Sir Orfeo, on the other hand, shows
the faithful steadfastness of the husband who loses his wife to the “maister king.” As the king, he could easily remarry and move
past the loss of his wife, but he tells his advisors “The faireste lady that
evere was bore,/Nevere eft I nil no woman see” (Sir Orfeo 210-211). Instead
of continuing his life in the role he was born to, despite the wishes of his
people, Sir Orfeo instead abdicates the throne and goes into the solitary life
of a hermit as penance for his loss. He
leaves all of his worldly possessions behind (except for his harp, which of
course becomes important later) and secludes himself from the rest of the
intelligent world, only playing music for the beasts of nature. Eventually, seemingly due to his
steadfastness in his feelings for his wife, he is able to regain her from the
fairy king, and they are remarried, getting their own “happily ever after.”
Orfeo's queen is more of a trophy wife than anything else. She does little useful to the novel except be the traditional DiD (Damsel in Distress). Through her, Orfeo is able to realize his own heroic nature by pursuing and saving her from the Fairy Queen. As with the Wife's Lament, the wife is only made whole because of her husband.
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