Hi

I'm obviously not asking you to answer or help me answer this but I wonder if you had any tips on how to tackle this question?

"The Courtly Lover might be slave to his mistress but the poet is master of his text". Discuss.

Answer With reference to "Song sung by Egisthus and Clytemnestra" and "Dido in Love".

Thanks.

Break it into 2 parts: 1,The lover is a slave to his mistress and 2, the poet is master of his text.

In the first play (Agamemnon) of a series called Orestia, Aegisthus marries Clytemnestra while her husband is away at war. Aegisthus does so to become king, but is really slave to Clytemnestra's evil bidding. (a puppet to her). Also, they set forth an event fated to restore the blood-line to the rightful heir and are both murdered by Agamemnon's son.


Dido is simply stricken with love-sickness beyond anything... clearly jaded from her past.

Overall theme, lovers are blinded by love. All logic and reason goes out the window.

Conversely, think about a poet. Who is s/he slave to? HE is the one who WRITES the story. He has ultimate control over his creation. I hope this helps a bit. Good luck.