1.
On the subject of Perceval's education, see Madeleine Pelner
Cosman, The Education of the Hero in Arthurian Romance
(Chapel Hill, 1965-1966), pp. 49-100; Alexandre Micha, "Le
Perceval de Chrétien de Troyes, roman éducatif," in
Lumière du Graal, ed. Ren‚ Nelli (Paris, 1951), pp.
122-138; Rita Lejeune, "La Date du Conte du Graal de
Chrétien de Troyes," Moyen Age, ser. 4, vol. 9
(1954), 51-79; Penny Simons, "Pattern and Process of Education in
Le Conte du Graal, Nottingham French Studies 32 (1993), 1-11; as well as the comments
of Jean Frappier, Chrétien
de Troyes et le mythe du Graal: étude sur Perceval ou le
Conte du Graal (Paris, 1972), pp. 81-83, 90-94, 148-161;
Paule le Rider, Le Chevalier dans le Conte du Graal de
Chrétien de Troyes (Paris, 1978), pp. 17-38, 89-90,
97-141, 174-181, 200-208; L. T. Topsfield, Chrétien de
Troyes: A Study of the Arthurian Romances (Cambridge, Eng.,
1981), pp. 215-280; Rupert T. Pickens, "Le Conte du Graal
(Perceval)," in The Romances of Chrétien de
Troyes: A Symposium, ed. Douglas Kelly, The Edward C.
Armstrong Monographs on Medieval Literature 3 (Lexington, KY,
1985), pp. 252-279; and Donald Maddox, The Arthurian Romances
of Chrétien de Troyes: Once and Future Fictions,
Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 12 (Cambridge, Eng.,
1991), pp. 90-100. While these critics have tended to agree in
considering the three phases of Perceval's formal instruction as
steps in a cumulative pedagogical process, Leo Pollmann argues
that the Hermit episode is an interpolation used by a continuator
to connect two originally unrelated romances of Chrétien,
a Perceval and a Gauvain. See Chrétien
de Troyes und der Conte del Graal, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift
für romanische Philologie 110 (Tübingen, 1965), pp. 86-110. This argument has not
found general acceptance. See e.g.
Rupert T. Pickens, The Welsh Knight: Paradoxicality in
Chrétien's Conte del Graal, French Forum Monographs 6
(Lexington, KY, 1977), esp. pp. 128-136 ("Every structural
feature of the Conte du Graal stresses the importance of
the Hermit episode. . . ."); also David Hoggan, "Le
Péché de Perceval. Pour l'authenticité de
l'épisode de l'ermite dans le Conte du Graal de
Chrétien de Troyes," Romania 93 (1972), 60-76, 244-275.
2.
For his mother's counsel, see ll. 527-594; other references
to her precepts (invariably misunderstood by Perceval) are found
at ll. 113-118, 142-154, 640-663, 682-716, 1360-1366, 1402-1409,
1541-1546, and 1672-1674. On the tutelage of Gornemant de
Gohort, see ll. 1356-1698; for Perceval's encounter with the
hermit, see ll. 6217-6513.
All references are taken from Chrétien de Troyes,
Le Roman de Perceval ou le Conte du Graal, ed. William Roach,
Textes Littéraires Fran‡ais 71 (Geneva, 1959); throughout,
emphases and translations are mine.
3.
From Perceval's limited perspective, a knight is defined by
his armor, and the sole function of a king is to create knights
by providing it. He resolves to seek out King Arthur, the "roi
qui les chevaliers fait" (l. 333, the king who makes knights),
because he wishes to be "ausi luisanz et ausi faiz" (l. 181, as
shining and well formed) as the armor-clad men who are his
introduction to knighthood. Later, he requests directions to the
place "where King Arthur makes knights" ("Li rois Artus . . . / i
fait chevaliers" (ll. 840-841); once arrived at court, he is
indignant at Arthur's preoccupied silence, which he views as
inconsistent with his role as king: "cis rois ne fist chevalier
onques./ Coment porroit chevalier faire,/ quant on n'en puet
parole traire?" (ll. 928-930: this king never made anyone a
knight. How could he make you a knight when you can't get a word
out of him?)
4.
This idea is developed at ll. 29-46 with the allusion to
Matthew 6:3, "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand
know what thy right hand doeth." Chrétien identifies left
and right hands as follows: "Le senestre, selonc l'estoire,/
senefie la vaine gloire/ qui vient de fausse ypocrisie./ Et la
destre que senefie?/ Carité, qui de sa bone oevre/ pas ne
se vante, an‡ois se coevre. . ." (ll. 39-44: According to
scripture, the left hand signifies vainglory, which comes from
false hypocrisy. And what does the right signify? Charity,
which conceals the good works which it does rather than flaunting
them).
5.
In the elided passage (ll. 48-49: "selonc l'escrit,/ Sainz
Pol le dist et je le lui"), Chrétien attributes to Paul a
text actually found in I John 4:16. But given the thematic focus
of the Conte du Graal, this misattribution may have been
deliberate rather than accidental, since as Rupert T. Pickens has
noted, St. Paul was a patron of knights. See note to ll. 43-44
in The Story of the Grail (Li Contes del Graal), or Perceval,
by Chrétien de Troyes, ed. Rupert T. Pickens, Garland
Library of Medieval Literature Ser. A vol. 62 (New York, 1990),
p. 452.
6.
Perceval's chivalric nature is revealed by the ease with
which he masters feats of arms under the tutelage of Gornmant de
Gohort, ll. 1473-1480: "Lors le fist li preudom monter,/ et il
comencha a porter/ si a droit la lance et l'escu/ com s'il est
toz jors veschu/ en tornoiemens et en guerres/ et alé par
toutes les terres/ querant bataille et aventure;/ car il li
venoit de nature" (then the worthy man had him mount and he began
to carry his lance and shield as adroitly as if he had spent his
life in tournaments and wars, and had travelled throughout the
world in search of battles and adventure, for it was in his
nature).
7.
As Pickens rightly observes (The Welsh Knight, 48-53,
115-133), Perceval's final teacher, the hermit who is his enate
uncle, represents the same value system as his mother. Thus,
Perceval's sojourn at the hermitage is a symbolic return to
maternal influence. This point will be developed below.
8.
Here, Chrétien conflates the Parable of the Sower
(Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20, Luke 8:5-15) with II Corinthians
9:6 (used in line 1).
9.
See the comments of Pickens relating Perceval's trajectory
from childhood to adulthood with yet another Pauline epistle,
Ephesians 4: "Paul equates childhood with ignorance and suggests
that adulthood, which comes after a conversion promoted by
charity (as in his own case), is a time of greater knowledge and
understanding. . ." "Le Conte du Graal (Perceval)," p.
238. Karl D. Uitti similarly connects the theme of charity,
"unequivocally stressed . . . within the matere de Rome-type
Prologue," with "the story of Perceval's exemplary awakening to
charity" (Story, Myth and Celebration in Old French Narrative
Poetry, 1050-1200 [Princeton, 1973], p. 210).
10.
We recall Perceval's similarly shallow understanding of
knighthood and kingship; see note 3, above.
11.
The association of Gauvain with Alexander-like vainglory and
Perceval with Phillip-like charity is found in Uitti, Story,
Myth and Celebration, p. 214.
12.
For Pickens, the first of three "anti-Arthurian" points on
the "Grail axis" is Perceval's mother's manor in the Gaste
Forest; the second and third are the Grail Castle and the
hermitage, homes of Perceval's two maternal uncles (The Welsh
Knight, 49). The kinship of Perceval's mother and her two
brothers is revealed at ll. 6415-6416.
13.
As has been noted by Pickens (" Le Conte du Graal
(Perceval)," p. 245), Chrétien continues to refer to
Perceval as "boy" (vallés) rather than as "knight"
(chevalier) even after Gornemant has fastened the spur
onto his foot (for example, at l. 2615, in the passage recounting
Perceval's defeat of Clamadeu). Through such references, the
reader is made aware that Perceval's transformation is not yet
complete, despite the fact that other characters within the
romance seem now to accept his knightliness at face value (cf.
ll. 2856-2857, where Clamadeu refers to his adversary as "li miex
vaillans chevaliers/ a cui je onques m'acointasse": the most
vaillant knight I've ever known).
14.
Welshness is explicitly associated with foolishness by one
of the Arthurian knights encountered by Perceval in the Gaste
Forest (ll. 242-248), as well as by the Tent Maiden (ll. 791-792). The Arthurian court's antipathy
to Perceval's Welsh
appearance is discussed below.
15.
See the mother's revelation of Perceval's knightly lineage,
ll. 416-424: "N'ot chevalier de si haut pris,/ tant
redouté ne tant cremu,/ biax fiz, com vostre peres fu/ en
totes les illes de mer./ Biax fix, bien vos po‰z vanter/ que vos
ne dechaez de rien/ de son lignage ne del mien,/ que je sui de
chevaliers nee,/ des meillors de ceste contree" (There was no
knight of such high worth or as respected and feared, fair son,
as was your father in all the islands of the sea. Fair son, you
may well boast that neither his lineage nor mine abases you, for
I was born of a knight, one of this country's best).
16.
This point has been cogently argued by Pickens, The Welsh
Knight, pp. 108-133.
17.
The couplet in square brackets appears only in MS T; the two
lines are numbered a and b in Roach's edition, where they are
interpolated between ll. 1614 and 1615.
18.
The rash boon is a common device in Arthurian romance; see
Jean Frappier, "Le Motif du 'don contraignant' dans la
littérature du Moyen Age," Travaux de linguistique et
de littérature publiés par le Centre de philologie
et de littératures romanes de l'Université de
Strasbourg VII.2 (1969), 7-46; rpt. in Amour courtois et
table ronde, Publications romanes et fran‡aises 126 (Geneva,
1973), 225-264. Gornemant's recourse to the rash boon is thus a
subtle reminder of his alignment with the Arthurian rather than
the Grail axis.
19.
An analogous episode wherein maternal influence is
figuratively stripped away as a son loses clothing provided by
his mother is found in the midpoint episode of Wirnt von
Gravenberg's Wigalois, where the title character loses a
belt without which he cannot return to his mother's magical
realm. SeeWirnt von Gravenberg, Wigalois, der Ritter mit dem
Rade, ed. J. M. N. Kapteyn, Rheinische Beitr¨ge und
Hülfsbcher zur germanischen Philologie und volkskunde 9
(Bonn, 1926), ll. 5315-6174, esp. the author's commentary at ll.
5339-5359 and Wigalois's lament, ll. 5990-6016. For English
translation, se Wigalois, The Knight of Fortune's Wheel,
tr. J. W. Thomas (Lincoln, NE, 1977), pp. 163-173. My comparison
of the two episodes is part of a work in progress.
20.
Perceval first expresses concern for his mother to Gornemant
at ll. 1580-1592. His intention of returning to her manor is
repeated at ll. 2917-2967, as the reason for his departure from
Biaurepaire; at ll. 2990-2993, just before his encounter with the
Fisher King; and at ll. 3618-3625, in his reaction to the news of
his mother's death.
21.
See l. 715 (quoted above): "Or cha l'anel! jel weil avoir."
22.
See also l. 747, "mengüe par grant talent" (he ate with
great gusto), and l. 750, "boit sovent et a grans trais" (he
drank often and deeply).
23.
Perceval's continued self-absorption during his visits to
Biaurepaire and to the Grail Castle will also be signalled by
references to his appetite. See Debora B. Schwartz, "Seeking the
Path of Romance: Chrétien de Troyes and the Tristan
Tradition," diss. Princeton, 1994, pp. 312-316, 328-329.
24.
A silent sovereign cannot fulfill the only kingly function
recognized by Perceval, which is to make knights by bestowing
arms. See ll. 926-930, partially quoted in note 3, above.
25.
Perceval's superficial motivation in defending Biaurepaire
is suggested by one of Blancheflor's adversaries (ll. 2416-2418):
"Li chevaliers, qui se deporte/ a Blancheflor sa bele amie/ volra
faire chevalerie" (the knight, who is enjoying himself with his
lovely friend Blancheflor, will want to perform deeds of
chivalry). Perceval's primary motivation is not a charitable
impulse, but the desire to act like a knight ("faire
chevalerie"). For fuller discussion of Perceval's self-absorption at Biaurepaire, see my "Seeking
the Path of Romance,"
pp. 312-316.
26.
The causes and consequences of Perceval's silence are
explained by the second maternal cousin at ll. 3582-3595; by the
Hideous Damsel at ll. 4646-4683; and by Perceval's hermit uncle
at ll. 6392-6431.
27.
See Pickens, The Welsh Knight, pp. 116-122.
28.
Interestingly, all of the corrective episodes in the extant
text have to do with Perceval's interaction with women, a fact
which underscores the importance of the feminine in his chivalric
development. Although no such scene has been preserved,
Perceval's return to the Grail Castle and correction of the
mistakes he made there would accord with the thematic and
structural unity of the romance; it is therefore likely that such
an episode was planned by Chrétien. See note 32, below.
29.
On the implications of the red/white contrast in this scene
and throughout the Conte du Graal, see GraceArmstrong,
"The Scene of the Blood Drops on the Snow: A Crucial Narrative
Moment in the Conte du graal," Kentucky Romance
Quarterly 19 (1972), 127-147.
30.
We recall that the seneschal suffers a broken arm and a
dislocated shoulder in the encounter, thereby fulfilling the
terms of Perceval's vow never to come back into the presence of
the king until he has avenged the Laughing Maiden, whom Keu had
slapped for recognizing Perceval's chivalric potential.
31.
A similar point is made by Uitti, Story, Myth and
Celebration, pp. 212-213.
32.
Here my interpretation diverges from that of Pickens, who
sees the Blood Drops episode as the sign of "Perceval's complete
assimilation to [the Arthurian] kingdom" ("Le Conte du
Graal (Perceval)," p. 256). I would agree that the Blood
Drops episode marks Perceval's new mastery of Arthurian forms:
when Gauvain leads Perceval by the hand into the presence of King
Arthur, we understand that he has achieved parity with the king's
nephew, paragon of Arthurian courtly values. Nonetheless,
Perceval's prolonged revery suggests his disjunction from
Arthurian vainglory and his growth in Christian charity. The
parallels between the Blood Drops episode and the Grail
Procession, minutely detailed by Pickens ("Le Conte du Graal
(Perceval)," 256-259) but interpreted by him in a negative
way, seem to me to be evidence not of Perceval's shortcomings,
but of his movement from self-centeredness toward
carité; they suggest that the Blood Drops episode
was meant to foreshadow a second visit to the Grail Castle during
which Perceval would correct the mistakes that he made on the
first. See also note 28, above.
33.
The formulas with which the Hideous Damsel introduces the
adventures are telling: "Qui voldroit le pris avoir/ de tot le
mont. . ." (ll. 4701-4702: he who wishes to be recognized as the
best [knight] in the world. . .); "Molt grant honor aroit
conquise. . ." (l. 4708: he will win great honor. . .); "Et
s'avroit toutes les lo‰nges. . ." (l. 4711: and he will have
earned great praise . . .).
34.
See above, notes 28 and 32.
35.
The connection between the respective lessons of mother and
uncle is further reinforced by symmetrical construction: the
hermit's penitance revisits, in reverse order, the sens of
Perceval's mother. Whereas she moves from interaction with women
(ll. 533-556, partially quoted above) to religious instruction
(ll. 567-594), he begins with religious instruction (ll. 6440-6460, partially quoted below) and ends
by directing Perceval to
assist women (ll. 6465-6471). The middle segment of the mother's
sens (her advice that he seek out the company of
preudomes, ll. 557-566) is recalled by the hermit's
"Preudome and preudefeme honeure" (l. 6460).
36.
The maternal blessing referred to by Gornemant is found at
ll. 617-619: "Biax fix, . . . Dix vos maint!/ Joie plus qu'il ne
m'en remaint/ vos doint il ou que vos ailliez" (Fair son, may God
be with you and grant you more joy than is left to me, wherever
you may go).
