Number 25 July 2003
From the Courtly Lady to the Emaciated Beauty: Medieval Archetypes in Modern Culture
Sarah Nason
One of the aspects of the Middle Ages which is explored by numerous scholars today is that of the antifeminist stereotypes which pervaded literature and cultural mores during the period. In an era governed by men, the fact that women were treated as inferior is unsurprising; archetypal visions of femininity fit neatly into medieval history. However, most people would like to believe that such pigeonholing has been left in the past, allowing for more liberated times in which women are portrayed realistically and as the equals of men.
It is undeniably true that an equality of the sexes exists today that was not even imagined in the medieval era. However, this rise in respect for women does not guarantee that all of the prejudices and stereotypes from preceding centuries have fallen by the wayside; on the contrary, most of the same archetypes are alive and well, even if modified to suit a new world. From the unattainably perfect virgin to the sexually insatiable temptress, these images appear throughout modern culture-but the disturbing nature of their existence is made far worse by the complacency with which women accept and further them. In many places, control of the image of women has passed into their own hands, yet broad generalizations and negative suggestions continue to fill daily life.
Though images of women may cluster in many categories, the basic medieval archetypes are these: foremost is the Courtly Lady, a physically perfect and emotionally restrained creature that any gallant knight would pine for, the subject of innumerable poems. Her supporting cast include the lascivious Wanton Woman, a subhuman creature designed to tempt and torture men; the Old Crone-often a widow-a hideous parody of a woman who gleefully corrupts younger women; and the Saint, a Mary-like figure whose boundless submissiveness and forgiveness make her an ideal wife, despite lacking the Lady's otherworldly loveliness. They are more like caricatures than actual individuals, yet their presence in contemporary popular culture is undeniable. Western culture is strongly guided by the media, and in all of its forms, that creation-sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, and always skewed-seeks to reduce women to several cut-and-dry roles. That these roles are not put forth only by men is disquieting.
For instance, there are many popular magazines which cater to either men or women-and, ostensibly, to their interests. Two such are Cosmopolitan and Maxim; the former is a women's fashion and advice publication, while the latter describes itself as pertaining to "sex, sports [and] beer." Approximately equivalent though not the same, it may reasonably be assumed that each covers a similar demographic of its chosen gender: adults between the ages of 18 and 40. As expected, Maxim reflects a typically chauvinistic attitude; it contains numerous articles that degrade or misrepresent women. Among other things, a single issue includes four spreads of airbrushed women clad either in lingerie or nothing-in the latter cases, posed to avoid exposing enough body parts to raise the magazine's rating. In one Maxim article-"Access Granted"-a television personality with a virtually impossible chest-waist ratio is shown on her knees, licking the floor in a universal pose of submission (Straus 164). Other such women appear randomly in advertisements, and even in an otherwise unrelated article on ideal living spaces, acting as glorified accessories (Walsh 194).
Two major ideas from antiquity appear here: woman as her husband's (or boyfriend's) possession, and the ideal woman as unattainably perfect. There are no individuals with any excess body weight-at least among the feminine specimens-and stereotypical minor female flaws are emphasized as unwanted. A comic lampoons some women's habit of spending their boyfriends' money (Maxim 66), and several pages are devoted to helping hapless men survive "chick flicks" (ironically, written by a woman) (Keyishian 78). One is left to imagine that the women who do appear lack such irritating traits, in addition to possessing taut bodies and ideal faces. This sets an impossible standard for both the men reading and for women everywhere; like the Courtly Lady, the Maxim Hussy is a being with whom normal women cannot compete. To be sure, she is not as proper as the Lady White in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, but she is equally inimitable, and may be seen as the modern equivalent.
The more surprising fact, however, is that Cosmopolitan, the magazine aimed at women, is actually worse in its portrayal of them. True, there are no such overt images as the videographer on the floor; however, such is not the only way to enforce outmoded archetypes. Many of the medieval images appear, apparently without question from the audience. Again, each woman photographed is impossibly thin and flawless, cast in particular lighting and edited so as to allege that layers of makeup are actually blemish-free skin. No clothing modeled-in either advertisements or articles-is of a size designed to fit an 'average' North American woman, who is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 pounds (pbs.org), or even an average North American woman after a harsh diet. "Cosmo's Cover Model Search" asked readers from all over the United States to enter; the twenty-five semifinalists are diverse in heritage and apparent personality, but undeniably similar in body and face type to those already in the magazine.
Though there are articles and quizzes such as "How sexy do you feel?" which command women to respect and appreciate their physical forms (Cosmo 178), these are contradicted by the far more numerous signs that the Maxim Hussy is the preferred one. The emphasis on imitating celebrities, from their eyebrows (Cosmo 24) to their eye colours (Cosmo 106), is strong, and yet another medieval ideal comes into play: the imitation should be natural. The Courtly Lady was to have the perfect face and body without effort, so as to reflect her inner purity, and though the reasoning is not the same, so should the modern woman. There are advertisements for a sunless tanner (Cosmo 115), skin-smoothing cremes, and "feather-light" make-up, all designed to make someone look better without indicating that work was involved. The message is clear: if one is not the Lady White, then that is too bad; she must still attempt to look like her, however poor a clone she may be.
The Old Crone appears in Cosmopolitan, too, although never overtly. Rather, this archetype is reinforced by a visible absence: the models are uniformly young and vibrant, and advertisements for dozens of anti-wrinkle lotions dominate the spaces between content. Age is taboo inside the magazine-and in the culture beyond it-as something to be reviled and fought. There is no direct reference to the widow or spinster as a monster, but there does not have to be-that she is ignored shows that she is unwanted. Yet ironically, in many ways the magazine performs the duties old women in medieval literature-such as the Wife of Bath-were accused of: telling younger women how to abuse men to get what they desire, and giving advice sure to damn quasi-honest men.
More blatant even than the stereotyping concerning the ideal woman is the sexual content of these magazines. The sheer mass of information on relationships, intimate positions, and manipulation of the opposite sex is staggering-whereas about 28% of the April 2003 Maxim's 36 articles are directly related to sex, 46% of Cosmopolitan's 50 are.1 Articles range from descriptions of how to rate a lover's "sack skills" (Cosmo 62) to "Flirting Moves No Man Can Resist" (Goins 146), and give the overall impression that a woman without a man with whom to engage in intercourse is a woman who must find one as soon as possible. This portrayal of females as insatiable sexual creatures is, bizarrely, reminiscent of medieval and classical stereotyping, except that in this instance it is being furthered by women themselves. Christine de Pizan argued against the likes of Jean de Meun by stating that she knew of no ladies who were as shameful and indecent as The Romance of the Rose would suggest all were, but no such defence may be used here.
One of the most shameless references to females as Wanton Women is in the "4 Ways to Punish a Naughty Boy" section. Cosmopolitan advises retaliation for real or imagined wrongs from one's man in such forms as hinting at having a sexually-transmitted disease to upset him and tying him to the bed, only to leave him to watch the Lifetime Movie Network ("4 Ways" 166). Like Alison in Chaucer's "Miller's Tale," tricking Absolon into kissing "hir naked ers" ("MilT" 3734), the women in the magazine are represented as petty, sly and hardly trustworthy, sure to behave atrociously towards any man foolish enough to become involved with them. The 'empowerment' granted to the Cosmo Lady-the updated form of the Wanton-seems nothing of the sort; it is the same antifeminist opinion as is given by Maxim and its ilk, but carries more credibility due to its source. There is no medieval analogue to this, as the few female writers of the time did not generally devote themselves to continuing the negative images of women held by men, even when they did not actively battle them like Christine. Archetypes hundreds of years old live on-and the incredibly high readership rate of the magazine (international annual sales of 4.5 million [washingtonpost.com]) proves that many women find no fault with this.
However, magazines are certainly not the only medium in which these figures appear; they are simply one for which comparative studies are easily done, as they are reasonably direct in their stereotypes and easy to examine. The fashion and film industries are two other strong examples, particularly in their portrayal of the Courtly-Lady-cum-Maxim-Hussy. A healthy body mass index (BMI)-the unit used to measure body fat based on height and weight-is between 18.5 and 24.9,2 which would be 133 to 178 pounds on a woman who is 5'11" tall. In contrast, the average BMI of a model is between 16 and 17.5-115 to 125 pounds on a woman of the same height-with exceptionally slender individuals such as Tyra Banks coming in below 15.3 A BMI below 17.5 is one element of the diagnosis for anorexia nervosa, while anything under 15 is considered emaciated. Obviously, these are not healthy individuals, yet they are the paragon of beauty in contemporary society, the standard by which young women measure themselves. Much like the Courtly Lady, the Emaciated Beauty is the 'perfect' creature a normal woman cannot become, unless she starves herself or becomes seriously ill. This appears in film culture as well; though not as dangerously thin as models, actresses are notoriously slim and glamourous, with BMIs typically ranging from 17 to 21. When 'plus-size' models and actresses appear, it is almost always in a tiny role or a position advertising something specifically for larger women; they are rare enough to be out of place, and thus their body shape appears even less acceptable. Even the medieval scholars admitted that real women exist-they are simply not the stuff of dreams, and have never been treated as such.
The Old Crone is again misrepresented, though in slightly more varied ways: she is by turns attacked and belittled. The "Botox Cosmetic" is one that has become a necessary tool of the trade in Hollywood, and gradually among non-celebrities as well. It is a substance made from Clodtridium botulinum, a toxin that often proves lethal when ingested, and works by temporarily paralyzing the muscles into which it is injected. Actresses approaching middle age have been using it for some time; however, individuals in their twenties are known to undergo the procedure now in order to reduce wrinkles that have just barely begun to appear. Plastic surgeons must carefully calculate the ideal time between a treatment and a star's appearance at a red carpet event-facial muscles may appear too immobile soon after the injections, and lines begin to reappear toward the end of the cycle, leaving a narrow window of perfection.4 This hysteria over aging grows ever stronger; the goal, it would seem, is to phase the Crone out of existence entirely. An increasing number of older celebrities whose flesh closely resembles plastic is a testament to this mentality; women are simply expected to remain smooth and flawless.
The portrayal of older women on television and in films has always tended to be unflattering. From Cruella de Vil, the sinister antagonist in Disney's 101 Dalmatians, to the wonderfully obnoxious Hyacinth on the BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances, female characters over forty have a tendency to be objects of either fear or ridicule. Like the Old Crone, the Botoxed Starlet is a figure useful as a foil for a story's heroine or a foolish creature fit to be mocked, but almost never serves as the main course herself. That is a role best left to Ladies, Wantons, or a suitable blend thereof.
Those stereotypically carnal women, of course, have a large part to play in the world of film, too. In Where the Girls Are, Susan J. Douglas comments that "men act . . . while women are on screen to be looked at" (Douglas 16). This is a job for both the Maxim Hussy (formerly the Courtly Lady) and the Cosmo Lady (formerly the Wanton Woman), but in modern times, actresses tend to appear as a mixture of both. While it may be argued that this situation has improved since the 1960s and 1970s, when buxom women with outrageous abilities such as Wonder Woman and Jeannie on I Dream of Jeannie both symbolically displayed and fought against growing feminine power, television and movies continue to give a slanted view of female sexuality. As a single example, the pornography industry casts women into the role of objects, dominated by men and acting so that men may ogle them at their leisure. Like the readers and writers of Cosmopolitan, actresses in this category view themselves as empowered, using their sexuality to their benefit, and perhaps they are-but the myths of lustful housewives hiring plumbers for afternoon trysts and the like persist as a result, similar to the insatiable temptresses the clerics so righteously warned against.
Even supposedly wholesome television shows have problematic views on women. 7th Heaven, a program espousing Christian values and carefully-wrought morals, consistently downplays the value of women as opposed to men.5 The three young female leads-Mary (Jessica Biel), Lucy (Beverly Mitchell) and Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman)-are obsessed with attracting and keeping men, despite the fact that they (Lucy in particular) have an unfortunate tendency to hurl random accusations at them in jealous rages. No girl is allowed to remain single for more than a day or two at most before everyone else begins to pity her, and behaviour such as following boyfriends around to see if they happen to be with other women is accepted as, if not natural, then not specifically abnormal. Supposedly a look at real American life, the show pigeonholes women just as much as does, say, a work by Juvenal; what is unfortunate is the fact that unlike Juvenal, it is not satire-and that so few people seem to notice its undercurrents.
Children, too, are inundated with messages about what it is to be a woman, messages that are far older than they realize. The original dolls were of adult women, and in Renaissance Paris they wore haute couture atop unrealistic bodies (Rogers 25). Today, the figures are typically of younger girls, but the basic theory remains. Barbie, as a primary example, is a fictive icon-people act as if she were a real person, despite knowing that she is not; however, she is also a fantastic one, exaggerating reality to create something 'better' (Rogers 3). Ninety-nine percent of American girls between the ages of three and ten own at least one, the average being eight; to say that the figure is a ubiquitous symbol of young women everywhere is no exaggeration (Rogers 13).
Much like the Maxim Hussy, the doll has an unattainable shape, but to a much greater extent-if she were a real person, she would stand 5'9" tall and have measurements of 33-18-31.5" (Rogers 23). She is perfectly made, and the stories written about her by Mattel cast her as someone who is infinitely sensitive, polite and accepting, yet never a mother. This is one of the closest representations of the Courtly Lady the contemporary world has: the pure, stunningly beautiful, and almost heavenly woman. Growing up believing that Barbie is the ideal that one should aspire to is, in certain respects, not all that different from the effect that hearing tales of Chaucer's Lady White and other such courtly specimens would have had in the Middle Ages-an impossible standard is created, and nothing else is good enough. This doll is not sexualized, and thus the first splinter name from the Courtly Lady cannot be used; given her omnipresence, the title of 'Barbie' explains the archetype quite neatly.
Through all of this, it would seem that the medieval type of the Saint has been lost while the other medieval types remain, though with adaptations. This is not so; she is simply not as publicized, as she lacks the glamour of the others. The concept of the All-Powerful Soccer Mom is one that has appeared in recent years-the working woman who still has the time and energy for housework, cooking, childcare, and limousine service. She may not actually exist, as most women have come to demand that their husbands (when applicable) accept a greater share of the labour, but she is nonetheless an archetype that women know and believe. Despite the frenetic pace of contemporary life, there is guilt to be felt over the fact that one cannot-or chooses not to-do more, and the suggestion that there are those who can certainly exists. This archetype makes cameo appearances in Cosmopolitan as the "Fun Fearless Female," and in films as the wife every man wishes he had; like Chaucer's Griselda, she is not the glamourous and heavenly lady, but an undeniable asset, nonetheless.
It is difficult to escape-and accept-the fact that the few roles open for women in medieval literature have not expanded as much as society as a whole might wish to believe. True, the great courts of the past have largely disappeared, and utter subservience to one's husband or father is no longer expected, but the figures live on in their new yet surprisingly similar shapes. Perhaps it is the fact that women possess more respect than they did, and that the paths to success are wide open; in such a situation, the remnants of an antifeminist past may not be so offensive. Whatever the reason, the literary women of past centuries may still be seen in all areas of popular culture, one of the clearest reflections of society there is-for better or for worse.
Endnotes
1. An article was deemed directly related to sex if it gave advice on relationships or on ways of flirting with and/or manipulating men (or women), or put forth sexual stereotyping such as "What to Do When She's Upset" (Cosmo 182). Indirect references (cosmetics, accessories etc.) were excluded (they would have added another 10%), but lingerie was not.
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2. All BMI statistics are taken from the National Institutes of Health website.
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3. These numbers are accurate to the highest degree they can be, based on statistics found online compared with reports of model weight. However, the average BMI must be left broad, as the sources of exact numbers are sketchy.
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4. Source: Entertainment Tonight
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5. 7th Heaven's story arcs were researched at televisionwithoutpity.com, which gives humourous-but accurate-summaries of numerous television programs.
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Works Cited
"Calculate Your Body Mass." National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. 13 April 2003. http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi
Cate et al. 7th Heaven. 10 April 2003.
http://televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=8
Douglas, Susan J. Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media. New York: Times Books, 1995.
Farhi, Paul and Megan Rosenfeld. "Made in America." 10 April 2003. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/mia/part1.htm
"4 Ways to Punish a Naughty Boy." Cosmopolitan Apr. 2003: 166.
Goins, Liesa. "Flirting Moves No Man Can Resist." Cosmopolitan Apr. 2003: 146-48.
Keyishian, Amy. "Chick Flick Survival Guide." Maxim Apr. 2003: 78-82.
Lewis, Carol. "Botox Cosmetic: A Look at Looking Good." FDA Consumer Magazine. 6 April 2003. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/402_botox.html
Lont, Cynthia M. Women and Media: Content/ Careers/ Criticism. Scarborough: Nelson Canada, 1995.
Rogers, Mary F. Barbie Culture. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1999.
Straus, Alex. "Access Granted." Maxim Apr. 2003: 164-68.
Walsh, John. "Top Gear: Bachelor Pad." Maxim Apr. 2003: 194-96.