The Misogynist Narrative Structure of La Roman de la Rose: Focuring on the Sexual Violence

This paper argues that Jean de Muen's use of mythical allusions in his part of Roman de la Rose reveals the self deceptive nature of courtly love convention. Jean de Muen incorporates the story of Pygmalion into the story matching the story of Narcissus in Guillaume de Lorris's part of the narrative. This mythical allusion, along with other mythical allusions he uses in the narrative, brings into focus the Narcissistic desire in the speaker's avowed love for the rose. As is the Fygmalion's object of love, the woman in the form of a rose is given a very passive role to play in the speaker's dream narrative about his sexual fantasy and the subsequent conquest. The brutal "deflowering" of the rose clearly signifies sexual violence inflicted on the woman's body despite her will, however, the speaker transforms the incident as the result of weak female constitution, demonstrating the classic case of blaming the victim of sexual violence for the crime that was committed on her. The mythical allusions in the narrative helps us to see through the covert intentions of the male speaker 1 lover in this world of courtly love where male sexual fantasy do come true