Today I was able to check out the Renaissance Faire down by Green Bluff. I haven't been to a Renaissance Faire since I was about four years old, so it was definitely a different experience for me. When I was younger, I remember everything seeming so alien and magical (there was jousting on horses and my dad got to shoot a real arrow! Whoa!), and today I felt a lot more cynical. Most of that is growing up, but I think part of it probably has to do with having the context of the Anglo-Saxon and Middle English literature to consider while walking around the Faire. However, having the literature to compare qualities of the Faire with was very entertaining and definitely lent to my enjoyment of the day.
Maybe the most interesting connection to our readings I saw at the Faire was a show called "Battle Chess." In "Battle Chess," two actors played normal chess, but whenever their pieces came together there would be a fight to see whose piece would win. The fighters were chosen "randomly" out of a hat. Before the game began, however, the characters had mini scenes where they interacted with each other. Some characters got engaged; others revealed long-standing feuds with each other. Thus, when it became time for them to fight with each other during "Battle Chess," the audience had a context for their relationships. This is similar to the Anglo-Saxon and Middle English tendency to start epics with a description of the genealogical history behind the characters. (For instance, the first 60 lines of Beowulf address Hrothgar's family history.) In both cases, primary information is set up at the beginning so that there will be a context for the events that occur within the story and also a reason for the audience to care about the characters and the families they represent. Brianna Wheeler, who went with me, made a really good comment about that: "It's just effective storytelling," she said. "As long as they are telling a story in a similar medium, it is going to come out comparably." It was interesting to be able to see these ideas in action, as well as to consider them in a larger function-based context.
Another similarity between "Battle Chess" and our readings so far was a domineering female character. In "Battle Chess," one of the longstanding feuds between characters existed because one of the women had married the cousin of one of the men. However, that cousin had died on his wedding night, and his kin were still very upset with the bride, since they suspected that she had killed him. This has similarities to the Wife of Bath, who also may have killed one of her husbands: at the very least, she tells Jamekin "If I were widwe, sholde wedde me" (574) and is widowed 19 lines later. In both cases, these are strong women who are portrayed as scheming and ruthless. They both are suspected of manipulating and possibly killing men to get what they want. While we still have a stereotype of this woman in our culture today (in some cases, she may be referred to as a gold digger), this seems like an especially appropriate trope for early English culture and literature. Because women were primarily married off for financial, social, and political advantage, it makes sense that some might decide to take matters into their own hands and control their own situations.
I really enjoyed being able to check out the Renaissance Faire today, and I'm glad that I was able to have the context of medieval literature to guide my observations. Otherwise, I'm sure that I would have caught the more obvious historical allusions like dress and jousting, but I may have missed the more subtle cultural details, and those are what ended up being most fascinating in the end. This is a really interesting cultural time period, and I'm excited to continue learning about it.
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