Adam de la Halle Jeu de Robin et Marion
Here's Diana's notes on de la Halle.
Just click on the first comment.
Enjoy!
posted by Abbey von Gohren @ 9:02 PM
2 comments
MAP2006
Quand je pense à tous les livres qu'il me reste à lire, j'ai la certitude d'être encore heureux. -Jules Renard
2 Comments:
Author – Born in the middle of the XIII century as Adam Le Bossu (was
called also “Adam d’Arras”). He served as poet and musician at the court of
the Count of Artois in Italy. Adam de la Halle “was one of the last of the
great succession of ‘trouveres’ whose poesy was the glory of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries”. He has written Jeu de Robin et Marion, Jeu de la
Feuillée, Congé, songs, motets, rondels, “jeux-partis”, Dit d’Amour,
several strophes on Death, and 28 first strophes of an unfinished epic “Roi
de Sezile”.
Genre – Jeu de Robin et Marion is a dramatic pastourelle. This genre
becomes in the XV c. a pastourelle par personnages and in the XVII c. a
comédie pastorale. The genre of pastourelle was very popular among the
Troubadours. The subject is more or less standard: most often “a charming
shepherdess is wooed by a knight, repulses him, and remains true to her
rustic lover”.
Synopsis – there is no real plot. A knight while hunting with a hawk meets
a pretty shepherdess and offers her his love. Marion loves Robin and
refuses to return the knight’s love. The knight leaves. Marion meets Robin
and tells him about the encounter. The lovers eat a meal on the grass after
which Robin returns to the village for his friends. He invites them for fun
and games hoping that they will help him protect Marion in case the knight
returns. The knight comes back and kidnaps Marion before Robin and his
friends can stop him. Marion manages to convince the knight to let her go.
However, the knight attacks Robin. Finally the lovers reunite. With friends
they eat, play games, sing songs and dance.
Audience – Jeu de Robin et Marion seems to have been written for a noble
class, maybe for the court of the Count of Artois. The second part of Jeu
de Robin et Marion consisting of “a series of idylls, characteristic of
French country life in the thirteenth century, … [was] well calculated to
comfort the homesick Frenchmen who were exiled in Italy”.
Novelty and Realism:
Form - Jeu de Robin et Marion is a dramatic pastourelle modified by the
author. It does not contain the narrative part: “Contrairement a ses
devanciers, il [author] s’est completement efface pour ne laisser parler
que ses personnages”.
The uniqueness of Jeu de Robin et Marion is also the fact that “it is the
first completely recorded example of the intermingling, in a secular
theatrical piece, of music and verse, by couplets and dialogues”.
As scholars indicate the main emphasis of the medieval poets was “the
precise numbering of syllables and on the proper handling of rhyme. The
significance lies in the harmoniousness – not mere euphony, but a positive
balanced structural accord in sound”. Harmony is nowhere to be found in the
pastourelle, both in the poetic form and in the music: “au rythme ancien,
infiniment varie, il a substitue le vers uniforme de huit syllabes; il a
allonge les dimensions du poeme et ne l’a plus mis en musique”.
Theme - Some scholars argue that we can find many elements of realism that
go beyond the conventions of the genre: “Adam, au contraire, a observe la
nature avec attention. Il s’est attache a peindre la realite, non pas toute
entiere, avec ses exceptions de misere et de laideurs, mais prise dans sa
generalite et telle que la voit un observateur bienveillant. Il s’est plu a
peindre les paysans sous leur veritable jour, avec leurs qualites et leurs
petits travers, a nous les montrer dans leurs occupations rustiques, ou
dans leurs divertissements naifs et bruyants, vetus de leur costumes et
parlant leur langage”.
One of the examples of realism in Jeu de Robin et Marion are the songs,
most probably folk songs. As M. Julien Tiersot suggests “not only the tunes
are of the people, but also their words; and that Adam de la Halle left
both untouched, merely incorporating them into his drama. Proof of this is
afforded by the fact that five of the songs in ‘Robin and Marion’ have been
found among the works of other medieval writers”.
At the same time the author seems to be following the tradition of the
pastourelle genre quite closely. The subject and the names of the main
characters (Marion, Robin, Peronnelle) are standard. Following the example
of other poets the author includes many similar situations and expressions.
As Regalado points out: “ a few earlier medieval French poets had already
attempted to represent a consistently individualized speaker sunk into the
quotidian realities of mud, want, marriage, and descrepitude: Colin Muset,
Rutebeuf, Adam de la Halle […]. Their portraits, however, remain bound to
single traditional types”.
As Kirby summarizes: “In general, the characters in the little piece are
conventional; it is the fact that Adam de la Halle has made them appear
living beings that his greatness lies. For they live and move, as it were,
in a painted landscape, a kind of humble fete champetre”.
Group discussion: Adam de la Halle’s Le Jeu de Robin et Marion 6/13/05
Here are just a few of the main points (in no particular order) that we touched on in our discussion, so that we are all able to refer back to these issues if need be. Feel free to continue the discussion by commenting!
1) The fact that at least five medieval songs are preserved by de la Halle untouched points to the preservation and importance of oral tradition to the author. Melanie mentioned that Robin & Marion are not only common characters in Northern French folk traditions, but also found in English folk dances around the time of Shakespeare.
2) We were, as a group, somewhat puzzled by the idea that “France” as a country was supported in this piece. The author’s possible exile in Italy is perhaps reflected in the displacement and kidnapping of Marion.
3) The intense focus on material possessions is unmistakable. First of all, the gifts that Robin gives to Marion: blousette, drap, robe, ceinturette (l. 3-7); panetiere, bâton, couteau (l. 22-23); ceinturette, bourse, broche (l. 182-84), and the ubiquitous bread, cheese, and apples. It was proposed that there seems to be a shift in the realm of love from ideals to material objects; in which one’s love is guaranteed or “grounded” in material possessions. This perhaps points to the social class of the audience.
4) With the likelihood of an audience from the nobility, we also noticed an insistence on symbols from that class scattered throughout the text. For example, when they are playing at being king, a couple of objects appear that would not be a part of the daily life of shepherds and shepherdesses: the sword and the crown. The seriousness of these symbols (like the possibly suspensful moments) are soon thrown off and deflected as a joke.
5) An example of this is the reference to an heron, which is a classic symbol of nobility. This occurs when Marion is talking with the chevalier for the first time. The chevalier inquires“Dis-moi n’as-tu pas vu un héron?” (39), Marion responds: “Hareng? Ma foi, non, messire.” This “mistaking” of certain words for others re-inforces the playful and comic aspect of the piece.
Another instance of mistaking one word for another is when Robin and Marion are dancing, and she says: “Robin! Par l’âme de ton père..” Strangely enough, Robin’s response is “Oh! oui, par l’âme de ma mère.” We are all curious as to whether this a typical formulaic exchange, or whether the change in wording points to something else.
6) Marion is quite crafty with her rhetoric, and usually succeeds in deflecting the “attacks” of the chevalier and Robin alike. Not only this, she is able to keep a loaf of bread, stinky cheese, and apples all neatly tucked away in her bra for future consumption. How handy.
7) It was generally agreed upon that the text was surely full of double entendre and innuendo (see again, apples in bra), since it IS a comic piece. However, this bawdy sense of humor does not seem to be the main reason for the piece.
8) Finally, Who is Saint Coisnes /Cômes? Melanie suggested a possible connection to Comes, a certain god, but we have no direct answers as of yet.
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