Woman as Vessel in the Joseph d'Arimathie

Woman as Vessel in the Joseph d'Arimathie Joanne Rittey Parfame estoit hons adirez, Et parfame fu recouvrez; Fame la mort nous pourchaga, Fame vie nous restora; Parfame estions emprisonne, Parfame fumes recouvre. (11. 763-68)1 Robert de Boron's antithetical statement in verses 763-68 offers much to provoke discussion of his treatment of w o m e n in the Joseph d'Arimathie.2 Yet, his work is not about women. In six tines, he 1 By woman was man led astray Yet by woman was he redeemed; W o m a n led us to death, W o m a n will restore us to life Because of woman we were cast into prison By woman we were set free. (My translation). Quotations are taken from Richard O'Gorman's Joseph d'Arimathie: A Critical Edition of the Verse and Prose Versions (Toronto: Pontifical Inst of Mediaeval Studies, 1995). 2 Note earlier edition of the text, Robert de Boron. Le Roman de I'Estoire dou Graal, edited by William A. Nitze ('C.F.M.A'; Paris: Champion, 1971). P A R E R G O N ns 15.1 (July 1997) 102 Joanne Rittey succinctly summarizes the inherent ambiguity of the medieval view of womankind. As he explains, she is at once the cause of man's downfall and also of his salvation. Moreover, the very form of the couplets strengthens the force of this statement. The purpose of this paper is to show h o w these six lines exemplify the use of w o m e n in Robert's Joseph. The primary function of w o m e n in the Joseph is to provide rhetorical amplification. The female characters serve to hightight the theme of salvation, which is central to Robert's work, by providing an analogy for the Grail. The w a y the female characters are described casts them in the role of metaphorical vessels. In myth, the vessel was seen as fulfilling afife-givingor ltie-maintaining role. Similarly, in Scripture, images of the vessel cluster around two themes: vessel of wrath and vessel of mercy.4 Robert uses the female characters for amplification of these aspects of the Grail. As is evident from its treatment in Geoffroi de Vinsauf's Poetria Nova, amplification was considered one of the two ways-the other being abbreviation-of developing a piece of writing. The poet would choose between these two options, which Geoffrey likened to a fork in the road: Curritur in bivio: via namque vel ampla vel arta, Velfluviusvel rivus erit; vel tractius ibis, Vel cursim saties; vel rem brevitate notabis, Vel longo sermone trahes. (U. 206-9) The way continues along two routes: there will be 3 E. Jung and M. Von Franz, The Grail Legend (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971), p. 114. 4 'Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honourable use and another for common use? What i f God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And he did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us, w h o m he also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles'. N e w English Version, Romans 9. 20-24. Woman as Vessel 103 either a wide path or a narrow, either a river or a brook. Y o u m a y advance at a leisurely pace or leap swiftly ahead. Y o u m a y report the matter with brevity or draw it out in lengthy discourse.5 hi the classical theory of rhetoric, amplification was one of the devices that an orator used to persuade the audience to his point of view. It was a method of enhancing the emotional impact of a statement. For 'weU-chosen poetic Ulustrations of the subtle and telling ways that language can be manipulated',7 classical orators had access to Cicero, Quintilian and Horace and their studies of rhetoric. Medieval...