Equitan - Marie de France

Equitan was a great lai written by Marie de France that showed the conflict of marriage during this time. Marriage didn't consist of a man and a women truly loving each other. Instead, men and women were unhappily married, which led to the cheating of their partners. This was known as courtly love. An example of this concept and the consequences that comes from this action is shown through Equitan.

"If by some trick he found out, I know it would bother him a lot. Still, wouldn't it be a pity if just for him I went crazy? The lady's so lovely, it'd be sad if she didn't love, if no lover she had!"

In the beginning of the lai, Equitan showed loyalty to Sensechal as best he could, even though he loved Seneschal's wife. He felt bad that this beautiful and elegant woman wasn't being loved the way he thought she deserved to be. Equitan knew that he, himself, loved her very much. He showed that he cared about Seneschal's feelings in the beginning of this lai, but this shortly changed as the lai continued.

"She'd arrange, with the greast speed, that her husband would be dead. This will be easy to accmplish with his help -- and he will wish to help? He answers, yes, he will; there is nothing she could tell him to do he wouldn't do, if he oculd -- madness or wisdom, folly or good."

By this time in the lai, Equitan expressed his true and endearing love for Seneschal's wife. They both agreed that if Seneschal wasn't in the way, they would be happily married. This is the point in the lai that Equitan changes his mindset from being loyal to Seneschal to not caring too much anymore and helping Seneschal's wife to kill her husband. They were thinking that this would help them to live happily ever after without the interference of Seneschal. Little did they know that their evil plan would soon backfire and the bathtub of boiling water would become their deathbed instead of Seneschal's.