Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices From a Medieval Village

“That night, I lay and dreamed of the hunt,

The underbrush stirring. The snort of the boar,

Its foul mouth foaming,

its tusks like scimitars—

Those tusks can slice a man, groin to gorge—

but that’s not the worst:

the man that dies from the wound of a boar

loses his soul, and burns in hell.”

The passage provides vivid sensory details that characterize Hugo’s fear of the upcoming boar hunt. He imagines the appearance of the boar, and the sounds of the underbrush stirring, as well as the creature’s ominous snort. His visceral fear illustrates the danger that the boar represents, and it is clear that the boy feels compelled to risk death to gain the good opinion of the lord, his abusive uncle. The passage vividly conveys the Brutality of Life in the Middle Ages and suggests that people of all social stations had to deal with this harsh reality. The quote also emphasizes the importance of religion in medieval society, for Hugo believes that if he were to be killed by the boar, he would go to hell, which he believes would be far worse than suffering traumatic but nonlethal injuries.

“There’s something else. I’ve stared into the Round Pool,

and it’s hard to tell—

the water’s never still—

but I think I’m ugly. Big and ugly

and shy in the bargain. Mother says

I’ll likely not marry at all.

‘It’s a world of trouble you’ll save yourself,’

says Mother, ‘childbearing and child dying.’

And no doubt she’s right.

I always weep when the hogs are slaughtered.

I’m not strong enough to bear and lose.”

Like the narrative as a whole, this passage builds suspense because it begins with a vague detail that is not explained until later. In the beginning of the chapter, Taggot mentions something that her parents and brother haven’t seen yet (the sprig of hawthorn that