Re: Lancelot


Subject: Re: Lancelot
From: Carroll (a1irish@airmail.net)
Date: Fri Jun 04 1999 - 00:30:17 EDT


Elizabeth,
I think that the ambiguity of the sign "rape" exemplifies the
multi-layered interpretations of all signs. Signifying the rape as
significant to Anna's selfhood, Lance assigns power to the act, a power
that Anna rejects: "'Are you suggesting . . . that I, myself, me, my
person, can be violated by a man? You goddamn men. Don't you know that
there are more important things in this world? Next you'll be telling
me that despite myself I liked it'" (Lancelot 251). Additionally,
Anna's reaction echoes St. Augustine's thesis about rape in The City of
God: "I affirm, therefore, that in case of violent rape and of an
unshaken intention not to yield unchaste consent, the crime is
attributable only to the ravisher and not at all to the ravished."
Augustine continues, "To my cogent argument to this effect, some may
venture to take exception. Against these I maintain the truth that not
only the souls of Christian women who have been forcibly violated during
their captivity, but also their bodies, remain holy" (53). Anna knows
that chastity, as a virtue of the mind, cannot be lost by rape of the
body.

I would think that this idea would fit nicely with your old/new
approach, especially if you consider Lance's dream of the New Woman,
which I think symbolizes Anna.
Linda Carroll
Elizabeth Penner wrote:
>
> currently i am working on a research paper reguarding lancelot and percy's
> fixation with old and new. for example, lancelot feels that anna has
> been made new because she has been
> violated. i am not quite sure what that means. i would appreciate any
> insight on anna's violation or on the idea of "new" and "old".



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