Aucassin et Nicolette: The economics of desire

Conclusion

In the world ofAucassin et Nicolette (as in our own) money and gold function as measures of value, as means of exchange, as guarantees of promises or contracts, and their buying power functions as a sign of power or of social rank. Thus the importance of money is recognized by everyone inAucassin et Nicolette, with the possible exception of the kingdom of Torelore, “un monde à l'envers,” where there is no mention of exchanges, gold, or money. Aucassin wants to go to hell because there he will have money and luxury goods to purchase; the shepherds want to earn money to buy cakes and musical instruments, and the peasant is saved from prison by the money that Aucassin gives him to pay for his lost ox. And it is through the intermediary of money that Aucassin and Nicolette are reunited. Since the first exchange proposed to the reader by the narrator, it is exchange and money which make the narrative function and which bring it to a happy conclusion.