“Sum ded and sum awedde”: Ambiguity, Madness, and Dehumanization in Sir Orfeo
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Sir Orfeo explores the ambivalent nature of categorized dichotomy dividing civilized humanity and savage inhumanity by having Orfeo and the fairy king intrude on the realms of each other. Although the fairy king and his companions display familiar tropes of courtly activities and conducts similar to Orfeo’s own court, their refined civility comes across as uncanny due to the alien nature of the Otherworld. Conversely, Orfeo and Heurodis experience traumatic loss of legible humanity through their encounters with the fairy king, fashioning themselves into something inhuman as they leave the comfort of human society. Heurodis’s madness is especially unsettling, since the physical and psychological damage sustained on her person renders her inaccessible as a courtly queen. The “happy” ending of the poem is thus unsatisfactory from the dynastic standpoint, which is in turn an expression of the overarching thematic concern with narrative ambiguity and fractured dualism.
Abstract
Sir Orfeo explores the ambivalent nature of categorized dichotomy dividing civilized humanity and savage inhumanity by having Orfeo and the fairy king intrude on the realms of each other. Although the fairy king and his companions display familiar tropes of courtly activities and conducts similar to Orfeo’s own court, their refined civility comes across as uncanny due to the alien nature of the Otherworld. Conversely, Orfeo and Heurodis experience traumatic loss of legible humanity through their encounters with the fairy king, fashioning themselves into something inhuman as they leave the comfort of human society. Heurodis’s madness is especially unsettling, since the physical and psychological damage sustained on her person renders her inaccessible as a courtly queen. The “happy” ending of the poem is thus unsatisfactory from the dynastic standpoint, which is in turn an expression of the overarching thematic concern with narrative ambiguity and fractured dualism.
참고문헌 (14)
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