Chretien De Troyes's Romances

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The romance genre is centered around many themes, the most famous being love. The protagonist is almost always the one character that is receiving love or working towards obtaining love. The Romance genre began around the 12th century in Europe. The most famous author of that genre and time was none other than Chretien De Troyes. Troyes is the author of seven poems, four of which were completed by just him. The other three have been worked on and finished by other authors. In this essay the themes from two of his works will be discussed. The works being analyzed are The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot) and The Story of the Grail (Perceval).
The first theme being discussed is love. Love would be the most common thing found in romances. The word romance directly translates and means the word love. In both of the stories love is a driving factor behind the protagonists. The story of Lancelot is based on Lancelot's love and desire for Queen Guinevere. Lancelot went to all possible lengths to achieve the compassion and love of Guinevere. The love Lancelot had for the queen is an all consuming love. He pushed two horses to their deaths to try and get to Guinevere. Another example of Lancelot's never-failing love was when he came into contact with the 'elegantly dressed woman'. The elegantly dressed woman offered Lancelot her hospitality if only he spent the night in her bed. The woman decided to stage a fake rape scene to see how Lancelot would react. Lancelot proved himself honorable and also proved his love for another woman(lines 1104-1479). The rape was intended to show Lancelot's weaknesses. Instead it just enforced the dignity and honor he had. Lancelot did not take advantage of the elegantly dressed woman. He did n...

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... The themes found in the two readings ran almost seamlessly throughout the whole book. The discussed themes of love, honor, important women roles, and mercy were the most noticeable and common themes from the readings. There is no doubt in that Troyes was the father of romances. Troyes's poems and stories are the most famous and influential of any stories from his time. Chretien De Troyes's stories were created hundreds and hundreds of years ago but are still read and still entertain audiences in today's society.

Works Cited

De Troyes, Chrétien, William W. Kibler, and Carleton W. Carroll. "The Story of the Grail (Perceval)." Arthurian Romances. London, England: Penguin, 1991. 381-499. Print.

De Troyes, Chrétien, William W. Kibler, and Carleton W. Carroll. "Knight of the Cart (Lancelot)." Arthurian Romances. London, England: Penguin, 1991. 207-94. Print.

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