Blog #4: The Importance of Beauty

Beauty, youth, and nobility are important for a woman to possess in the Middle Ages in order for them to obtain a respectable man as their husband. As we learned in “The Women Troubadours,” women did not have very many rights. To many men, women were viewed as objects or as a possession of theirs that they could show off to the world. A respectable young bachelor is not going to want a wife who is unattractive or old. Enide was neither of those. In “Eric and Enide,” a whole paragraph is dedicated to describing the beauty of Enide. She was so beautiful that “Nature in making her had turned all her attention to the task” (pg 42). Enide has blonde hair, fair skin that seemed to glow, and sparkling eyes. She is so beautiful that no other woman can even come close in comparison. She was dressed in a white dress which symbolizes her purity as well as her nobility. Though her dress was made of poor clothing and was worn through in some parts, her body was beautiful. This symbolizes that she is beautiful on the inside as well. Though she is noble, she is humble. She is educated and smart. Eric falls in love with her beauty and brains rather than her wealth (or rather lack thereof). She is poor, but that does not make her any less noble.
Beautiful women in the Middle Ages were often painted with blonde hair and fair skin. They are mostly of noble birth as well. We learned that many poems of courtly love were written for the wife of a nobleman. In “The Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries, the woman is wearing a lavish gown. For her to own such a dress, she would have to be noble. She also has blonde, wavy hair and fair skin. These women were not stick thin. They had curves and many sculptures depicted them as being more voluptuous than the standard beauty model today. In some ways the medieval concept of what is beautiful in a woman compares to the modern concept. Today, blonde hair and blue eyes are still the classic look seen in magazines, on television, and in movies. It does not represent the entire industry, but it is the most prominent. In contrast, tan skin is favored over fair skin today and stick thin is preferred by men as opposed to a curvy frame.