15
RESCUING LADY NATURE
position of he women in he poetry does not reflect he actual status of he
majority of women in feudal society. The heme of romantic protection
represents a fantastical projection by he male romantic. Even when he lady’s
lack of social power seeps through into he fabric of he poetry, her
powerlessness is framed as a need for knightly protection. The romantic
fantasizes hat he woman needs knightly protection from predators instead of
recognizing her desire for social potency. The simultaneous act of elevating
and protecting the idealized woman in romanticism allows the hero to sustain
he fantasy of he woman-on-pedestal while indirectly acknowledging her very
real low social status. In this way, he romantic becomes he protector of he
pedestaled woman, creating a subtle amalgamation of male fantasy and social
reality.
The fantasy of romantic protection is predicated on he lover’s promise of
sexual self-constraint toward his lady. However, romanticism never questions
he social conditions which make such constraint necessary. A romantic story
would lose its charm if he knight were to challenge he social or political
institutions which render he Lady powerless in he first place. Romanticism
patently accepts that men inherently desire to plunder women, while regarding
promises of male self-control as heroic acts of self-mastery.
At this juncture, we might ask why he romantic fails to critique he social
conditions which regard idealization, protection, and male self-constraint as a
necessary good? Surely, he lover wishes his beloved to be truly free. Perhaps
he function of romantic love is to camouflage he lover’s complicity in
perpetuating he domination of he beloved. Perhaps idealizing, protecting, and
promising to constrain he desire to ‘defile’ he beloved emerges out of a
power structure from which he lover knowingly or unknowingly benefits and
thus wishes to maintain. In the name of protecting he beloved from he
dragon hat threatens to slay her, hen, he knight actually slays his beloved
himself: He slays His Lady’s’ self-determination and agency in he world. In
this way, he knight is really he dragon in drag.
Romance, HiERARchy AncI AUenatecI DesIre
In
addition
to
prescribing
idealization,
protection,
and
self-constraint,
romanticism also prescribes an alienated form of desire and knowledge.
Romantic love is based on he lover’s desires, rather than on an authentic
knowledge of he beloved. The romantic’s love depends on his fantasy of his
beloved as inherently powerless and good according to his definition. He
views his beloved through a narrow lens, focusing only on a minute,
vulnerable section of her full identity; meanwhile, he rest of her body
becomes a screen for he projection of his fantasy of he ideal woman. The
romantic glosses over information about his beloved which contradicts his