Citation

Trujillo JR. Revista de Poetica Medieval 2022; 36: 333-385.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022)

DOI

10.37536/RPM.2022.36.36.96946

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The quotidian presence of death in the Middle Ages has given rise to numerous cultural representations, many of which have become literary topos throughout the Christian West. Of all the forms of desired death, suicide is the intentional act of death that is least reflected in medieval literature. Unlike the obsidionals, a tragic example of the defence of collective identity from Classical Antiquity, individual suicides are considered a special and reprehensible case of self-killing, which remains unnamed until the 17th century. After discussing the essence of voluntary death, this article studies three exemplary types in the medieval Arthurian translations, of different cause and condition, which allow us to conclude a lack of uniformity in the medieval mentality of the act and of the suicidal agent. Due to its nature, chivalric literature collects few episodes, although they are full of didactic purpose and a sense related to the conception of lineage. © 2022 Universidad de Alcala. All right reserved.

Language: es