Dynamic Desire Through Time (Or Perhaps Not)

    It’s easy to assume that the mind of a modern person is vastly different from that of a person living in medieval times. Society and technology have progressed so far that it wouldn’t be fair to assume that values held and honored 1000 years ago have persisted through the generations. Yet, it’s not entirely clear whether the mind, specifically its desires, has changed. In order to examine whether or not change has occurred, a baseline of the standards of love in a medieval relationship must be established, specifically heterosexual relationships, due to the boundaries set by available texts. To do so, one can take into account Yvain (The Knight of the Lion) and The Knight in the Panther Skin.
    While the two stories vary based on their respective cultures, specific plot points, and regions, they do have some similar features, most notably the focus on heroics. In Yvain, Yvain is rewarded for his heroics with the opportunity to marry Laudine, who he instantly fell in love with after slaying her husband. When he loses Laudine as a result of losing himself in the excitement of heroics, he is able to win her back by (shockingly!) performing more heroics. 
    In a similar fashion, The Knight in the Panther Skin navigates love through the lens of brave deeds. Through these texts it becomes clear that at the time, love was synonymous with  performing brave deeds. Love was to be granted to a knight in shining armor, and that is what men wanted to be for women.
    However easy it may be to say that this is no longer the case, that may not be entirely true. One way to measure what exactly modern standards are is to look at modern mass media. The knight in shining armor trope, while not as explicit as it was in Yvain or The Knight in the Panther Skin, still exists and flourishes in modern media, just in a slightly altered form.
    Action films and television shows often end up placing their female romantic interests in positions of distress, so that the leading man can swoop in and save the day, ultimately being rewarded with the romantic interest’s affection. It’s a trope found over and over, from Indiana Jones, the infamous “Bond Girls”, or even the Super Mario series, which, like Bond, has played off of the concept of the damsel in distress for decades.
    Each of these stories follow the knight in shining armor trope, similar to that of Yvain and The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. This is no coincidence when considering the fact that these stores are targeted towards a primarily male audience. Marketing and writing are strategic; these tropes are not simply thrown in. Instead, the stories are written around or include these tropes because writers and studios know that it’s what their audience wants to see. The ideal man that is seen in the writings of the middle ages is still valued today.
    It becomes clear upon looking at these examples that the standards of heterosexual romance have remained largely unchanged in the eyes of men or perhaps, what entertainment perceives the eyes of men to be. What about women? Do they still adhere to the standards established in these centuries-old texts? What do they want in a man? Two modern films in particular, Gone Girl and Jennifer’s Body, both written from a female perspective and produced for a primarily female audience, help address these queries.
    Gone Girl, the 2014 film based on the Gillian Flynn novel, is about the aftermath of Amy Dunne faking her death and framing her husband and the events leading up to it. Jennifer’s Body, a 2009 horror-comedy, follows Jennifer Check, a possessed teenager, as she baits and murders boys in her town.  It also considers the toll her actions have on the relationship she shares with her childhood best friend. Just by reading the synopses, the protagonists of these films seem cold and downright heartless, but with a closer look, their motives become quite clear.
    In Gone Girl, Amy Dunne finds herself stuck in a marriage where she lacks choice. Amy feels as though her identity is reliant on the whims of her husband, Nick. Amy acts like the woman Nick wants her to be, while she fears becoming a wife who dotes on her husband and bends to his will. In Jennifer’s Body, Jennifer, needing to satiate the demon possessing her, chooses to target and feast on teenage boys specifically. This choice springs from her distaste towards these boys reducing her to just her body (as the title cheekily points to). Jennifer spent a great deal of effort ensuring that her outward appearance was desirable and presentable to the boys at school, which is why, in retaliation, she targets those same boys.
    The motives of these two women highlight one specific desire: sovereignty. This desire is the same one highlighted in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, a medieval story told from the perspective of a woman. Although the Wife of Bath’s Tale is written by a man, it is incredibly effective at highlighting the expectation and desire of women in love, something that Yvain and The Knight in the Panther Skin fail to do.
    The idea of sovereignty as a desire is brought up explicitly in her tale, but also in the story of the Wife of Bath’s life (the prologue). In her tale, the moral of the story is that women want choice. The knight is told explicitly by the old woman that sovereignty is what women desire, but it doesn’t come until later in the story that he is able to apply that. After marrying the old woman, he is faced with the choice to have her become beautiful but unfaithful or remain ugly and old but be utterly faithful. Rather than make the decision himself, he tells her it is for her to decide. The next morning, he is rewarded with having his wife transform from ugly to beautiful as a reward for his wise decision. The knight gave his wife sovereignty by allowing her the freedom of choice.
    The life of the Wife of Bath similarly brings to light women’s desire for sovereignty. The Wife of Bath, married five times, praises her first three marriages with older men for the ability for her to have control in the marriage, as her husbands were docile because of their older age. Those marriages allowed her to make decisions on her own and have authority within the union. The freedom the knight gave his wife is exactly what Amy Dunne and Jennifer Check are working to obtain in their respective films.
    The modern focus on the female desire for sovereignty is not as modern as one may assume, as demonstrated by the Wife of Bath’s Tale. Standards for the ideal man in love and relationships have not changed. On the other hand, there have been more opportunities for women to tell stories about women and their desires, and there are more opportunities for those stories to be told. As was true for love in the Middle Ages, it is true today: men wish to be the knights in shining armor, while women wish for the ability to exercise control.