A werewolf is a person presented in folklore, superstition or in mythical stories as a human being who is capable of changing into a wolf, at the complete rising of the full moon, while retaining human intelligence. Throughout the history, the myth of the werewolf was used in a lot of stories having different interpretation of the creature. For a better understanding of this evolution, I will pick two different stories regarding werewolf, in different historical periods, medieval and modern and, I will discuss how time passing influences the aspects of the werewolf.
For the medieval period I have chosen one of the twelve Lais of Marie de France who was written in the twelve century, and was called “Bisclavret” and for the modern period I had approach the werewolf from the famous story of J. K. Rowling- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban.
The short story “Bisclavret” told as about a werewolf who was trapped by his wife in the lupine form. Bisclavret, a baron in Brittany had a well kept secret. Because his wife’s begins, he told her about his transformation into werewolf and the need for his clothes for coming back the human form. The wife was so scared after hearing this terrible transformation, and made a plan with a knight, and stoled his husband clothing and the husband failed to return human. After a year, the king found him in the woods and took him to the castle. The king knew about his secret and helped him return to the human form. The wife and the knight were exiled.
The name of the first story “Bisclavret,” comes from the Breton language and means werewolf but Marie de France seems to make a distinction between ordinary werewolf and Bisclavret.
“First, Marie de France’s statement implies that he is unlike the violent werewolves that she has just described; second, her use of the definite article combined with the fact that Bisclavret is capitalized also implies that he is unique, that he is perhaps the only Bisclavret. Finally it is also noteworthy that Marie uses the term “garwalf” when describing the traditional werewolf. She thus once again distinguishes it from Bisclavret.” (Sconduto, Metamorphoses of the werewolf)
In other words, Bisclavret here is a hero, courtly and thoughtful rather than cunning or a beast. “He was and acted like a noble man.” (de France, Bisclavret) He never loses his humanity, even when he is transformed into a werewolf he keep his dignity as a human being. “How this beast bows down to me! Its sense is human.” (de France, Bisclavret) are the king words, when he found the werewolf in the woods kissing his feats. Bisclavret never loses his human sense in the whole story and it is represented like the positive character antagonist to his wife that seems to be the negative one.
The second story “Harry Potter and the Prisoner in Azkaban” presents the werewolf from a different perspective. It is a dangerous creature who once transformed into werewolf has a beast behavior and it could killed even those who they are closed but after it return into human, he will recover his memories regarding the facts that we did under the lupin. The bitten person will be infected with lychanthropy, a magical illness which it is spread by saliva or blood and treated with silver and dittany and, this will permit the victim to live as a werewolf.
The werewolf can be distinguished by the other wolf from some different characteristics like more human-like eyes, shorter snout tufted tail and “their mindless hunting of humans whilst in wolf form” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner in Azkaban). A person who will be bitten by a werewolf will become also a werewolf too and the person must know how to manage this condition. In helping the new transformed werewolf, Damocles invented a Wolfsbane Potion who will be able to maintain the human mind of the creature, a good solutions in preventing of harming the others. The potion has a terrible taste, and there are a few persons that knew how to make it.
The werewolf lived isolated by the human society because the people are afraid of them even when they are in a human form. Remus Lupin, the werewolf from “Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkeban” was helped by Dumbledore to have a job as a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts but after his condition was exposed, parents wouldn’t let their children stayed near the werewolf, despite the safety measure that was taken, and Remus needed to resign. If the werewolf wouldn’t had something to attack like animals or humans, he will attack itself and this will leave self-inflicted scares and premature aging in Remus Lupin case, from the difficult transformation they had suffered.
There are a lot of similarities regarding werewolf from this both stories but also some differences. Although, the werewolf will remain a magical creature which people fear and avoid in all the stories but not always the werewolf would be the negative character, all depending on the attitude that it’s adopted by the creature.
Works cited
Sconduto, Leslie. Metamorphose of the Werewolf: A Literary Study from Antiquity through the Renaissance. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. Print.
De France, Marie translated by Shoaf, Judith P. Bisclavret.1996. Available at http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Marie/bisclavret.pdf. Accessed 8 October 2014.Web.
“Bisclavret: Who’s the real monster”. Saint Superman. Available at http://saintsuperman.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/bisclavret-whos-the-real-monster/. Accessed 8 October 2014. 10 March 2009. Web.
“Worewolf”. Harry Potter wiki. Available at http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Werewolf. Accessed 8 October 2014. Web
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Scholastic Paperbacks:2001. Print
