Loose Threads

Did anyone else notice any loose threads in this story? Let’s review:

Yvain goes to the spring to defeat the knight guarding it and avenge his cousin’s honor. Once he gets stuck in the lady’s castle, his love for the lady aside, his honor prevents him from escaping and returning home: “Since no one would ever believe in the success of his quest [unless he brought the corpse with him], he was ashamed to leave” (de Troyes 275). However, when King Arthur’s entire court arrives to the castle after Yvain marries his lady, no one??? Asks??? About his vengeance quest??? Does that not matter anymore?

The lady (hereafter referred to as Magic Spring Lady, because she has no name but she does have a magic spring) asks Yvain, “And would you dare undertake the defense of my spring for me?” (de Troyes 281). Yvain says he will, and we see him protect the spring from Unferth Kay, but when he goes away, who protects the spring? Yvain and Magic Spring Lady add exceptions to their agreement in case Yvain is imprisoned or becomes too ill to move, but they completely forget the spring. Isn’t the spring important? It seems important. It is ridiculously beautiful, almost indescribable, and guarded by a fierce fighter. Why wouldn’t Magic Spring Lady remember her magic spring? Who’s defending the spring now that Yvain has been away from Magic Spring Land for too long? I can’t imagine Magic Spring Lady doing it. She seems like she would much rather fight with words than with lance and shield. (Maybe she made Lunete do it . . .)

A vavasor and a beautiful maiden provide hospitality to both Calogrenant and Yvain while the knights are on their way to Magic Spring Land. We never hear from either of them again. Do they just . . . kind of . . . not actually matter? I would’ve thought the maiden at least would have mattered, just because beautiful women tend to matter in these kinds of stories. But . . . I guess not?

Maybe the next part of the story will tie up at least one of these loose ends. Maybe we’ll hear more about the sun and the moon.

Source (PSA: always credit the artist)

I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.

Miranda A. Barrientos

Tony Beers (for Monday Feb 27? A bit confused as to where we are now)

The Knight with the Lion

So far this story, for me, is by far the most accessible in that both it's romantic and militaristic interludes are fewer, focusing primarily on Yavain’s travels and the subsequent “spell” he falls into after being captured by the “Lady’s” men in her castle. Just catching sight of her, he cannot be deterred, indulging all his service, attention, and will to her -- he is done for. The battles or duels are less frequent with less detail than the other stories. Chretien appears to favor more description of the inner thoughts and romantic workings of his primary characters, here, rather than flooding us with encounter after encounter -- whether duels or romantic gestures and conquests along the way -- preferring to draw us in to love’s poetic capacity and the fortitude with which matters of the heart can
strike us all so deeply.

Such strength Chretien’s love “malady” brings, that even an honored and respected powerful knight cannot escape its grip. Chretien’s “Erec and Enide” and “Knight of the Cart” do not hold the deep interior emoting the author brings to “Yavain” in this story. All these romantic fantasies, including Marie de Frances’s, have the common thread of the spell of love overwhelming their characters to the point of misbehavior and so often murder (Bisclavret’s wife and lover were certainly rendered insane by this “super drug”); but this one really got to me.

A common element in all three Chretien stories, “The Knight of the Cart”, “Erec and Enide” and “The Knight with the Lion”, that does persist, is, I suppose a necessary one to dramatize and highlight how honorable and worthy these knights were (some of them, not all); the evil “Dwarf” ingredient in Erec and Enide and again in Knight of the Court, appears in The Knight with the Lion as Kay, the seneshal, with his sharp tongue that stirs the eventual challenge accepted by Yavain, beginning his journey away from King Arthur’s court.

One question I have, though, is while the love emoted by Yavain and subsequently his Lady, appears plausible (for me anyway), her granting him leave to go with Gawain to Arthur's Court FOR A YEAR, just after marrying, doesn't seem a plausible move on her part – nor wood I expect Yavain to overstay the year contract , given the strength of his feelings. I did like, and could relate to, the insanity Yavain went through after his beloved rejected him completely when the year had passed without a word from him. That he goes mad and naked into the forest is both humorous and painful to read, depending on ones intimate relationship with a rejection and heartbreak.

Two seconds of Yvain: Okay What is Going On?

Let's clap it up for Queen G for jacking everything all up! She makes a grand appearance in yet another story! Of course, she puts on her big girl panties and forces Calogrenant to tell tale of a spring that makes sh*t get real! But hold on a sec let’s just analyze Queen G because I cannot let her slide.  Queen G in my eyes in the epitome of beloved. She literately has men doing whatever she wants them to do. She can be a b*tch and still all the men love her.

Because, Calogrenent ventured to this Trevi Fountain gone wrong. He was challenged by some random guy who popped up after this tremendous storm. Homie Calo did not come out on top after that battle though (we all probably expected him to win and the story was like sike you thought!). BUT, it’s not over because Yvain being super cool decide he was going to avenge Homie Calo’s terrible loss. So of course, Yvain follows the “truths” of this tale pours the water and the stor happens and the knight appears.

Once he appears, it is on and they start their fight. Yvain does not stop until he is dead and, we’re all like yay he did it but little did he know that the person he killed had a wife back at home and she was not happy. She was in the utmost distress.

When the widower found out he husband was dead she was like…

Another thing that I cannot let slide if the fact that this lady allowed for her HUSBAND’S MURDERER to woo her and become lovers. Like excuse me? No no no absolutely not. He literately tells her he is only physically attracted to her and she’s just all for it. I do like that he is understanding in the beginning, because she is so angry with him as she should be about the murder of her husband. I feel like she shouldn’t have let that go so easily but, I can see where she would have just gave in to it. Let’s take a little speculative look at this. She has someone who defeated and KILLED her once superman husband, whom of course she thought could not be defeated and indestructible. Also, he respects her grieving period and copes with her anger towards him.

All of the men on page 286 are infatuated with women.

Women’s beauty and place is portrayed heavily in this story. On page 286, we have speed dating gone wrong situation where men were just objectifying and preying on maidens. The men were amused by women, which is basically saying that women were entertainment.  I did not like reading this part at all I cringed reading about women that way.

Impulse can make you look bad

Let's talk about Yvain, shall we?

So Calogrenant starts all this drama because he went on a little adventure and found a nifty spring that makes stuff happen. Or maybe, just maybe, it was Queen Guinevere and her demanding nature? Calogrenant only told his story because she forced him to! I feel like she's always causing trouble. No wonder men had 31 rules to live by when in a relationship with women. These medieval bitches be crazy!

Anyway. King Arthur finally wakes up from his nap, not in the least bit worried that his wife has been surrounded by and fawning all over these men. He decides that he's going to avenge Calogrenant. He'll be the hero (again) for avenging someone he loves (again) for something that (again) doesn't make much sense. Seriously, what exactly do these men think they're avenging? Maybe I read a different story, but I'm pretty sure Calogrenant "won" the little fight with the crazy storm knight? Right?

Regardless, enter Yvain! Yes, he's been there the whole time, but now we're going to learn all about his jealousy. Arthur is going to go avenge his friend? Nope, Yvain's going to beat him to it.

Wouldn't it be a bad thing to take the quest your king wants? He's going anyway. Screw waiting for everyone else and some particular date, he's going NOW. He hopes to encounter the same stuff C did - the same hospitality from the family, the weird creature called a Moor--or churl (?), and of course the nifty spring that creates a crazy storm. When the knight comes for him, he's not just going to let him disappear like C did. He chases him down and keeps fighting him until we reach some distant place where he can't get away.

Here we go with this trust thing. I get that it's all fantastic fiction and it's supposed to be entertaining, but seriously? Why do we trust every. single. person. we. meet? Y kills a guy, who I read to be somebody pretty important in this little kingdom we've ended up in, and someone decides it's no big deal. We'll just hide you until everything calms down. "Put on this ring."

I'm pretty sure Gollum/Smeagol is coming for you, strange lady. My geekish knowledge (thanks, Google, and subsequent forums) say his ring is from the 5th or 6th century. Yvain's wearing THE PRECIOUS! And while we're just hanging out, waiting for people to mourn and give up on searching for us? We're being creepy and falling in love with a woman who can't stop crying. Who does that?

Yvain, apparently. I guess the magic hoo-hah has powers even when grief is so obvious. Strange hobbit lady (as I've named the girl with the ring since she doesn't appear to have a name) is now intelligent enough to set the two up? Was this her plan all along? Or is she just rolling with what's happening around her?

Now, who on Earth would be okay with the lady of the land marrying the guy who basically JUST killed her husband? For real. I don't think I'd cheer and give presents if Jackie had decided to marry Lee Harvey Oswald. Just sayin'. But he's just so in love with her, she's the best thing that ever happened to him, and he can't live without her. So it's okay.

Yvain's not very consistent, though. He decides he wants to leave. Right now, with Arthur, and do his duties to his previous king. Um, excuse me? If you wanted to be dutiful, you should've done it by going on this great big quest with Arthur, not by yourself to prove Kay wrong? Oh, but look. He was right anyway.

If this story were to end here, at the halfway point, I would be pissed. We read all this, Yvain trying to be a hero and take the credit for himself...and it worked out in his favor. Until he just so happens to forget that he's supposed to GO BACK TO HIS WIFE. This would be the kind of horrible, horrible ending that would make me throw a book across a room. But it's not!

So where's this lion mentioned in the title? I wanna know what happens next!

Reflections of Desire -Elizabeth Cavin

I feel like the role of gossip, slander, and insults is kind of self evident in this story. It is there to move the plot along by motivating action from the characters. On the second topic question, it is curious as to why there is so much misery in these stories…my only guess is that it is there to emphasize and establish what are more “proper” reactions for real-life events, like how one should feel at death of their spouse, when someone challenges you/a friends honor, or when one makes a mistake. Although, I guess it could also just be a reflection of the story-makers personal misery n real-life expressed into a creative outlet. When one makes another feel bad die to another’s misery (reader feels character misery/ character feels character misery/some cases…reader feels bad for author) often sympathy is established, making them more emotionally involved with the story.

Reading up to page 296…I was surprised by how much I learned on a woman’s place in this type of society, and I can not help but be a little disgusted by it. Not only do women not seem to think for themselves, but they are complacent to forming to the standard by which men believe them capable (which is not much). When the widow just decides that it is ok to marry her husband’s murderer, right after Sir Yvain claims her mood will eventually change and they should be lovers just because he desires her (pg 274), I could not help but think: WTF?? He even admits that his love comes from only his eyes, which desire her physical beauty (pg 281).

How could one go from self-destructive harm during grief to joyful agreement in a few (if not a single) night? This woman betrays her own feelings, albeit for a pretty decent reason, but then she goes as far as to convince herself she “loves” this murderer? (Around pg 276) All in the same time frame? The book says she was eager for the marriage, and that nothing would have stopped her from doings so (even if her people did not approve). Not for protection, it points out, but to fulfill her own desires. Either this woman’s feelings for the previous man were as shallow as can be (and she’s a drama queen), or the beliefs of the time were backing her into a corner in which brainwashing herself was the only way to happiness. Also, the claim that all women get mad when given good advice really touched a nerve with me (pg 276).

Then there was this quote on page 286:

                “And while these two were becoming acquainted, the others were flirting. There were about ninety other ladies, and each one was beautiful and charming, noble, intelligent, prudent, and wise, ladies of noble birth and high lineage. And so men were able to amuse themselves by conversing with them, looking at them, and sitting besides them, as well as kissing and caressing them. At least that much pleasure was theirs.”

…I felt sick to my stomach after reading that. It basically listed all that a woman was worth (in that time period), then went on to point out such physical actions by men (looking at them, touching them, kissing them) were simply for the men’s amusement, and worse yet, the woman were ok with it. For some reason I thought a woman’s virginity, at least before her first marriage, was really valuable, and things like kissing and caressing someone you did not plan to court was considered wrong...But I guess instead, I was wrong.

Then I have some random questions, just from the whole reading so far:

• Ø  Why, when Sir Yvain is lead into the palace after dealing the fatal blow to the other knight, does the young maiden help the MURDERER of her lord to hide? -pg 269
• Ø  Is there some sort of belief that when dead wounds bleed, the killer is near? Why are the people in such a commotion over bleeding wounds on the dead knight? -pg 271
• Ø  So, is that a thing? That love is not allowed to exist from the woman if the man lacks honor? -pg 287

Pretty sure that Kay was right all along...

Going to be honest – my favorite part of the entire story was probably Kay’s existence? Like obviously he is a dick, and also there is a lot more going on here, but I just need to get my Kay obsession out of the way, because his doucheiness is hilarious and the reactions it inspires are off the freaking wall. There is literally a point where Yvain is thinking about all the dishonor and contempt he will get for murdering a dude (not the moral ramifications…) and his first fucking thought is that Kay is gonna be mean to him? Seriously dude, you’re not worried about anyone else, just this one dude being a dick. Yvain is literally sitting there all worried.

But like, if we’re looking at things on a slightly more serious level, I feel like the most interesting part of this story so far is Yvain and the wife of the dude he killed. Their relationships is such a freaking roller-coaster. First they’re down, then they’re up, then they’re down again. I really appreciate at the start when he totally understands why she would be angry at him, and that definitely gets at the whole Courtly Love theme of putting women on pedestals and bowing at their feet and such. (Side question: what’s the Courtly Love stance on falling for a widower?) Even if their romance is obviously a little forced (since, you know… falling for the guy who killed your beloved seems pretty hard), I think he does at least have some real respect for her.

At least until… you know. That part where he totally freaking forgets about her. Like bro, she spent a seriously long time laying out her rules for him going off, and he’s like, “yes yes, I love you, I am dedicated, I got this,” and then gets too caught up in his own adventures to notice the time? Honestly, Yvain is kind of an idiot and doesn’t deserve her, and maybe Kay was right for being all shitty to him, because he ain’t that bright.

Literally, all the problems in this dude’s life are his own damn fault. Like I don’t think he’s a mean person for whatever, but like… jesus christ dude. Think about how your acting next time.

(But also… was I the only one who kinda thought Yvain might go for the handmaiden chick? Like obviously she isn’t as fancy as the lady, but she had the good sense to know that Yvain was the stronger dude (since he… actually won). They totally could have had a Some Kind of Wonderful thing going!)

Drunk Writing of a Drunk Runaway?

First and foremost: What?

The scene is set, Guinevere is sneaking around the castle after King Arthur has fallen asleep and then she's calling out all of the knights even after she's been cheating on her husband? Nah, she can chill.  Then the knights start kissing up to her, for obvious reasons, but she's still unnecessary.   The way she talks about Kay saying "he has always had a vicious tongue no one can correct."  Someone needs to teach her that bitches get stitches. 

 

Calogrenant,VERY RELUCTANTLY, begins to tell the court about how some guy took him to a fountain and performed a rain dance that caused a crazy storm.  When said storm ended, a guy came out of nowhere and accused Calogrenant of starting a war with him and as these stories go, they naturally fought.  Unfortunately, our boy Cal lost.  Having the greatest friends he could imagine, Yvain volunteers to avenge Calogrenant's shame.  But Gunivere clearly didn't learn at an early age the national no snitchin policy and told Arthur in the A.Ms what happened despite Cal's clear discomfort. 

BUT YOU MUST BE WONDERING WHERE THE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ARE!

They're there.  Half of Cal's story was about the gorgeous maidens he saw.  Then Yvain encountered the "beautiful lady" and went on a page long declaration of how he is a slave to her love.  Then he becomes her actual slave?  Cannot lie, I love how she testes him by asking all those questions about what made him fall in love with her.  For a split second, it was as if courtly love was just as dumb a concept to them as it is to us.

This has been an odd start to yet another odd story.  People think Yvain is dead, Kay thinks he was drunk and ran away.  I don't know, shrugs are all I can do.