Out of all the lais of Marie de France, Bisclavret deals with the most unusual premise: that men can become temporary beasts. It is hard to swallow that Marie, an educated woman, believed that “it often used to happen” (68). However, if we interpret the baron’s condition as a metaphor for his mental state, a close reading of the lay’s diction leads brings forth hidden truths about the sexuality of Bisclavret, his wife, and the king.
Right at the beginning of her lay, Marie explains that to be a werewolf is “to be possessed by… madness” (68). The use of the word “madness,” illuminates Marie’s belief that Bisclavret and other werewolves actually experience a psychological ailment. She also limits the ability to become a werewolf to men, signaling a tie between male sexuality and this illness. Becoming a werewolf appears to be necessary for Bisclavret because he always “returned home in high spirits” from his three day vacations each week (68). However, it must still be read as an illness because it causes his wife “great worry” and therefore marital unhappiness (68). Bisclavret’s “madness” also clashes with his reputation. He is considered a “good handsome knight who conducted himself nobly” (68). Marie uses the word “nobly” to deliberately conflict with the “ferocious beast” that Bisclavret becomes for three days out of every week (68). Bisclavret’s illness hints at a secret side of his sexuality that his wife cannot handle. Notice that when the baron is in werewolf form, he chooses to hide in “vast forests” (69). However, his wife demands explicitly “do not hide or doubt,” bespeaking her inability to acknowledge the clandestine nature of erotic love, which Bisclavret clearly desires (68). His illness can be seen as a way to release his sexual needs since he finds no outlet in his wife.
It should be noted that the wife’s first impulse about Bisclavret’s disappearances was that he must have taken a mistress. Even when she learns the truth, her first question is “whether he undressed or remained clothed” (69). When she realizes that he does undress, she continues to see Bisclavret’s werewolf form as a sexually threatening idea. She decides that she “no longer wished to lie with him” now that she has seen this primal side of him (69). The only option she sees next is to find a new man to lie with, a man “she had never loved or promised… her affection” (69). The fact that she doesn’t feel anything for the second man makes him unthreatening compared to the passionate and sexualized Bisclavret, who “loved her and she returned his love” (68). Before his wife can leave Bisclavret though, she must symbolically castrate him by stealing his clothes and therefore his manhood. She asks her new man to do this, signifying how, for her, one man must be present to remove another. However, Bisclavret’s passion and masculinity return when he gets his revenge and bites off his former wife’s nose in animal form. Marie describes how he “dashed towards her like a madman,” illuminating both his illness and the degree of hurt he felt when his wife could not accept him as a sexual being (71). The fact that he removes her sense of smell, the sense that is associated with being very strong in wolves, removes her from Bisclavret. Without a nose, there was no way she could ever understand his animal nature. Her female daughters, too, were “born without noses” and could presumably never learn to sniff out the primal desires of men (72).
The king is portrayed as a hyper-masculine figure in this lay, a great hunter and a great leader. He never had to ask for anything, he merely “commanded” or “summoned” a group of trusty followers (70). In fact, the reason that the king takes in werewolf Bisclavret is because the animal “ran up to him and begged for mercy” (70). The animal then “took hold of the stirrup and kissed [the king’s] foot and his leg” (70). In other words, the king immediately took to Bisclavret simply because he was able to act like a man. The werewolf’s ability to mimic his behavior amplifies the king’s love for himself and all men. His greatest compliment for Bisclavret is that he “has the intelligence of a human” (70). The wolf was permitted to sleep with men, “amongst the knights, just by the king” (70). The image here is one of love among men, which the king’s hyper-masculine image promotes. Werewolf Bisclavret is exactly the right kind of companion for the king because, while he is intelligent, he is also “gentle” (70). He becomes a loyal follower to the king when he “accompanied him constantly and showed clearly that he loved him” (70). However, there is a sexual side to the king’s relationship with Bisclavret when king places Bisclavret’s clothes before him to see if he turns into a man. The king’s advisor explains that “it is most humiliating for him” to have to change back into a man in front of the king (72). Therefore, they decide to leave the werewolf and the clothes in the king’s own bedchamber. In the intimacy of the king’s bedroom, Bisclavret is able to become human again and the king “ran forward to embrace him, and kissed him many times” (72). This is a reversal of when the werewolf kissed the king’s foot to beg for mercy, and signifies love being reciprocated. This also underlines the king’s masculinity and ideas of love among men; the only thing more ideal for the king than a wolf who acts like a human follower is an actual human follower.
Marie de France’s lay Bisclavret evolved into a complex tale of sexuality and secrecy when the main character’s ability to become a werewolf was read as a mental condition. Through such a lens, Marie’s diction bespeaks three main characters and their sexual conceptions and hang-ups. Note that after the sexually repressed wife and the dominant, masculine king, we find Bisclavret at the end of the story happy, but as a man with no sexual partner. Since he has the ability to remain alternating as man and beast for the rest of his life, he is in touch with both his civilized and primal sides, and therefore fulfilled.
