Burlesque elements in Old French epic poetry

This dissertation traces the development of burlesque humor throughout the period of the chansons de geste (approximately 1100-1400). Burlesque - an important aspect of the esprit gaulols - can be defined as: "A generic term for poetry, fiction, and drama in which customs, institutions, persons, or literary works - individually or as types - are made to appear ridiculous by incongruous imitation. The comic effect is produced by a deliberate "disproportion between the style and the sentiments" (Johnson), presenting the trivial with ironic seriousness (high burlesque) or the serious with grotesque levity (low burlesque)." The element of criticism in most of the burlesque episodes studied reflects the desire of medieval jongleurs to deride persons, character types, activities, customs, or themes familiar to their audience. However, the importance of burlesque humor should not be overrated; it is a minor factor in the epic genre and usually is found in isolated and episodic passages. The principal victim is the knight, whose exaggerated victories and unrealistic perfection cause a "modest revolt." Highborn barons, who engage in comical activities foreign to their position in the rigid social hierarchy of epic poetry, are occasionally depicted as cowards, spies travestied in various disguises, magicians, unruly monks, or as boastful, vain, and amorous adventurers. During their enfances, or youthful exploits, some of these nobles become involved in burlesque situations because of their ignorance, nalvetd, unchivalrous accouterments, reactions to the precepts of bourgeois foster parents, or arrogant and impudent behavior. The "hero of low degree" or comic villein is the burlesque counterpart of the hero. Rude in demeanor and appearance and extraordinarily powerful, he carries a huge unchivalrous weapon and is the principal actor in numerous comic episodes. Burlesque adversaries are Saracens, Lombards, or women who by some form of distortion present a comic contrast to conventional heroes. In addition to the burlesque of character types, we find parodies of conventional themes and activities: the code of chivalry, offers of rewards, the virtue of largesse, heroic boasts, missions and defense of tiie weak, the ceremony of adubbement, equestrian ability, displays of jousting, imprisonment, and epic enumerations. The all-important military pursuits of the knight and his equipment are also parodied. Burlesque struggles are characterized by Incongruity in the selection of the opponents, ludicrous defensive armor, and offensive arms such as the great clubs of the comic villeins. Religious parody is based primarily on mockery of the paynim deity Mahomet. Christian rites and religion are rarely parodied, although the ceremony of the baptism is distorted. Priests are derided when they prove cowardly In military situations. Verbal irony, which is close to burlesque, is expressed by taunts aimed at a vanquished foe or, less frequently, at a friend in difficulties. This study has indicated that the twelve poems of the early period of the French epic - from 1100 to 1165 - are richest in burlesque humor; the fourteen epics dated between 1170 and 1199 are weakest in this respect. The forty-six works of the thirteenth century show a return of interest to burlesque motivation, but not to the degree of the first period. There is a slight increase again in the sixteen poems of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but not to the level of the period 1100-1165. These burlesque elements, which have appeared to some critics to be a contamination of the heroic spirit, are in reality the outcropping of something fundamental in the French character. The ability to see onself and laugh - the esprit gaulols - is a gift in which the French take pride. It was apparent in the fabliaux and the farce; It was also present, to a degree not fully realized, in the noblest of genres, the epic itself.