Middle English Marvels: Magic, Spectacle, and Morality in the Fourteenth Century by Tara Williams

Abstract

Reviewed by: Middle English Marvels: Magic, Spectacle, and Morality in the Fourteenth Century by Tara Williams Sif Rikhardsdottir Tara Williams. Middle English Marvels: Magic, Spectacle, and Morality in the Fourteenth Century University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018. Pp. viii, 176. $89.95. There is no shortage of works on marvel, wonder, and magic in Middle English literature and beyond. Yet, despite entering this fairly well-trodden field, Williams's study offers a novel theory of the marvelous in Middle English literature that is moreover firmly contextualized within the historical context of the fourteenth century and deftly illustrated through a detailed analysis of a selection of key texts from the period. The book advances the theory that a group of fourteenth-century texts "represent a coherent and previously unrecognized theory of the marvelous, one focused on the intersection of the magical, the spectacular, and the moral" (1). Williams traces intersections of moral imperatives and visual spectacles and marvels in a selection of Middle English texts, [End Page 516] arguing that the wonders of magical spectacles were intended to lead to moral reflections that in turn would engender moral actions. She furthermore suggests that this particular theory of marvels is indeed unique to Middle English texts, and that when they are compared with source texts in French, Latin, and German there is a discernible effort to substantiate and enhance such elements. The proposed theory raises some intriguing questions regarding literary productivity in English in the fourteenth century and its associated moral dimensions and intentions. Why, for instance, would Middle English authors have used marvels as a venue to query the limitations of moral and ethical systems in the fourteenth century, and is there a discernible historical development in the conception and representation of the marvelous in Middle English texts? The volume seeks to answer these questions. Throughout the book Williams seeks to establish a theory of marvels that does not focus on 'marvels' as a general category, but rather conceives of them as highly politicized and language-specific phenomenon. Their agency and functionality arise from historical circumstances and the presumed concerns of authors and audiences with issues of morality and affective behavior that, Williams argues, are tested through the literary staging of marvels. She notes the increasing emphasis in the period on visual representations of miracles or wonders—noting as an example the well-known coronation angel of Richard II. Such wonders were staged to induce affective responses, while simultaneously being framed within a moral, religious, or didactic context. Williams's analysis thus positions itself on the border between the analysis of marvels as an event and the analysis of the effect they have or might have: i.e., the potentiality of moral investment in the marvelous and its associated significance for both authors and audiences in the fourteenth century. Each chapter takes on a key text or a group of texts to illustrate both the theoretical model and its historical advancement, as Williams moves from the interlinking of visual representation of the marvelous and morality in Sir Orfeo in Chapter 1, to a shift away from image and visuality towards a spectacle of language in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the final chapter. According to Williams Sir Orfeo displays a clear link among image, memory, and morality that underlies her argumentation of the functionality of the visual spectacle and its moral component. The first chapter thus rejects previous readings of Sir Orfeo that claim the story lacks a [End Page 517] moral message, arguing instead that the often-noted aesthetic dimension of the gallery scene does not exclude a moral functionality, but instead invites moral judgment that remains critical to the story. The moral dimension of the spectacular gallery involves, on the one hand, a narrative message of the fairy king's moral standards and, on the other, a fostering of moral reflections in the audience. The deviations from human ethical codes displayed in the tale thus generate, according to Williams, reflections on chivalric values and behavior. Chapter 2 deals with Lybeaus Desconus and the tradition of the fair unknown, focusing on questions of identity, chivalric virtue, and morality. The chapter elaborates on the dual aspect of the...