The Controversial Heart In The Lais Of Marie De France

The Controversial Heart
In “The Lais of Marie de France: Les Deus Amanz” Marie de France uses affections of the heart and mind to contradict one another. Two of the main characters each have fatal flaws that become the cause of their demise. The king and the noble young man acted selfishly by following their hearts instead of their heads, causing problems that could have been prevented. It is seen that using your mind would benefit more than going by the feelings in your heart. The king is seen as very selfish in this lay. He has used his daughter as, “a comfort,” since his wife died. Besides the fact that he was incestuous, he was only thinking of his own pleasure and happiness. Did he ever stop to think of the emotional toil his actions had on his daughter? Furthering his selfish motives, he wanted, “to prevent anyone seeking his daughter’s hand.” The king wanted his daughter all to himself and would go to extreme lengths to keep it that way. Even if having the love of
his daughter would bring happiness to someone else, he didn’t’ seem to care. He ultimately uses his heart, though ice cold, to assure that he kept what he thought was his. Never did he use logic to justify his own ways. The noble young man is perhaps the most selfish. Not only is his selfishness a flaw, but he also is deceptive and stubborn. At one point, he begs the king’s daughter, “to elope with him, for he could no longer bear the pain.” The young man knows that the king would be deeply distressed by this and his daughter would be regretful, but he only thought of himself and of the pain he was suffering. Eloping was the easy way out for him, yet would be the cause of agony for others. This questions if he even truly loved the king’s daughter because he was not willing to go the arduous length to make her his. He was not selfless and Marie writes, “Love was a great affliction to him.” His love might truly be lust if it is such a burden. When the solution of the potion presented itself, he willingly jumped at the opportunity; even if it was unfair and erroneous. However, he doesn’t end up drinking it, despite his “love” begging him to because he is so stubborn. The young man is always thinking with his heart and not using his better judgment. He has narcissistic ways with no regard for others. He never thought of the king’s feelings or the daughter either. If the mind was used more and the heart less, the end result would have certainly been different.
If the young man would have used his head and reason, he would have drunk the potion. The potion would, “refresh his whole body, even his veins and his bones, and restore all his strength to him as soon as he had drunk it.” He and his love would not have died had he drunk the potion as previously planned. Therefore, the king would not have had to lament over his daughter’s death. The entire outcome would have been changed. On the king’s account, if he had not wanted to keep his daughter to himself, there would never be a challenge for her suitors to complete. In his mind, he knew someone would eventually pursue his daughter. However, he had affection for her in his heart and refused to let her go. While, by some of society’s standards, it would normally be the best to go with the sentiments of the heart, in this case, the mind and common sense would have benefited everyone
more. This lay shows that when we use our heart, our decisions are jaded. What our heart tells us to do is often times a misconception of our current emotion at that moment in time and in that place. When the young man refuses to drink the potion saying, “I feel my heart to be strong,” he is going with his emotions at that time and not using his head. It was previously said that the young man was not strong enough to carry her up the mountain and he knew this. However, when he didn’t drink the potion, he was not using his head. When we use our mind, we are thinking analytically, logically, and often times, more clearly in comparison with following our hearts. This lay serves as a foundation for differing opinions in the ongoing debate in society of heart versus mind. Our heart can be irrational while our mind is usually rational. The one that we choose to go with can forever affect our future. There are so many different problems that would have more effective, positive outcomes if the decision-maker would have used their mind over their heart. I do somewhat agree with the popular saying to “follow your heart.” However, this quote is conditional. “Les Deus Amanz,” showed that following your heart can lead to unexpected and unwanted outcomes. The actions of the king and the young man showed the deadly results of following your heart under the influence of intense emotions. It also showed how emotionally driven making decisions with the heart can be and how using your heart can make your decisions change with your mood of the day.