Equitan by Marie de France

Equitan is a lai by Marie de France about the adulterous "courtly love" between Equitan, Equitan's seneschal, and the new bride of Equitan's seneschal. The name "Equitan" references the struggle for equality in status prevalent in Marie's lai. Equitan was a Lord, judge, and king known for his love of sports and amorous sports. The seneschal's bride was beautiful and well kept, which is a commonality found in many of the women in Marie's works. "All Marie's ladies conform to a single physical and moral ideal--pale grey-eyed golden-haired beauties with exquisite bodies and perfect manners and "breeding."" 

As previously stated, Equitan is a "courtly love" story, which is "...a power relationship in which the man "serves" the lady..." "There is nothing she could tell him to do that he wouldn't do, if he could--Maddness or wisdom, folly or good." Equitan is not the stereotypical "courtly love" story in which the wife of a noble is in a secret relationship with one of the noble's knights (seneschals). Instead, Equitan is a lai about the relationship between a king and the wife of the king's seneschals. This is a point of scandal and concern in the lai, especially in regards to how the seneschal's wife feels about the obvious financial and social standings of herself and the king. The seneschal's wife said to the king, "As lovers, were an uneven pair." This concerns the seneschal's wife because she believes that love is worthless without equality.

Hygiene practices such as bathing and blood letting are very important components of this lai as bathing is ultimately a murder weapon used in the close of this lai. Equitan is ironic because Equitan starts out as a man of sport and over the course of the lai becomes a sickly patient participating in blood letting and frequent bathing. Equitan plots to murder his seneschal by scalding water in order for Equitan to have the ability to marry the wife of Equitan's seneschal. Equitan falls prey to his own evil doing and dies by the very scalding water he planted to trap his seneschal. The following quote by Marie very accurately sums up the moral the story of Equitan: "He who seeks to harm his neighbor will be the victim of his own labor."

The events taking place in Equitan remind me of the events encounter in Hansel and Gretel. In Equitan, Equitan planned to scald his seneschal in a boiling tub, but instead fell prey to his own evil doing. In Hansel and Gretel, the evil cannibalistic witch plans to cook Hansel and Gretel in her oven/boiling pot (depending on translation), but the witch's plan is foiled when Gretel pushes the witch into the witch's oven/pot, killing the witch. Both stories serve as reminders that what goes around, comes around.