Elaine Briggs: Medieval English: Veronica O’Mara

Critical Commentary on Sir Orfeo

The passage begins with a description of sixty ladies practicing falconry. From afar, Sir Orfeo marvels at the ‘fair game’, with a nostalgic state of mind, as he would have done this in happier times, when he was king and with his wife, Heurodis. Sir Orfeo then sees his ‘quen’ and ‘Dam’ who has been separated from him for ten years, a decade of which he has been relentlessly searching for her, giving up his kingdom in the process. The two ‘word no speke’ as they are either; afraid they will be caught together thus destroying any possibility of her rescue from the fairy king; are completely awe-struck or are submissive regarding the fairy king’s power over her. The passage concludes with Sir Orfeo, now alone, wanting his life to end now he has seen his wife and that he has no hope of rescuing her, ‘Allas, whi nil min hert breke?’

        The passage begins with line 305 and concludes with line 338. This is approximately halfway through Sir Orfeo, thus all characters have been firmly established and the conflict of Heurodis’ kidnap has already occurred. The extract is the rising action of the romance, as after ten years of hardship and loneliness, Sir Orfeo is rewarded with the chance to ‘biheld hir’ and thus continuing the chivalry displayed throughout, he devises a plan to rescue his wife using his music as his only weapon against the fairy king.

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        The section is made up of three different styles, which coexist with and exemplify Sir Orfeo’s state of mind. Lines 305-320 are written in the third-person narrator, thus giving the piece an objective and descriptive style. This can be seen in the use of a natural semantic field, which emphasises his oneness with nature and his separation from his wife and kingdom, ‘Maulardes, hayroun and cormeraunt.’ This objective style is effective as its use of adjectives, gives an unbiased perspective whilst equally setting the scene for the reunion of Orfeo and Heurodis.

        Lines 322-327 are again narrated in the third ...

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