Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T19:36:54.082Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Women's Speech and Silence in Hartmann von Aue's Erec

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Patrick M. McConeghy
Patrick M. McConeghy*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University, East Lansing
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The speech behavior of Erec and his wife, Enite, in Hartmann's late twelfth-century Arthurian epic seems to support the view that women in strongly patriarchal societies are expected to speak with men rarely and to employ appropriate negative-politeness strategies to minimize the imposition. When Lady Enite breaks the rules, her husband imposes, on pain of death, a command of silence. She repeatedly disobeys but saves her life by using the requisite strategies to beg for forgiveness. Her impudence is nevertheless punished with demotion to servant status. On closer analysis, however, one must agree with Erec that he has merely been testing his wife and note that Hartmann is advocating a far more active and vocal role for women in the marriage relationship than first meets the eye.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 102 , Issue 5 , October 1987 , pp. 772 - 783
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Ardener, Edwin. “Belief and the Problem of Women.”Perceiving Women. Ed. Ardener, Shirley. London: Malaby, 1975. 1–28.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope. “How and Why Women Are More Polite: Some Evidence from a Mayan Community.” McConnell-Ginet, Borker, and Furman 111–36.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Levinson, Stephen. “Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena.” Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction. Ed. Goody, Esther N. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1978. 56–289.Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah. Feminism and Linguistic Theory. London: Macmillan, 1985.Google Scholar
Chrétien, de Troyes. Erec et Enite. Ed. Roques, Mario. Paris: Champion, 1978.Google Scholar
Chrétien, de Troyes. Yvain. Ed. Foerster, Wendelin and Reid, T. B. W. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1984.Google Scholar
Combridge, Rosemary N. “Ladies, Queens, and Decorum.” Reading Medieval Studies 1 (1975): 71–83.Google Scholar
Cramer, Thomas. “Soziale Motivation in der Schuld-Sühne-Problematik von Hartmanns Erec.” Euphorion 66 (1972): 97–112.Google Scholar
Ehrismann, Otfrid. “Enite: Handlungsbegründungen in Hartmanns von Aue Erec.” Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 98 (1979): 321–44.Google Scholar
Fisher, Rodney. “Erecs Schuld und Enitens Unschuld bei Hartmann.” Euphorion 69 (1975): 160–74.Google Scholar
von Strassburg, Gottfried. Tristan und Isold. Ed. Ranke, Friedrich. 15th ed. Dublin: Weidmann, 1970.10.1515/9783112315729CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, von Aue. Der arme Heinrich. Ed. Wolff, Ludwig. 14th ed. Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 3. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1972.10.1515/9783111324210CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, von Aue. Erec. Ed. Wolff, Ludwig. 5th ed. Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 39. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1972.10.1515/9783110483284CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, von Aue. Gregorius. Ed. Wolff, Ludwig. 12th ed. Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 2. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1973.10.1515/9783111588964CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, von Aue. Iwein. Ed. and trans. McConeghy, Patrick M. New York: Garland, 1984.Google Scholar
Hartmann, von Aue. Das Klagebüchlein. Ed. Wolff, Ludwig. Altdeutsche Texte in kritischen Ausgaben 4. München: Fink, 1972.Google Scholar
Heine, Thomas. “Shifting Perspectives: The Narrative Strategy in Hartmann's Erec” Orbis litterarum 36 (1981): 95–115.10.1111/j.1600-0730.1981.tb00486.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
His, Rudolf. Das Strafrecht des deutschen Mittelalters. 1920. 2 vols. Aalen: Scientia, 1964.Google Scholar
Jillings, Lewis. “The Ideal of Queenship in Hartmann's Erec.” The Legend of Arthur in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Brewster, 1983. 113–28.Google Scholar
Jones, George Fenwick. Honor in German Literature. University of North Carolina Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures 25. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1959.Google Scholar
Kramarae, Cheris. Women and Men Speaking: Frameworks for Analysis. Rowley: Newbury, 1981.Google Scholar
Kramarae, Cheris, Thorne, Barrie, and Henley, Nancy. “Sex Similarities and Differences in Language, Speech, and Nonverbal Communication: An Annotated Bibliography.” Language, Gender and Society. Ed. Thorne, Kramarae, and Henley, . Rowley: Newbury, 1983. 153–331.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Hugo. “Erec.” Hartmann von Aue. Wege der Forschung 359. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche, 1973. 17–48.Google Scholar
Lakoff, Robin. Language and Woman's Place. New York: Harper, 1975.Google Scholar
Lewis, Gertrud Jaron. “Daz vil edel wîp.” Die Frau als Heldin und Autorin: Neue kritische Ansätze zur deutschen Literatur. Ed. Paulsen, Wolfgang. Bern: Francke, 1979. 66–81.Google Scholar
McConnell-Ginet, Sally, Borker, Ruth, and Furman, Nelly, eds. Women and Language in Literature and Society. New York: Praeger, 1980.Google Scholar
Mussetter, Sally. “The Education of Chrétien's Enide.” Romanic Review 73 (1982): 147–66.Google Scholar
O'Barr, William M., and Atkins, Bowman K. “‘Women's Language’ or ‘Powerless Language‘?” McConnell-Ginet, Borker, and Furman 93–110.Google Scholar
Ruberg, Uwe. Beredtes Schweigen in lehrhafter und erzählender deutscher Literatur des Mittelalters. München: Fink, 1978.Google Scholar
Ruh, Kurt. Von den Anfängen bis zu Hartmann von Aue. 2nd ed. Vol. 1 of Höfische Epik des deutschen Mittelalters. 2 vols. Berlin: Schmidt, 1977.Google Scholar
Smith, Philip M. Language, the Sexes, and Society. Oxford: Blackwell, 1985.Google Scholar
Smits, Kathryn. “Enite als christliche Ehefrau.” Interpretation und Edition deutscher Texte des Mittelalters: Festschrift für John Asher zum 60. Geburtstag. Ed. Kathryn Smits, Werner Besch, and Lange, Victor. Berlin: Schmidt, 1981. 13–25.Google Scholar
Spender, Dale. Man Made Language. London: Routledge, 1980.Google Scholar
Thorne, Barrie, and Henley, Nancy, eds. Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance. Rowley: Newbury, 1975.Google Scholar
Thorne, Barrie, Kramarae, Cheris, and Henley, Nancy. “Language, Gender, and Society: Opening a Second Decade of Research.” Language, Gender, and Society. Ed. Thorne, Kramarae, and Henley, . Rowley: Newbury, 1983. 7–24.Google Scholar
Wiegand, Herbert Ernst. Studien zur Minne und Ehe in Wolframs Parzival und Hartmanns Artusepik. New York: Gruyter, 1972.10.1515/9783110835427CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiehl, Peter. Die Redeszene als episches Strukturelement in den Erec- und Iwein-Dichtungen Hartmanns von Aue und Chrestiens de Troyes. München: Fink, 1974.Google Scholar