Thankfully, this story wasn’t as
heavy with details as Erec and Enide was, but for some reason I still had
problems with it. To me, it seemed like just a jumbled mess of random events punctuated
with action scenes. It was made even more confusing by Chrétien’s refusal to use a
name other than “knight’ for anyone.
One of the first things that I
found weird was on page 171 when the knight came in and basically said “hey
king, I have a bunch of your people imprisoned and there ain’t nothing you can
do about it”. Then the king just kind of went “eh” and went on his merry way.
But then Kay heard about this and came up with some manipulative scheme that
just ended with him disappearing and the queen being captured. God damn it Kay.
Another scene that was particularly
confusing was when the knight of the cart attempted to cross the ford and had
to fight the guard on page 179. Neither of the knights were given proper names
and Chrétien kept
switching between “knight” and “guard” for the man who was guarding the river
while still calling the knight of the cart “knight”. At times it almost seemed
like there were three men there and I could never tell who had the advantage.
Which reminds me, what is with this
knight and his spacing out? He was so out of it that he couldn’t hear the guard
until he was physically thrown from his saddle? Was he high or something? I mean,
I know he was thinking about a woman, but really.
And then there was the whole thing
about the cursed bed that couldn’t be slept on. The woman was nice enough to
take them in when they were supposedly disgraced from riding in the cart, and
how does the knight of the cart repay her? By telling her that her rules are
stupid and then sleeps in the bed anyway. And if he was able to chuck the
flaming lance away and put out the fires without even getting out of bed, then
why was the bed so dangerous in the first place? He seemed to have no trouble
with it.
Gah, I just don’t know anymore. Now I’m
really looking forward to the discussion because I want to find out what the
heck was supposed to be going on in this story.
I know the ambiguity originally had me confused as well! (And I only say "originally" because I read this story two years ago for my King Arthur Lit class.) Still, I think mystery plays a big part in the story. Perhaps it's Chrétien's way of trying to cultivate interest and build suspense. Maybe it's also supposed to be about self-discovery; just as the knight discovers who he is as a lover, we discover who the knight truly is...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you mentioned the part with the bed, too, since it's my favorite part of the story. I'll agree and say the Knight of the Cart is kind of a jerk for disobeying his host, but presenting danger to a knight is like today's "Challenge Accepted." And the way he deals with the lance? BAMF. I think we're supposed to like him more after that.
I'm trying to re-read what I have read already, and I am confused with the knights still. How many there are per a scene and who is doing what. So yeah... I am looking forward to what is going to be discussed in class because I am lost. The beginning was pretty bizarre... like Chretien wrote without much thought. I love your dialogue for it. I'm assuming the bed and forge or such are some sort of test that will add up to something at the end of the story??? The second half and ending will have some sort of big reveal I suppose.
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