SOURCE: "'Eliduc' and the Iconography of Love," in Mediaeval Studies, Vol. 54, 1992, pp. 274-85.

In the following essay, Coolidge argues that through its use of such symbols as a weasel and a bed before an altar, "Eliduc" becomes Marie de France's ultimate assessment of sexual and charitable love.

Although many early critics of Marie de France's Lais focused attention on her sources, her identity, and her handling of "courtly love," more recent critics have recognized the Lais' artistic integrity, narrative structure, and subtle handling of love. In two studies on the Lais, Emanuel Mickel argues persuasively that the progression of the first three lais—"Guigemar," "Equitan," and "Le Fresne"—introduce the three types of love seen throughout the collection: love begun in passion and ennobled through fidelity, love flawed by selfish desires and lack of restraint, and selfless love which is able to transcend the suffering that obstructs its...