Fairies

Texts: Erec and Enide and Lancelot   

Fairies play a more direct role in Sir Orfeo, wherein the protagonist's wife is kidnapped by the Fairy King    

Descriptive Excerpts from the Text:      

From Erec and Enide: "Four fairies had made it (Erec's marvelous King's cloak that portrays various sciences) with great skill and mastery."      

From Lancelot: "But he, of whom I have more to tell, wore upon his finger a ring, whose stone was of such virtue that any one who gazed at it was freed from the power of enchantment. (15) Holding the ring before his eyes, he gazed at it, and said: "Lady, lady, so help me God, now I have great need of your succour!" (16) This lady was a fairy, who had given it to him, and who had cared for him in his infancy. And he had great confidence that, wherever he might be, she would aid and succour him."

 

Literary Context     

The fairies as seen here are invested in the labor of manufactured marvels, the craftsmanship of adornments, and gender. The primary function of fairies in these works is to create marvels for the use of humans. These adornments take the form of clothing and jewelery -enchanted objects that can be worn as a way of transmuting and sharing in that fairy's magic. The craftsmanship that goes into Erec's cloak position the fairies as givers of knowledge as well as magic. Unlike Sir Orfeo, the works of Chretien either do not show male fairies or they do not exist. Is it significant that it is female creatures who craft and bestow these magical gifts? Elsewhere in Chretien's romances, it is women who gift magic rings as a form of protection for a male protagonist (Lunete and Laudine in Yvain) or labor in the production of textiles (the Isle of Maidens also in Yvain) so fairies may be an extension of traditional female gender roles. The fairy who takes on a maternal role to Lancelot certainly fits this rule.   

So where do fairies figure into the human-beast spectrum? While elevated above humans in respects to their enchanted craftsmanship and mystical knowledge, they still only figure into plots as helpmeets to male protagonists in very hyper-gendered roles.

 Modern Representation

Fairies from a Harry Potter videogame more closely resemble the fairies modern readers are familiar with -tiny and winged. Both texts only recognize female fairies.