Praise and Subversion of Romance Ethos in the Prose Lancelot

Author: Hyatte R.

Source: Neophilologus, Volume 82, Number 1, January 1998 , pp. 11-18(8)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The article addresses a problem that confronts the prose Lancelot's readers: the narration's contradictory glorification and censure of chivalric romance ethos illustrated by its heroes' deeds and loves. The contradictory presentation, along with the occasional absence of narrative evaluation of chivalric misdeeds, undermines the romance ethos that the work illustrates – e.g., fine amor, knightly honor, and the quest of adventures – and it prepares for the overthrow of that worldly ethos in the following romance in the Lancelot-Grail cycle, The Quest of the Holy Grail. Expanding upon critical observations in Alexandre Micha's Essais sur le cycle du Lancelot-Graal, the article examines several instances in the Old French romance where the narration presents oppositional judgments on a knight's acts or attitudes or withholds judgment regarding dishonorable actions performed by its title character. The study defines the reader's role with respect to the narration's problematic moral contradictions and lack of evaluation in places where one expects to find meaning and value.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Languages, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104, USA

Publication date: 1998-01-01