Epic literary portrait: literary and linguistic issues

The character system forms a framework of the epic text. What are the language means, other than the epic formulas and well-studied clichés that help to represent the traditional image of the epic heroes in the chanson de geste? These questions are dealt with in this article, as well as the first seeds of individualization in epic men heroes’ portraits (attribution of certain characteristics to a hero; dissociation of qualities and their attribution to different characters; opposition of qualities etc.) and one development of the woman portrait which unfolds along two axes: lexical enrichment and detailed description of new elements.