Talk:Maid Marian

Untitled
help what am I meant to do!

Today, I changed the article to note that the term "May Day" is not particularly accurate in regards to Maid Marian. The village festivals that she participated in are often called the May Games, and take place around May or June, often close to Pentecost. There are only a few instances recorded of such festivals occuring on May 1 proper. This has led to some confusion between "May Day" and "May Games". David Wiles, author of the 1981 book, The Early Plays of Robin Hood corrects this fallacy (and also mentions the male cross-dressing Marian). Wiles's statements have been supported by Stephen Knight (in three books), Jeffrey Sigman and pretty much every modern Robin Hood scholar.

Apparently, however, people who have actually studied the Robin Hood legend for decades don't have as informed opinion as those who removed this correction based on some book not written by Robin Hood experts.

A supporting quotation from the current world expert on Robin Hood.

"The play-games have a firm location in the calendar: they are in May, but not May Day; the Robin Hood play-games are not to be confused with the fertility symbolism of May Day and the maypole. Rather, Robin Hood's time is Whitsun, the "White Sunday" that celebrated Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit. "White Sunday" was white not only in terms of holiness but also because then, as now, by mid- to late May the hedges and shrubs of rural England were densely white with the hawthorn flower, also known as May flower and whitethorn. Seeing the landscape change so quickly is still a striking, even moving, sight; the fertility linked to Robin Hood is not that of an agressively masculine maypole but that of the more generalized force of fertile nature." Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography by Stephen Knight University of Cornell Press, 2003, pp.11-12

Questionable book reference
I just reverted vandalism on this page, and I also removed this entry:


 * The Forestwife; 1994 novel by Theresa Tomlinson

Can anyone verify this? The Theresa Tomlinson page lists the novel as being published in 1993. If the character of Maid Marian appears in this book, please add it to the article again, verifying the year and modifying the Theresa Tomlinson article as needed. CoderGnome 03:01, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

MARIAN IN THE 20TH CENTURY
The article might mention that it has become a nearly universal custom nowadays in retellings of the story for the tale to end with the announcement of Robin's and Marian's forthcoming marriage - almost always in connection with King Richard's deus ex machina return from the Crusades to set everything right. Also, notice how many modern renditions have shown her as "Lady Marian" rather than "Maid Marian." Almost all, I think.


 * You would need a citation for that. Goldfritha 02:26, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, in the recent BBC-version of Robin Hood, Marian is killed by Guy of Gisbourne in the last episode of series 2, when king Richard was still in Palestine. --Oddeivind (talk) 09:19, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Requiem for a Dream
I've removed this line in the Movies section, as it's not really notable. I'm sure there have been numerous occasions where Maid Marion gets mentioned once in a work of fiction. Rojomoke (talk) 17:48, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
 * In the movie Requiem for a Dream one of the characters is named Marion. Right before she conducts sexual activities with someone he names her "Maid Marion", and chuckles.

it's VERY notable, restore it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.47.161.234 (talk) 00:12, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Lucy Griffiths.jpg
Image:Lucy Griffiths.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 20:47, 2 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Its a picture. Why does it really matter? Things like this aren't worth getting mad about. 2600:8800:5B25:4100:7CFB:FBC7:B28C:5204 (talk) 21:52, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

Removed Uncited Section
I removed this section which had an August 2007 cite request on it:

In yet another incarnation, Marian is depicted as an albino, who is part of an enclave of outcasts consisting of 'freaks' that have been thrown out of the city by the Sherriff, and provide Robin with the first few Merry Men Credo From Start   talk  17:12, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Name?
Marian or Marion? Someone tried changing from the former to the latter; I've just reverted, as the title is Marian (and I've a feeling that's correct). If you have proof one way or the other, please list below; if either is valid then the correct procedure is to mention the alternative spelling once at the top - something like:

Maid Marian (or Maid Marion - 'Maid' being short for maiden, and sometimes referred to simply as Marion)

not to go through with find and replace. As the article is already here, the only way it's changing to Marion would be if Marian was wrong or very rare.

Robin Hood :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.234.184.23 (talk) 18:10, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

In the 60 or so years since I began reading Robin Hood stories I've never seen her name spelled "Marion" - until now. The spelling "Marian" has stuck in my mind precisely because it seems to be less common, at least in the British Isles - all the Marions I've ever met had an "o" in their name.213.127.210.95 (talk) 13:42, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm sure I've seen the form 'Maid MARION' on more than one occasion, but I don't  want to trundle through every Robin Hood book in my collection. So here's something to be going on with (courtesy of IMDb). The heroine was called 'Marion' in at least two TV versions. In "The Legend of Robin Hood" (BBC TV 1975), played by Diane Keen, and in "Robin of Sherwood" (ITV 1984-86), played by Judi Trott. O Murr (talk) 20:00, 15 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Marion is the most usual spelling in England, and in Br-Eng in general, whereas Marian tends to be (still generally speaking) a more usual US-Eng variant. In the UK, and in particular the North of England, there are no gender attributes to either "ian" or "ion" and the name is almost universally accepted as being a proper feminine noun... The "ian" variant was apparently an introduced variant to England (if IRC) around the 14th century, so it may well be correct if Maid Marian/Marion were an actual historical figure (which she isn't... wasn't... whichever). In any case, since then, Marian hasn't remained anywhere near as popular as the original, and more usual, Br-Eng version, Marion in the UK.
 * To be honest, I haven't read a great deal of literature on the legend of Robin, but what I have read, in England, has usually used the Marion version... I'd like to say, almost universally so, but my memory of such literature is not good enough to go that far... In other geographic English (non-literature) areas too, such as Pantomime productions, signage at entertainment or tourist venues, pamphlets etc, I've hardly ever, if at all, seen it spelled anything other than the usual, Maid Marion. TBH, I'm not bothered either way, (certainly not enough to suggest changing the article's name) I just felt like answering the point made above, about Marian not being rare, because in England, in particular Northern England, where the events supposedly occurred, Marian IS kinda rare compared to Marion. - Just sayin' M R G WIKI999 (talk) 02:45, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

"Love interest"
Are other readers as surprised as I am to see this modern euphemism no fewer than four times in an article dealing with the distant past? Apart from the fact that an interest isn't a person, using this phrase repeatedly (as if it's only available option) suggests that Maid Marian's some ditzy character from "Sex in the city". In any case, I can't imagine anyone (unless perhaps they live in California?) introducing their boyfriend or girlfriend with the words "I'd like you to meet my love interest....". Maybe the writer was trying to be humorous, but the general tone of the article is serious.213.127.210.95 (talk) 13:42, 9 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Some things don't change. The promoters of the Robin Hood legend may have felt that there should be a female role in the story, whether just a romantic image or a major supportive character with significance. Valetude (talk) 23:01, 27 August 2019 (UTC)

213.127.210.95 appears to be (correctly) concerned in his recent edits with correct English usage. So it's a pity he didn't change 'love-interest' to something more appropriate. I'm not going to do it myself here, because I've had a surfeit of correction work for the time being, some of it very serious, even cases of vandalism. In the past, Marian would have been described as Robin's 'lady-love,' or 'sweetheart' - but these are now old-fashioned terms. Describing her as his 'lover' might give the wrong idea. In any event, she has no authentic place in the original Robin Hood ballad legend, so it hardly matters. As Thomas Percy noted back in the 18th Century, 'whoever this lady was' she didn't belong there. That's what the screenwriters of Errol Flynn's "The Adventures of Robin Hood" originally thought as well, but they weren't allowed to jettison her. Should it really concern bother today except myth-freaks like Stephen Knight? (Oh dear! Did I really say that? And I was hoping for a quiet life.) O Murr (talk) 19:50, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

Erratum: For 'concern bother today' (above) please read 'bother anyone today'. Why is it possible to edit comments on Amazon and YouTube but not on (the English) Wikipedia? O Murr (talk) 19:58, 14 October 2019 (UTC)