I may be reading a bit into this, but the Gral seems to take on a life of its own throughout the rest of the take. Feminine and masculine charateristics can also be contributed to the Gral. In other words, the Gral becomes as much of a character in the second half of the text as Gawan or Parzival.
As a feminine character, the Gral serves as an object to be desired. Many of the female's throughout the text are assessed on their ability to capture a man's heart. Women are an object of desire. Yet, the Gral is the ultimate object of desire. As readers, we, along with Parzival, "meet" the Gral in Chapter 5. "Upon a green achmardi she bore the consumation of heart's desire, its root and its blossoming - a thing called 'the Gral' paradisal, transcending all earthy perfection!" (p. 125). We learn that it is " a thing" which gives one anything one desires. Chapter 5 stresses the fact that the gral is an object. Not only an object to worship, but an object to desire. Just as Gawan cannot go on until he has won the favor and love of Orgeluse, Parzival can not go on with his life until he has won the favor of the Gral. Gawan's proclamation that "The Duchess Orgeluse must have mercy on me if I am to stay a happy man" echoes that of Parcival's when he tells the hermit (Trevrizent), "My deepest distress is for the Gral ... After that it is for my wife ... I languish and pine for them both" (p.296 and 239). Both the Gral and feminine love are objects to be desired. Both men "pine" over these objects. Therefore, the Gral can be viewed as an object and a almost a female character.
On the other hand, the Gral functions mainly as a masculine character. As we learn from the history of the Gral, it only chooses men to protect it. "The Gral chooses lofty servitors, thus knights are appointed to guard it endowed with all the virtures that go with chastity" (p.251). Women (virgins) care for it just as they do when knights enter their domain. This hospitality is similar to that which we have seen throughout the text when women unarm, feed, and prepare a bed for the wandering knight. It is also important to note, the wording of the above line. "The Gral chooses," indicates that the Gral has a mind of its own. Numerous times, Parzival indicates that the Gral has alluded him, as if it had the ability to escape from him. Moreover, just as Arthur has his Table Round, the Gral has its own company. Trevrizent explains to Parzival that there is a "Gral Company." He states, "As I say, maidens are given away from the Gral openly, men in secret, in order to have progeny (as God can instruct them), in the hope that these children will return to serve the Gral and swell the ranks of its Company" (p.251). In other words, the Gral is a (masculine) ruler in its own right.
These are just a few examples I noticed throughout the text. I was wondering if anyone discovered any other ways in which the Gral could serve as a character.
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In light of your arguments, I agree that the gral can be seen as female character. Reinforcing your argument is the fact that it is described as ‘a Stone whose essence is most pure.’ Purity is at the heart of Wolfram’s assertions on the ‘true spirit of womanhood,’ and it is readily associated with women in the story. It’s also important to note that knights are assigned to the gral to protect the ‘virgin’ or pure maidens that are appointed to the gral; the association of a feminine principle within the gral seems to be subtly invoked her. Also, we’ve discussed in class how the gral can be seen as a ‘cornucopia,’ or even, a chalice, I would say, and this is a feminine symbol. I think your assertions about how the gral can be seen as both a male and feminine character may lead us closer to discovering the ‘true nature’ of the gral.
I wonder how we should read Anfortas' wound along the lines you have suggested for characterizing the Gral. Annie noted elsewhere that Anfortas receives an appropriate comeuppance for pridefully pursuing human women instead of devoting himself to the protection and service of the Gral. Is the Gral's response to this evident lack of fidelity (if a lance in the scrotum is indeed the Gral's response) masculine- or feminine-inflected? Should we see the Gral as a masculine lord punishing imperfect allegiance or a scorned feminine object of love-service exacting revenge? I am not posing this question to be facetious; I think Anfortas' fate does provide an important test case for how one interprets the Gral: how much agency it has, how much of a character it is, and if so, what kind (male or female)?
A couple of other random notes: I agree that in its role as cornucopia, provider of all that can be desired (to eat and drink, anyway), the Gral appears feminine. However, this feminine role also seems to modulate into a more masculine register: "such prebend does the Gral, thanks to its indwelling powers, bestow on the chivalric Brotherhood" (240). This description makes the Gral, in its generous, gift-giving capacity, sound like a Beowulfian ring-giver or a feudal sovereign apportioning fiefs and rewards to his vassals. So even in this regard, the Gral seems to embody the two polarities at once.
Second point: you quoted Parzival's lament to Trevrizent: "My deepest distress is for the Gral... After that it is for my wife... I languish and pine for them both." Trevrizent responds that he is entirely correct and justified in doing so...but only as regards his wife. As far as the Gral goes, "this I must deplore." In Trevrizent's eyes, the Gral seems emphatically NOT to be an object of desire for which one pines and to which one dedicates chivalric feats of service: "For no man can win the Gral other than one who is acknowledged in Heaven as destined for it" - one, that is, whom the Gral has already chosen (unless that is stretching things too far). In any event, this certainly does not mean that the Gral doesn't otherwise appear as a feminized object, just that Trevrizent chooses not to see it that way.
I love the idea of the Gral as a feminine character. It is romanticized, protected, and served using almost the same words and honorifics associated with the various (nine bazillion) women in the texts.
Heck, it even takes revenge like a scorned wife.
To jump a bit from Max's point, however
In Trevrizent's eyes, the Gral seems emphatically NOT to be an object of desire for which one pines and to which one dedicates chivalric feats of service: "For no man can win the Gral other than one who is acknowledged in Heaven as destined for it" - one, that is, whom the Gral has already chosen (unless that is stretching things too far). In any event, this certainly does not mean that the Gral doesn't otherwise appear as a feminized object, just that Trevrizent chooses not to see it that way.
I don't know the Trevrizent doesn't see it as a desire-object, but simply as the wrong/immoral/non-chivalric desire-object. In order to chastise one in that manner, you have to recognize that the objects of Parzival's desire, his wife and the Gral, are on somewhat equal footing. Trevrizent just happens to be mistaking in guessing which one will bring Parzival closer to god.
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