The Story of the Grail (Perceval) P. 381-419

Chrétien already established Perceval as a character in need of growth and development. We see a child-like character amazed by a world foreign to him. These heralds of a far away place strike awe in him and cause him to seek a place amongst them. Therefore Perceval sets off to find King Arthur and coldly ignoring the grief-stricken heart of his mother.

Perceval encounters several peoples and events as any “knight” would on his travels. He decides to ignore any manners or custom and demands everything he wants. His lack of training in any sense other than religion cause him to be brash and an unkindly sort of person, and a personality not befitting a knight. First he forces a maiden to kiss him and steals her ring believing it to be the “proper” ways of a knight. At this point he basically twists his mother’s words to do what he wants or what he believes is right. His mannerism and actions exhibit a bestial and impotent mind. For example the manner he marched in Arthur’s court and demanded knighthood and undeserved respect.

Despite his rough start and evident amateurism we see Perceval begin to learn and grow upon his meeting Gornemant of Gohort. We see Perceval receive a fatherly and quick training in proper knight etiquette and battle. Several of the lessons from Gornemant parallel the messages of Perceval’s mother. It seems he needs this repetition for anything to stick in his mind at this point, or he needed to hear it from a knight.

He needed this advice to come from the world he yearns to be a part of and what better voice than that of a knight, and a hardened knight as well. Nothing matters in his mind other than being the best knight he can at this point. Gornemant represents everything he wants in life now and he will give anything to achieve this position. At this point and further on we see quite a bit of development in Perceval’s personality and overall etiquette. Although I have picked preferred text before, I have found this story to be my favorite.