Chretien De Troyes' Yvain: Grey Knights

Deciding what can be considered a representational work of a particular author and age of thought can be a difficult enterprise. The Song of Roland, La Morte D'Arthur, and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde can all be considered representative works of medieval thought. Like Yvain, these works are lenses through which a medieval tale is told and a perspective into the mind of the author is granted to the reader. Regardless of which text we use to attempt to define what knighthood ought to be, we run into the same problem that each author is variously unable or unwilling to give the reader precise definitions. The association of knighthood with virtue is continually implied throughout the works of medieval authors, but, in its representation, irony is employed frequently in depictions of transgressions and deviations from knightly ideals. Nevertheless, the ideal itself often lacks definition.

In the case of Chretien de Troyes' Yvain, the poet never judges his hero. He never overtly condemns his hero when Yvain fails. Yvain is a meticulously constructed text which addresses, primarily through implication and juxtaposition, the central question of knightly identity. It is a stunningly flexible and innovative text:

Despite its apparently lackadaisical attention to the strict conventions of romance narrative construction--no prologue, no sententia-like initial statement, no authority or source cited, Le Chevalier au Lion has often been described as Chretien's most carefully contrived romance. In addition to what Frappier and others have referred to as its stylistic harmony and beauty of language, Yvain (along with Cliges) is Chretien's most self-contained narrative. (Uitti 88)

Yvain is a carefully constructed tale. Not only is the linear manner in which the tale is told meticulously plotted, but Chretien's treatment of Yvain as the knight who wins renown, falls from grace, and to some degree, finds acceptance is also highly developed and thoughtfully developed and presented. Yvain, like Chretien's other romances is special in its singularity of focus on the protagonist and on the treatment the poet gives Yvain's rationale and motivations. Chretien's careful focus on knighthood's conventions is complemented by his careful production of the text.

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