diagonal axes are the axes of contradictories (defense of Christianity vs. betrayal of Christianity; defense of Muhammedanism vs. betrayal of Muhammedanism); and the vertical dotted lines denote the implication which exists between one semanteme and the negation of its contrary semanteme (for example, the alliance between traitors to Muhammed and defenders of Christ). Van Nuffel considers the Greimasian model in the light of the theories of Kristeva and Bakhtine3 and warns that this model can be applied only to works which are devoid of any ideological ambivalence. By this he means works which are characterized by a system of stable univocal signifiers: i.e., signifiers capable of having but one meaning and thus in exclusive disjunction with other signifiers foreign to the ideology set forth in the text. Linked to this idea of exclusive disjunction is the notion of monologism. Texts which are monologic are marked by a clear-cut and unquestionable Weltanschauung or world-view, whereas texts which are dialogic or 2P. Van Nuffel, "Problèmes de sémiotique interprétative: l'Épopée," Lettres Romanes, 27 (1973) 2, pp. 153-54. 3J. Kristeva, Le Texte du roman (La Haye: Mouton, 1970), p. 26, and M. Bakhtine, La Poétique de Dostoievski (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1965), p. 18. 24 Olifant / Vol. 7, No. 1 / Autumn 1979 polyphonic contain several ideologies and thus a system of signifiers susceptible to different interpretations. With the rise of romance, however, the nature of the sign begins to change, to become less stable and more ambivalent. Referring to Bakhtine and Kristeva, Van Nuffel stresses the polyphonic nature of romance,4 a genre in which ideologies vary from text to text and from author to author, and where different ideologies may be present in the same text. The above theories provide a useful framework for analysis of a chanson de geste which contains many of the features of romance: the Prise d'Orange.5 Although unmistakably epic in form, with its assonant decasyllabic verse, repetitive laisse structure, and formulaic language, the poem contains numerous romance elements. Guillaume au Cort Nez is no longer the standard epic hero, engaged in battles for the defense of Christendom. He is a would-be lover, who neglects his social, political, and religious duties to set off inquest of a new ideal: the beautiful pagan queen Orable. When we first meet Guillaume, he is restless and bored and complains of a lack of female companionship. Guillaume is roused, however, by the arrival of Guillebert, a Christian who has just escaped from imprisonment in Orange and who recounts in vivid detail the marvels of the city and its beautiful queen Orable. Guillaume suddenly finds himself uncontrollably enamored of this distant lady (whom he has never seen),6 and, despite accusations of treason and folly, sets off for Orange in the company of his nephew, Guïelin, and the escaped prisoner, Guillebert. 4Van Nuffel, p. 153. 5La Prise d'Orange, chanson de geste de la fin du XIIe siècle, ed. Claude Régnier, Bibliothèque française et romane, Série B: Éditions critiques de textes, No. 5 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1967). Subsequent references to the Prise d'Orange will be to this edition and will be included in the text. 6The presentation of the theme of l'amour de loin in this work well illustrates the importance of intertextuality in medieval literature. As Régnier remarks in the note accompanying v. 360 (p. 129), Guillaume's sudden passion, born of hearsay, recalls "l'amour lointain" of Jaufré Rudel. The madness which besets Guillaume also echoes the folly of love theme so frequently exploited in the chanson courtoise. To extend Régnier's remarks, one can even see traces of Ovid in the poet's depiction of Guillaume's love sickness (Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris, etc.). However, the themes of the lady's inaccessibility and the lover's suffering have so many possible sources and analogues that it would be impossible to list them here. Grunmann-Gaudet / Paralysis in the Prise d'Orange 25 Disguised as Saracens, the three gain access to the city and to the tower where Orable resides. However, Guillaume is recognized by a Saracen who had once been his prisoner. A battle ensues in which Orable lends them armor and weapons, but they are finally captured and imprisoned by the pagans, who sneak into the tower through a secret passageway. The queen comes to their rescue once again, promising to release them and to convert to Christianity if Guillaume will agree to marry her. Guillaume, of course, accepts joyfully, whereupon Orable, whose mind has not been idle, reveals a plan to send for the entire French army through an underground tunnel. Guillebert is chosen as messenger and goes off to seek reinforcements. In the meantime, Guillaume, Guïelin, and Orable are discovered, and all three are thrown into prison. Quarreling between Guïelin and his uncle over Guillaume's amorous folly causes the two Christians to be removed from their cell. Turning this occasion to their advantage, they create rudimentary weapons with objects at hand and manage to close themselves into the King's palace, which they defend until the arrival of the Franks, who enter the city through the tunnel by which Guillebert had escaped. The Franks capture Orange, and the poem ends simply and abruptly with Orable's baptism and marriage to Guillaume. Guillaume's behavior in the poem follows an 'approach-avoidance pattern in which he pursues one set of values at the expense of another, vacillating between two equally attractive yet equally unsatisfying ways of life which he must somehow integrate. Until he can do so, he is less than hero and less than lover, a figure who is characterized by a comic paralysis. Although the traditional external dialectic of Good vs. Evil, Christians vs. Pagans is present in the poem, it is superseded by the more immediate conflict within the hero between love and feudal obligations. Thus neither Zumthor's nor Van Nuffel's schema adequately describes the essential structure of the Prise d'Orange, which is not monologic. Two powerful ideologies, the courtly and the heroic, vie with one another in the character of Guillaume, and it is around this inner conflict that the poem is structured. I therefore propose a third schema to underscore the principal tensions inherent in the Prise d'Orange (Schema III). On the horizontal axes, the axes of contraries, we have an adherence to the courtly ethos vs. an adherence to the heroic ethos, or a neglect of the heroic ethos vs. a neglect of the courtly; on the diagonal axes, the axes of contradictories, we have an adherence to the courtly ethos vs. neglect of 26 Olifant / Vol 7, No. 1 / Autumn 1979 Schema III adherence to the courtly adherence to the heroic ethos neglect of the heroic ethos neglect of the courtly ethos the courtly ethos, and neglect of the heroic ethos vs. adherence to the heroic ethos; and on the vertical axes, an adherence to the courtly ethos implies a neglect of the heroic ethos, while an adherence to the heroic ethos implies neglect of the courtly ethos. This schema incorporates the Greimasian model, but in relative, not absolute, terms, since one cannot speak of exclusive disjunction between a series of oppositions which will eventually be resolved. Guillaume's conflict between the heroic and courtly codes is prefigured by the mixture of epic and romance motifs which are found in the very first laisses of the chanson. The Prise d'Orange begins with a standard epic prologue (laisses 1 and 2) in which the jongleur attempts to capture the interest of his audience by providing them with a brief preview of the highlights of his tale. In laisse 3, however, which marks the beginning of the narrative proper, there is an abrupt change of tone, emanating from the introduction of a springtime motif, characteristic of both lyric poetry and courtly romance:7 Ce fu en mai el novel tens d'esté; Florissent bois et verdissent cil pré, Ces douces eves retraient en canel, Cil oisel chantent doucement et soëf.
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