Agency and Gender in Medieval German Literature April Lynn Henry
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository The Female Lament: Agency and Gender in Medieval German Literature April Lynn Henry A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Germanic Languages. Chapel Hill 2008 Approved by: Advisor: Professor Kathryn Starkey Reader: Professor E. Jane Burns Reader: Professor Jonathan Hess Reader: Professor Clayton Koelb Reader: Professor Ann Marie Rasmussen © 2008 April Lynn Henry ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT APRIL LYNN HENRY: The Female Lament: Agency and Gender in Medieval German Literature (Under the direction of Kathryn Starkey) This dissertation examines the conventional motif of the female lament in Hartmann von Aue’s Erec and the anonymous works Nibelungenlied and Nibelungenklage . I explain how these authors use the motif as a space within which fictitious female figures can gain or have access to agency. This dissertation contributes to the larger context of literary and gender studies by demonstrating that literature prescribes behavior and it fulfills a pedagogical function. In the introduction, I set up the theoretical framework for my three chapters. In chapter two, I argue that Hartmann von Aue revises the classical genre of the lament that dates back to antiquity to create a space for a female voice. Chapter three shows that the Nibelungenlied responds to Hartmann’s new gender construct by presenting Kriemhild, a grieving widow, who oversteps gender boundaries by instrumentalizing her grief and using it to legitimize her revenge. In this chapter, I compare the three main thirteenth-century manuscripts to illustrate that the representation of Kriemhild’s grief is a problematic aspect of the story. My fourth chapter concentrates on the Nibelungenklage , a companion text to the Nibelungenlied . Here I explain that the B and C redactions of the Nibelungenklage respond to the Nibelungenlied by recasting Kriemhild as a victim acting out of loyalty to her dead husband and by recontextualizing the individual lamentations as either productive or unproductive, but not destructive for society. iii To the powerful female agents in my life: my mother, Ann Marie, Gwen, Jenny, Kathryn, Sara, and Steffi. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of my dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support of many people. I am forever indebted to the faculty and graduate students of the Department of Germanic Languages at UNC-Chapel Hill for their support. I owe a very special thanks to Professor Kathryn Starkey, who patiently guided and assisted me through this arduous journey. I could not have completed this project without her kind help, constructive criticism, determination, goodwill and expertise. I would also like to thank Professor Ann Marie Rasmussen and Professor E. Jane Burns for reading and commenting on segments of my work prior to completion. I would like to express my gratitude and love to my mother. She has always believed in me wholeheartedly. Without her unconditional support, strength and love, I would not have completed my dissertation. My partner Stefan and my dear friends Gwen, Jamie, Jenny, Mike, Sara, and Steffi hold special places in my heart for their love, friendship, inspiration and encouragement. I am deeply indebted to them all. I am especially grateful to Stefan for his patience and pushing me when I needed it. I would also like to dedicate this dissertation in the memory of my friend Jamie Bishop. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION: THE LAMENT AND FEMALE AGENCY ..........................................................1 The Motif of the Female Lament ...........................................................................1 What is the Lament? ..............................................................................................4 What is Female Agency? .......................................................................................6 Female Agency in Medieval German Literature....................................................8 The Lament ..........................................................................................................11 Emotion ................................................................................................................15 The Lament: A Context for Female Agency ........................................................19 Dissertation Outline .............................................................................................24 2. THE FEMALE LAMENT: A SPACE FOR FEMALE AGENCY IN HARTMANN’S EREC .................................................................27 Introduction ..........................................................................................................27 Responses to Grief: Female Lamentation and Male Action ................................31 Enite’s Lament: A Space for Self-Expression .....................................................40 The Conventional Elements of Enite’s Monologue .............................................44 Unconventional Elements of Enite’s Lamentation: Enite’s Agency ...................49 Enite’s Agency in the Court .................................................................................55 The Significance of the Lament for Erec and Enite’s Story ................................60 vi Conclusion ..........................................................................................................60 3. THE THREAT OF THE FEMALE LAMENT IN THE NIBELUNGENLIED ..............................................................................74 Introduction ..........................................................................................................74 The Nibelungenlied Manuscripts .........................................................................76 Kriemhild’s Sorrow: The Conventional Female Lament Revisited ....................78 The Male Lament .................................................................................................82 Grief, Revenge, and Transgression: Kriemhild’s Trajectory ...............................88 triuwe : Kriemhild’s Justification in Manuscript C ..............................................96 Variations in the Manuscripts ............................................................................104 Casting the Blame: Die untriuwe .......................................................................112 Conclusion .........................................................................................................120 4. RECONFIGURING THE LAMENT IN THE NIBELUNGENKLAGE ........................................................................122 Introduction ........................................................................................................122 The Nibelungenklage and its Manuscripts .........................................................126 Productive and Unproductive Modes of Grief ...................................................129 The Productive Male Lament.............................................................................13? The Unproductive Female Lament ....................................................................138 King Etzel and his Unproductive Male Lament ................................................142 A Productive Model of Female Grief ................................................................151 Reconfiguring Kriemhild’s Grief .......................................................................154 Casting Blame in Manuscript B and C ..............................................................160 The Representations of Grief in Manuscript B and C........................................164 vii Conclusion .........................................................................................................167 5. UNDERSTANDING THE FEMALE LAMENT .................................................................................168 End of the Lament as a Space for Female Agency: Gottfried’s Tristan ............168 The Female Lament and Agency .......................................................................171 Lamenting Ladies and the Power of Grief: A Future Project ............................174 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................186 viii Chapter 1 Introduction: The Lament and Female Agency The Motif of the Female Lament Near the beginning of Heinrich von Veldeke’s mid-twelfth century courtly epic Eneasroman there is an elaborate lamentation scene. Dido, the queen of Carthage, has publicly declared her marriage to Aeneas. Aeneas, having received bad tidings from the gods, decides to leave her. Dido, grief-stricken when she hears the news, nearly dies of grief, loses her mind, cries, faints, threatens suicide, and laments Aeneas’s inevitable departure (v. 1975- 2096). But Aeneas sails away, to which the narrator remarks: daz was der leidiste tach, den frou Dîdô ie gesach. si was vil ubele bedaht. sie viel dicke in unmaht die rouwe gienk ir vil nâ. (v. 2245-49) 1 [That was the most sorrowful day that Lady Dido ever saw. She was in a terrible state. She fell often into unconsciousness; the sorrow affected her very greatly.] 2 Filled with anguish, Dido burns all of Aeneas’s gifts, and then speaks to him as if he were present (v. 2345-47). She avows: “ich mûz dorchstechen / daz herze,