Sunday, October 11, 2009
Pursuit/Achievement/Decline
Putting aside the things that bothered me in The Quest of the Holy Grail (almost everything), I've been trying to figure out how it fits into the progression of literature we've seen so far. Last week in class I brought up the idea of knights in stasis or decline, something that really interests me, although it was a bit of a stretch to call Gawain a full knight in decline in Chretien's Perceval. I think, though, that the Quest can be read as the first story of achievement,rather than just pursuit, and the first (or second) glimpse at what comes after achievement. The main characters in our first couple of texts (Lanval and Culhwch) were in pursuit of personal glory and specific women. We followed their stories up until we knew they had achieved what they wanted, but didn't see anything past achievement - it was essentially "they lived happily ever after." Arthur and the other kings in Geoffrey's History were in pursuit of, again, glory and power, which they won but had to fight to keep, eventually lost, and the cycle started over again - so there was no after, because there was no real end to their struggle. In Chretien's romances, the knights achieve certain personal goals (again, usually women), but there is a sense of mystery, magic and the unconquerable in their world, which culminates in their collective failure to get the grail (at least as far as Chretien wrote, and he left Perceval hanging out in the woods with a hermit and no plans to return to the quest). In The Quest, for the first time, the ultimate goal, the grail, is achieved, the magic and marvels end forever, and there is nothing left for Galahad to do but die. He has no decline, but dies at the height of his achievement. How do we move on from here? It seems like as the texts we read progress historically, they also progress in the development of knights' relationships to the quests they are on. I'm interested to read or re-read the next few texts to see if and how they treat knights who are coming down from, rather than pursuing, victory.
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As a brief preview of coming attractions, I can reassure you (?) that there will be an afterlife post-Grail-achievement in Wolfram's _Parzival_, which sketches out what happens to the next generation after the culmination of Parzival's quest.
ReplyDeleteWe may want to discuss further the seeming end of Galahad's quest, however...
I'm glad Usha addressed the issue of decline and I think her question of "where is there to go after the Grail's been achieved?" is an interesting one. However, I'd like to steer my comment back to something she mentioned at the beginning of the post, about Gawain. While we couldn't exactly view him as a knight in decline in Chretien's "Perceval," reading _Quest_ following Chretien's story shows how Gawain's gone from the height of knighthood to a worn-out (and very sinful) cliche. The emphasis of what a knight should be has moved away from the physical (the body) and into the realm of the spiritual (the soul/the mind). Prowess in battle is regarded less than goodness in deeds and purity, therefore adventures will no longer appear to Gawain and his ilk because the adventures Arthur's knights now seek are "of a spiritual order" (Quest 174). As the (rather long-winded) holy man warns Gawain, "You are an old tree, bare now of leaves and fruit" (175). Dr. Wenthe suggested last week that perhaps the adventures from the earlier Arthur stories have spun themselves out; it's the same basic thing over and over again without any real character growth. Gawain's days of unrepentant fighting are over (outdated!) and it's time to get with the new order of Galahad. which is why Usha's question is so interesting -- where to go now that Galahad's reached the highest high?
ReplyDeleteI think Megan has pointed out some very good points about the spiritual nature of the Quest and the seeming emptiness of the remaining knights' lives post-Quest. However, I think there's still a ways to go to complete the story of the Round Table, since, as one of the many monks/hermits explained to Gawain and Hector, we have yet to see the crumbling of the Table and King Arthur's demise. I see two ways in which future authors can continue these Arthurian tales — filling in the backstory of Gawain's many adventures, as we'll see in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," and providing the rest of the Round Table story (as opposed to Quest story) that the hermit refuses to explicate to Gawain. "I will not interpret to you, for no good would come of my doing so, and you might be improperly prevented from fulfilling it" (Quest 171). Thus, the author of the Quest leaves the door open for others to provide the ending to the secondary story that he declines to pursue to its end.
ReplyDeleteI was also curious about the overall development of the knights and their roles as these stories progress. As Usha points out, the story of Perceval begins to question the old knightly identity as defined by Gawain and Lancelot, and look towards a new, spiritual element of knighthood. The spiritual knight is, of course, epitomized by Galahad, whose "quest" is constantly compared to Christ's life and purpose on earth.
ReplyDeleteI think the comparison between Galahad and Christ at least in part explains why Galahad has to die at the end of grail quest. Like Christ, Galahad has one purpose in life- to seek and find the grail. Christ's "quest" (so to speak) is, of course, to save humanity from sin and open the gates of heaven by means of his death; Christ has to die in order to fulfill his "quest." So, too, it seems that Galahad has to die to fulfill his quest, ie the return of the grail to heaven. "A great marvel followed immediately on Galahad's death," the text tells us, "the two remaining companions saw quite plainly a hand come down from heaven, but not the body it belong to. It proceeded straight to the Holy Vessel and took both it and the lance, and carried them up to heaven, to the end that no man since has ever dared to say he saw the Holy Grail." In a sense then, Galahad's death (which he freely desires) is the sacrifice needed to restore the grail to heaven and thus end the strife it caused in England.
I'm not sure if this is too simplistic a reading, but it does explain Galahad's death as more than just the end for a knight who has nothing else to achieve.
I think you make an excellent point Amanda about Galahad's death as "more than just the end for a Knight who has nothing else to achieve." We have to remember Galahad sacrifices his own life and not that of others that are lower station or deemed less worthy for the Grail. That in itself is the ultimate selfless act. What I got from the reading is Galahad, knowing exactly what he needed to do, and knowing he was the only one who would achieve it, sets out to fufill the Christ-like prophecy bestowed upon him.
ReplyDeleteDear Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're being simplistic by drawing the connection between Christ and Galahad. It may be an obvious connection, but it most accurately describes the "Quest" story and the trajectory of its hero. The work is so heavy-handed in its agenda, that it does not open itself to many alternatives other than this interpretation of Christian salvation. I think the "closed-offness" of the text--and its misogynistic overtones--was precisely what turned a lot of our classmates off.
Given its didactic nature, lack of artistic merit (compared with Chretien or Wolfram), and the fact that so many of us found "Quest" boring, what has given this particular manifestation of the Arthurian story its staying power? How do modern readers profit by reading it? Do interesting readings exist as alternatives to the Jesus/Galahad one?