Reading our final Chretien story, "The Story of the Grail," I am wondering about Chretien's women. Is Chretien portraying French noblewomen in the 12th century, or are these idealized women who do not really exist in Chretien's environment. I am thinking about Marie of Champagne and her mother Eleanor. Were these, descendants of William of Normandy, and wives of kings, women of intelligence and extraordinary power? In our tale for today, we see Arthur's mother who is strong and wise (Eleanor?) and powerful.
Another point which I think we have referred to before, is the fact that in the 12th century, or the supposed 6th century, women could run around alone without fear of attack as we see in "Yvain" as well as in the Lancelot story and in the Percival story. There is apparently strict punishment for rapists as they are not courtly. Going back to what Amanda said and what Duggan writes, public misdeeds are shameful deeds resulting in "honte" for the doer of the deed.
When Percival first comes out into the world he doesnt really feel "honte" as he is a boorish Welshman who has not been acculturated into the knightly milieu. As a result, he is guilty of mistreating or forcing his attentions on the lovely lady he meets. One wonders whether he would have done a further uncourtly thing had not his mother told him there were limits to what he could do with the maidens he met. I am not sure whether his mother advised he should forcibly take the ring and alms purse from the maidens, or did she mean only if the maiden wished it? There are parts of the story that suggest that Chretien should have edited his work. Perhaps there was no such concept and we have to deal with the ambiguities and discrepancies which are apparent to us as we are not auditory listeners, but readers.
This tale is populated with beautiful ladies, one of whom doesnt mind entering a knight's room, albeit her guest, and getting into his bed in order to have him protect her castle and lands. Also so many of the ladies are roaming around the countryside with their self-identified "lovers." How does this fit in with the environment of the time and St. Paul's injunctions?
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I also found it really interesting that Perceval was, as you put it, "a boorish Welshman" for whom rape (or something like it) was perfectly fine, until he guessed his name and suddenly assumed a new "honorable" nature in which he was kind and courtly to women. I also think it's really noteworthy that the Castle of Marvels, populated by the poor, sick, wronged etc (did this seem like a cult to anyone else?) was essentially a matriarchal society, ruled by three generations of women whose famous male relatives were absent and unaware of their existence.
ReplyDeleteA old testament reading would place a great importance upon the knowing of names giving the knower a knowledge and a power over that thing. Perceval 'not' knowing his name would, with a hyper-edenic reading of the text, indicate that he had little control over himself, and was little more than a beast. However his capacity to learn the names and uses of things clearly marked him out as a man. Much like Adam, he was overly curious, and constantly accepted knowledge from nearly any source, i.e., any one that seemed reputable. So, similarly, I see a certain strength in name-knowledge in Arthur. An example of this is the safety that comes from knowing a gentleman's name.
ReplyDeleteBut what of Gawain and those who wanted to kill him (i.e. everyone)? The quickest answer I can think of is that they are not gentleman, as in most cases it seems clear that Gawain would not have acted so unfairly.
I think it's fair to say that, generally speaking, Chrétien's women are like Chrétien's men: idealized fantasies with roots in contemporary (12th-century) social realities but exaggerated for effect (particularly in terms of physical beauty) and occasionally outfitted with an anachronistic or otherwise "untimely" plot device (such as the bizarre customs about women traveling with knights being subject to conquest, as described in The Knight of the Cart--surely no part of French reality in the twelfth century, yet useful to provide another occasion for Lancelot's demonstration of his prowesss!).
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