FREE ESSAY ON COLOR SYMBOLISM IN SELECTED NOVELS

COLOR SYMBOLISM IN SELECTED NOVELS

Marie de France uses several symbolic objects in her stories to get the point across.
Sometimes what is the simplest object can have a thousands meanings. Whether you're
talking about trees to the color of an article of clothing, there was a reason, a purpose
for making it a weeping willow or a red scarf. You need to look deep within the story
line and fine it's true meaning. In Yonec, Laustic and Milun, see the usage of birds,
especially that of a swan. But why use birds? For the reasons that birds symbolize so
many things such as love and romance, purity and redemption and forgiveness and the
chance to start over. 
In Yonec and Laustic, both show extra-martial love, all incorporate the obvious and
certain affair of the unmarried lover, an unhappily married woman. In Yonec I was
reminded of a children fairy tale, "Rumplestilskin". In the story, when she is released
to go outside, she sees a shadow of a large bird. Then it flew into the room and
resembled a hawk of five or six moultings. Then birds lands in from of the lady and
transforms itself into a fair and noble knight. The hawk represents a noble bird. Meaning
that secrets remain secret but be assured that it will help you in your time of need. The
hawk is also brown so this probably also is creating an atmosphere of gloom and danger
which happens in the end because she is denied the love she has always wanted. So there
is both the nobility of the hawk, but also the foretelling of what is to come.
In a Laustic, the birds are depicted here as being joyful, sweet but the married wife
uses a nightingale to send out messages to her loved one. The usage of the nightingale
suggests that she does not know the joys of the world, that she has been unfortunate to
be relieved of pain. A nightingale usually symbolizes yearning and pain and in
Christianity it symbolizes longing for heaven. In which case would be the love she holds
for another.
In Milun, a swan is used as a messenger. A swan represents a transformation, as in from
"ugly duckling' into a beautiful swan. It also symbolizes loyalty and fidelity, which is
why she uses it as a letter carrier to her love. The color of the swan is another
important factor. The whiteness of the swan depicts scenes of tranquility and purity. 
The usage of color and of birds can be spotted out in this book fairly easily and it is
this that makes the birds and colors so important for understanding why Marie de France
uses them.
Bibliography 
Ibanez, Vincente B. Color Symbolism in Selected Novels. New York: Peter Lang, 1997.
Regain, Mark. Dream Symbols: Info on dreams interpetations.
htttp://dreamemporium.com/dream_symbols.html (1999). Online.