Deception and Duplicity in "Bisclavret"

Marie de France’s “Bisclavret” tells of a man who is a werewolf. Because of Bisclavret’s mysterious absences throughout every week, his wife grows suspicious and confronts him about it, claiming she is “in terror every day” when he is gone. He tells her that he is a werewolf, and that he kept it a secret in order to ensure he would be able to turn back into a human, because without his clothes, he is able to change back from a wolf. She takes advantage of this knowledge and, with the help of a knight who is in love with her, steals her husband’s clothes so he may not return to his human form. She and the knight get married and Bisclavret is taken in by the king after showing loyalty and because the king felt “[his] sense is human”. The knight with whom the wife eloped is invited to a celebration with the king, and he brings the wife with him. Bisclavret recognizes the knight and attacks him, then attacking his wife and biting off her nose. Because Bisclavret has never been violent, everyone assumes that he must have a good reason for his actions. They interrogate the wife and she finally reveals that Bisclavret is a werewolf and she returns his clothes.

Although Bisclavret is technically the beast in this tale, it may be said that his wife is the monster. She tells her husband he should never “doubt [she’s] loyal in any affair”, yet she uses the intimate information he trusted her with to betray him. Her deceit almost permanently ruined his life by trapping him in his wolf form forever. She does not even show any remorse or regret for her actions. The fact that she and all the women in her family later had no noses is probably the only repercussion she considered (and that was only after-the-fact).

Nonetheless, Bisclavret’s wife is initially very forthcoming and understanding of Bisclavret’s condition. At the soonest opportunity, though, she manipulates the situation to suit her desires. She takes advantage of Bisclavret’s trust in her in order to bring him to ruin. Bisclavret, however, is a beast physically, but a humane, civil man (even when he is a wolf). Even when under threat of death, Bisclavret “kisses” the foot and leg of the king, unwilling to actively defend himself due to his fierce loyalty. Despite the fact that he is seemingly the most threatening character of the poem, he is in fact one of the most harmless. This idea of physical appearances being false or misleading coincides with the ideas that “one should not judge a book by its cover” and that appearances are not a reliable judge of character.