Loathly ladies' evil tongues

Abstract

The discourse of courtly romance requires many a beautiful lady. Early 13th century Holy Grail-romances, however, also introduce damsels whose effictio bluntly contradicts the set commendable qualities of ideal beauty. The loathliness of the Grail messengers is part of the mirabilia Indiae-topos, offers splendid opportunities for the romancers' taste for allegory and the merveilleux, and her double personality links her with the Celtic fairy world or the oriental ladies-theme in old French romance. Whereas loathly appearance in classical and medieval literature in general is a mode of vituperatio and a moral theme, the Grail-romances of Chrétien, Wolfram, and Robert de Boron, and the anonymous Peredur and Perlesvaus, invite a reading of the loathly damsel-motif on a spiritual level in accordance with the semi-religious Grail context. Her disgusting appearance does seem to clash with her psychological and narrative relevancy in the quest-theme. However, it raises the important question what beauty is and how it should be defined on a rhetorical level, on the strategic-narrative level and as a biblical-spiritual concept.