Jacques Le Goff s The Imaginary World - 1582 Words

Jacques le Goff, the most renowned French medievalist, proclaimed in an interview for the journal L Express in 2005 that â€Å"les hommes et les femmes d une socià ©tà © vivent et pensent autant par l image et l imagination que par le contact avec la rà ©alità © et la raison† (Men and women of a society live and think just as much through images as by contact with reality and reason). That s why, in my opinion, studying the imaginary world is so important, indeed, it is about telling the story of what makes people think, act and feel and since knights are a big part of this world, it seems to be the perfect subject to get a good understanding of the fantasy world. Litterature, works of art, architecture, sculptures, miniature illustrations are all†¦show more content†¦There is, of course, a moral function fulfilled by these images, they tend to give an example, but they are not perfect for all that, since the marvelous world is connected to the daily one, everythi ng remains humanly comprehensible, yet nothing human could be perfect. That s why criticisms are not absent from these tales, especially on knights behaviours. It is just a proof of their primacy, they are an model which, like any human thing, must be perfected. I will argue that, despite these criticisms, the content of the imaginary world in its multiple forms tends to have a tangible impact on knighthood, for instance, real knights trying to behave like exemplary ones, to the extent that the boundary between myth and daily world became even thinner. I will not discuss whether these depictions were totally effective or not into modifying a conduct, this question would require a far longer work, the important thing is that it was their aim, so the creators of the imaginary world thought they could effectively change the world, a necessary change in the light of the impact of knights on society. Moreover, some historical figures actually tried to follow their advice and benefited from the myths. Finally, some concepts arised on the border of the two worlds and demonstrate how compatible they were. Knighthood is an essential order of the medieval society. Therefore, it is not surprising that such a central figure is