English 83

Remember Geoffrey of Monmouth?  More particularly, remember how he was Welsh?  Originally Arthur started off as a Welsh myth, designed to serve as a statement of national identity.  Chretien seems to be modifying that narrative to fit French nationalistic impulses.  While Perceval is a naturally skilled knight, he is also something of a country bumpkin [...]

            If Shakespeare has a conspiracy theory, Chrétien should get one too, especially considering how much less we know about him.
            To me, “Erec and Enide” seems to be very different from the other Chrétien stories we’ve read.  Others have alluded to this in other posts, but as of yet, no one has woven the threads [...]

Going back to the issue of names, I thought names were given special significance in “The Story of the Grail.” It comes up within the first few pages of the story, when Perceval’s mother sends him off with some advice: “Never keep company with anyone for very long, whether at an inn or on the [...]

Near the end of Yvain’s story when Gawain is revealing his name he starts talking about blows inflicted in terms of interest (pg 262 in mine, roughly verse 6300).
“For if I have lent you anything of mine, you have fully paid me back, principal and interest, for you were more ready to pay back [...]

One thing that really irked me about this tale was its lack of any coherent plot structure. Yvain is always getting sidetracked. He vows to save Lunete from a bloodthirsty seneschal, but then Chretien makes him kill a giant before he can fulfill his promise to her. He agrees to help restore a lady’s inheritance [...]

At the very beginning of “The Knight of the Cart” (Lancelot) Chretien introduces his reason for writting his story (lns 1-31). The note on this section says that both the introduction and the rest of the story can be read as being serious or as being meant to be humorous and exaggerated. I think that [...]

Even though throughout the whole story Yvain goes on and on about how much he loves Laudine the whole time before he marries her, he’s easily convinced to leave and go to some tournaments with Gawain after he’s married. Although she gives Yvain a whole year to be gone, he can’t make it back [...]

When did Kay the seneschal become such a jerk? In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account he is one of the more valiant knights in Arthur’s court. For instance, when Arthur goes to kill the giant the only two knights he brings with them are Bedevere and Kay. Kay also shows exceptional bravery at the battle of [...]

This isn’t a very poignant or perceptive post, but I have been wondering throughout the two Chretien stories that I’ve read so far why Gawain is always referred to as “my lord Gawain.” He is the only one to receive this strange title, and almost every time his name is mentioned in Erec and [...]

It might have been helpful to go over these ideas a week ago or so, but we’ll be spending another week with Chrétien, and other romance narratives as well. . . [This week's notes are appended]
Reading any medieval text isn’t quite like reading modern or contemporary texts; it requires the modern reader to make a [...]

When Tessa asked the question – how did these stories become kids stories, I kind of scrambled for an answer, assuming it must have been Andrew Lang, the Scottish folklorist and prolific writer/translator. Lang may have adapted some Arthurian material, but Sidney Lanier (again, one of those 19th Century “men of letters”) wrote two books [...]

You know a guy is a smooth operator when his heroic tests are comprised of an equal mix of jousting tournaments and beds, the latter most memorably represented by Death Bed: The Bed that Burns!

One thing that I have noticed in Erec and Enide is that names are given out sparingly. Almost all of the characters that are introduced into the story are nameless for at least a portion of the narrative, only receiving a name if they are essential to the story. Enide is referred to [...]

While I was reading the book, one quote struck me more than any other. After Erec’s father passes away, Chretien remarks, “Grieving is uncourtly on the part of a king and it does not befit a king to show grief.” (117) His comment really hit me because it reminded me of Queen Elizabeth’s reaction (or lack [...]

It is obvious that Erec and Enide is a tale in the heroic tradition.  Erec, who has been described as “the most handsome, most loved, most revered, most muscular, bravest, wisest, fastest, strongest man in the history of the human race” is very obviously intended to be heroic and larger than life.  Indeed, Erec and [...]

We’ve briefly mentioned Wace, who ca. 1160 wrote Roman de Brut – a French (Romanz) translations of Geoffrey’s Latin Historia. Wace’s Brut is part translation, part expansion on Geoffrey intended for Breton-French audience who were curious about the Breton connections to the stories of Arthur of Britain. It’s important I think to remember that our [...]

Am I the only one who was bored to tears by “Erec and Enide”? Sure, it was cool for the first 20 pages, in which Erec wins for Enide the Medieval Miss Universe pageant by jamming his sword into some fool’s skull (after which he appeared to be relatively [...]

Ygerna’s character utterly baffled me. When Uther first walks in disguised as Gorlois, Geoffrey said that she “naturally believed all he said and refused him nothing,” implying that she is at least a dutiful wife-whether or not she actually loved Gorlois is up for debate. But then when Uther claims her in his own form, [...]

Because we ran out of time before we ran out of stuff to talk about I thought I would post a few things. My notes and slides from this week are attached at the end of this post, if you want them.

There is a specific passage in the reading in part 7, which caught my attention because of the blatant double standard that Arthur holds with respect to claiming land. Throughout his entire narrative section about Arthur, GM describes the numerous accounts of Arthur going outside of Britain to conquer other lands for the glory [...]