In Medieval romance narratives, elements of the supernatural occur frequently and this reappearance of otherworldly characters suggest that they hold a great function within the plot rather than just the function of a magical character. It is also apparent that at the time of the medieval readers, aspects of the supernatural kept the literature interesting as well as providing an element of spectacle, which is what could contribute to the stories being so popular now in modern day audiences. In looking at the definition of supernatural from the Oxford English Dictionary, it describes the term as:
‘Belonging to a realm or system that transcends nature, as that of divine, magical, or ghostly beings; attributes to or thought to reveal some force…show more content… The effect that this element has presents women as defective and unruly. In Pearman’s Women and Disability in Medieval Literature, he suggests that ‘instead of neatly concluding the narrative, the bodily impairments caused by the punishment of the character end up producing alternative narratives that challenge common medieval notions of femaleness, femininity and disability.’ Disability in the medieval period was sometimes seen as a punishment for sin and especially women were expected to tend to their husbands needs at all times, therefore Bisclavret’s wife has succumbed to a punishment for being selfish. She has not supported her husband and as a result of her beastly attitude, her appearance has been deformed which creates a disability and removes some of her femininity as she is so longer the beautiful woman she once was. Pearman also states…show more content… From these elements, it is clear that Marie’s sense of fate in terms of love is unique. Her tales stress that love seems to occur despite of what the characters desire and this ultimately is what happens in real life – people cannot control falling in love and that it is placed in the hand of destiny. The supernatural elements here help to express that it is how humans behave and respond to these events and emotions, not the forces that affect them. What this does is create tales that are actually relatable to medieval life so therefore the supernatural has become a part of traditional medieval literature, something in which Marie de France has played a huge part and has used the function of the supernatural to express this her
