Chivalry As a System of Moral and Social Virtues: Review of Literature

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Chivalry as a system of moral and social virtues has developed during the medieval period and has been popularized in its literature. It serves to establish a notion of knighthood, but also nobility and honour. Chivalry is one of the most explored themes of the medieval literature and the fact that there are many points of views on it, makes this concept attractive as a subject of research. The Knight’s Tale and Lanval are about chivalry and are quite similar as they both explore the idea of chivalry having a complicated relationship with courtly love. As they are similar in themes, what makes the comparison so interesting to analyse is the difference not only of the time period in which they were created but also authors’ origins, as well as gender. All those personal circumstances are a shaping element of perspective which defined both stories and the differences between Chaucer and Marie de France create an intense topic for research of their literary pieces and their content.

Burgess, Glynn S, ‘Chivalry And Prowess In The Lais Of Marie De France’, French Studies, vol. 37 (1983), 129-142

The article studies the relationship between chivalry and male characters of lais in regards to the language used to describe them and how that vocabulary is used in order to show which characters and their actions are supported by the author herself. There is a clear connection established between male characters, the position they find themselves in and the descriptive language that is used in relation to them to reflect the author’s judgement of her own work. Once that relationship is thoroughly explained, Burgess examines the chivalry of men in relation to all of Marie’s lais as she focuses on each lai individually but also equally, which gives an opportunity to compare the content of the lais and literary devices used. There is a clear comparison made between the conflicts that the protagonists of lais are encountering as the essay legitimizes the patterns that can be found in all stories as well as the manifestation of a feudal establishment of the certain community members. The article also studies chivalry in relation to other medieval virtues such as loyalty, primarily the loyalty of a man to a woman, and service to the community rather than to an individual, and how those partnerships are uncovered and in which way they are affecting protagonists’ actions and emotions. In the context of Lanval, the article focuses on the fact that the word vassal has been used numerously in order to describe the protagonist and how that in itself increases the feeling of isolation and the need for validation which Arthur refuses to give to him. Burgess outlines that it is that feeling of alienation from the community that Lanval is struggling with and that is the starting point for his conflict between his chivalry and his romance.

Burgess Glynn S, Busby Keith, The Lais Of Marie De France (London: Penguin Books, 1999)

Lanval is a story about a knight of the King Arthur’s court, who is faced with jealousy from other knights which leads him into starting a relationship with a fairy queen. The author of the lais is portraying historical context of the society of twelfth-century France in which gender stereotypes were challenged, but by putting Lanval into the supernatural convention, Marie de France is avoiding a controversy that gender reversal and feminist notion could bring. Being a perfect example of knighthood and chivalry, Lanval is also consumed by loneliness and the way in which his personal circumstances affected his relationship with a fairy queen is connected to how this relationship affected his life. Marie portrays Lanval, the perfect knight envied by others, as weak and not being able to save himself when in danger, but she also makes a connection between Lanval and his failed chivalry which is especially visible in his pattern of dependency and inferiority to the female. He is nothing but his knighthood, but that is not enough to provide for himself and it is clearly established how Lanval, who started as a character of strength and morality, essentially becomes an example of an unmarried woman in need of financial and emotional support. By gender reversal and a belittlement of chivalry, Marie de France adds a trace of feminist superiority as she explores masculine vulnerability and redefining the code of morality as well as the code of courtly love.

Helterman, Jeffrey. “The Dehumanizing Metamorphoses of The Knight’s Tale.” ELH, vol. 38, no. 4, (1971), 493–511

The article studies the relationship between animalistic and beastly imageries and their relationship with human inner metamorphosis. In The Knight’s Tale, it is love that is refined to the abstraction of the courtly ideal as it causes a man to violate his own nature an as a consequence his harmony with Nature. Halterman states that all of it is a result of divine interference which the dehumanising of characters and that dehumanisation depends upon the courtly love ideal of raising earthly love to the highest good. Chaucer counterpoints the ideal by having each lover equate himself with the beasts in the course of elevating love simile which reveals that love turns man, striving blindly upward, into a beast showing it in the example of Palamon promising war in exchange for full possession over Emylie. The article studies Chaucer restructures Boccaccio’s Teseida and the description of the opposing forces to reveal that when a man seeks to move up the ladder of being, as do Palamon and Arcite in their idealization of Emelye and earthly love, he ends up as a beast and Helterman proves it by his analysis of verse used in the description of the tournament. As The Knight’s Tale in a way a constant rejection of chivalry practice, it is also a dream of order for a man who has spent his entire life in the turmoil of war. The tale presents the dream of order as the Knight would wish it, but imagery and metaphor reveal the reality of the chaos within and the article concludes with the statement that The Knight’s Tale is built upon the parallel ordering principles of courtly love and pagan chivalry, both of which attempt to turn man s animal instincts into celestial perfection.

Ireland, Patrick J. “The Narrative Unity of the ‘Lanval’ of Marie De France.” Studies in Philology, vol. 74, no. 2, (1977), 130–145.

The article starts with stating its focus on the genre of the literary work itself and that acknowledging the widespread disagreement about calling Marie’s poems lais, as by looking at the content that she has created and its high originality, imagination and diversity, her work does not have a precise distinction of one form. The article pays close attention to the structure of Lanval and studies the unity of its narrative. By precise examination of the language structure and form, Ireland is able to make some interesting statements about the concepts of chivalry being failed or fulfilled in an uncommon context. He explains the failure of Arthur in his chivalry by failing to do justice to Lanval, but he also explains how in his resistance to commit adultery Lanval is showing his code of morality and virtues. The article also examines the conflict that Lanval find himself in – as he pledges into the idea of courtly love and the fairy queen, he unknowingly surrenders his chivalric allegiance to King Arthur. By keeping his relationship private, Lanval puts a taboo on it, but by his loyalty, he presents his absolute commitment to the chivalric ideal of the court of love and that loyalty is enough to forgive him for his breach of the taboo. Ireland studies to the subject of this paradox of the situation as Lanval cannot serve Arthur and the fairy queen at the same time but by wanting to both he fails. He acts wrongly and he does that to protect the honour of love which is acceptable in the Court of Love, but his action is also a breach of the rules of Arthurian court and the Court of Chivalry. In consequence, by trying to be a member of two courts, Ireland notes how Lanval becomes an outcast of both and his own enemy. The article concludes in calling Lanval a story of both parallels and contrast, in which as a human being Lanval lack rational control, but as a man of nobility and in possession of boundless love, he also deserves Avalon.

Mitchell-Smith, Ilan, ‘As Olde Stories Tellen Us”: Chivalry, Violence, And Geoffrey Chaucer’S Critical Perspective In “The Knight’s Tale’’, in Fifteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 32 (Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 2007), pp. 83-99

Mitchell-Smith’s article offers an exploration of the idea of chivalry and its relationship to violence while also explaining the close connection between Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale and Boccaccio’s Troilus and Criseyde and how the traces of Boccaccio’s story can be found in Chaucer’s tale as well as how they are affected by Chaucer’s point of view. The author carefully studies the personalities of Palamon and Arcite by comparison of both in relation to the language of the narrator used while describing them, including behaviour and as well as mental and physical condition. The explanation for that is given in the form of research that is performed on finding traces of gods, Venus and Mars accordingly, and how those traces influence both characters, especially in terms of desires and how they act on them. To emphasize the extreme nature of the knights, the focus of the essay shifts into examining animalistic features and imagery of the tale, especially during the combat between Palamon and Arcite, while also embracing the differences between how the fight was meant to be and how it actually was. The essay concludes with legitimizing Chaucer’s treatment of excessive behaviour and justification of the tale’s ending in which all characters are being taught a lesson of the importance to avoid indulgences and beastly temptations, as their ideal of chivalry and virtues is either lost or transformed.

Rigby, Stephen H, Wisdom And Chivalry: Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale And Medieval Political Theory, (Leiden: Brill, 2013)

Rigby studies the motifs of chivalry and wisdom and its exploration in Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, by relating it to medieval politics of historical context and literature of the period, however, his book is focused almost entirely on applying it into the character of Theseus, and not other characters of the tale: Palamon and Arcite. He structures his research into three parts: Theseus’s personal ethics, how the character applies those ethics in public action and finally Theseus rule of self and others with the context of godly dominion over the universe. To make his analysis more accurate, Rigby links his studies by relating it to one of the other writers of Chaucer’s period by which he could be directly or indirectly familiar. By using Giles of Rome’s De Regimine Principum as his reliable source of medieval ethics, Rigby is able to show that the ideas of moral principles and code of chivalry presented in The Knight’s Tale were commonly known among educated men of the period, while also acknowledging that is it uncertain whether Chaucer ever read Giles and thus was influenced by his ideas in the process. Rigby also compares personalities of characters from the tale, stating that where Palamon and Arcite beastly surround to their passion and lose their values in the process, Theseus controls them and arrives at an acceptable solution for it. He is a nobleman of virtues, however, as a pagan ruler, he is not expected to demonstrate the virtues that are purely theological such as faith and hope of divine grace and charity, but as an exemplary character, he is expected to display the virtue of righteous governing over himself and his people. The book relates the perception of Theseus as a ruler calling it ‘monarchy of an as perfect as a fallen human man can be’ and answers the question of whether or not Theseus is Chaucer’s response for the reign of Richard II. Rigby states that The Knight’s Tale in modern reading is being the strategic intervention for social and political conflicts, but that does not necessarily mean that fourteenth century literature is a reflection of political, economic, social and religious divisions, but he also sets the character of Theseus and his moral code as perfect ideology and utopian potential, but not without flaws. In the conclusion of the book, Rigby legitimizes the idea of The Knight’s Tale being both the reflection of conflicts as well as a strategic weapon offering the mythical solution in the form of ideology and virtues.

Sánchez-Martí, Jordi, ‘The Representation Of Chivalry In The Knight’s Tale’, Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses (2000), 161-173

The paper examines the way in which contemporaneous state of chivalry has affected Chaucer’s Knight in his attempt of the telling the tale. The author begins by analysing Knight’s personality, his military background and nature of being nonconformists, and how those personal circumstances directly affect his literary product as he attempts to determine the individuality of the Knight by defining him in his historical context and the reality of chivalry in the last half of the fourteenth century in which knighthood and the code of morality expresses the notion of decadence. The author explains how examining the character of the Knight and the historical period of his life is the key to understanding Knight’s treatment of the representatives of knighthood in his tale. Having described the context by which the tale is narrated, Sánchez-Marti then focuses on the content of the story and the relationship between Arcite and Palamon, which he calls ‘compagnonnage’. As he explains the meaning of this institution, its social tradition and implied obligations, the author examines the corruption of the characters, the brotherhood that has been belittled and the oath that has been broken. The author also finds it interesting that in other literary works of the period the institution of compagnonnage has been used to explore the themes of complete loyalty whereas Chaucer uses it to project degrading behaviour and chivalry that is left with minimal personal meaning, even if a character of Theseus is devoted to his moral code.

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