The Motive of Human Cunning in Medieval Literature
The present article discusses the formation and development of the motif of human cunning in medieval literature. The motive of cunning is not chosen by chance. For the first time, it appeared in Italian narrative in the Renaissance. But the beginning of the motive of cunning goes to the oral folk story. In the urban environment, stories about resourceful townspeople laughing at a stupid knight or a voluptuous monk were very fond. Such stories vividly and expressively depicted typical events of city daily life and aroused keen interest among the townspeople. And the life of Italian cities was stormy and diverse, abundant in various events. At the end of the Middle Ages, new social groups were formed, involved in a political struggle and challenging the power of the aristocrats. At the interpersonal level, the gradual erosion of the conceptual boundaries of nobility began. A new system of ideas about the purpose and role of a man was formed. But the nobility of origin was to be opposed by any quality of a common man, which would distinguish and characterize him. That was the quality comparable to titles and ranks. Cunning turned out to be such a quality. But the conceptual content of cunning did not happen immediately. At first, there was a coarse laughter and bullying in literature. The cunning motive reached its full development in the novel of the Renaissance, when the image of a man of a new era was finally formed. Then cunning, quick-wittedness and resourcefulness came to value more than titles. So tracing the development of the motif of human cunning in medieval literature, one can understand how the man of the Renaissance was formed.