LIT 231
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Roman de la Rose, Chapters 10-12

Keep in mind that Genius does not mean smarts or intelligence to Jean de Meun.  Genius has to do with generation (i.e., procreation).

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. What does Nature confess to?  What is the logic of her confession?  She gets lost in digressions several times, but she always eventually gets back on track (and her digressions are often relevant after all).  What is the point that she's making?  Why is she upset?  What is she complaining about?  What does she regret (and ask for forgiveness for)?  What does Jean de Meun expect us to think of her?
2. What exactly is Genius advocating?  What does Genius preach against?  How does his sermon relate to the story of the rose-bud?  Nature and Genius seem angry with those who have blocked the lover's path to the rose-bud.  Why?  Shouldn't a woman be careful about welcoming a lover and jealously guard her reputation?  Why do Genius and Nature side with the lover and his supporters (e.g., the God of Love and Venus)?  What is Jean saying to women who turn lovers down and jealously guard their reputations?  What has the whole point of the Roman been?  Does the poem's conclusion in the final chapter reinforce what Genius has said?
3. What do you make of Genius's comparison of the garden of pleasure with "the fair and verdant park where the Virgin's son, the white-fleeced lamb, brings the sheep with him, leaping ahead over the grass" (p. 307)?  Are we supposed to repudiate the garden of pleasure?  If so, why is Genius aiding the lover in getting his rose-bud there?  What is the relationship between the garden of pleasure and the heavenly park?  What has the whole point of the Roman been?  Does the poem's conclusion in the final chapter reinforce what Genius has said?

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