64 pages • 2 hours read
Chrétien De TroyesPerceval, the Story of the Grail
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1181A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Lines 1305-3420Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Lines 1305-1698 Summary
Perceval leaves King Arthur’s court without going back in to display his victory over the Red Knight, though he sends a message back about his exploit. Going on his way, he finds a castle owned by a nobleman, Gornemant of Gohort. The nobleman is kind and recognizes Perceval’s potential, giving him both lodging and lessons in how to be a knight. His instruction is rooted in the call to discipline and perseverance:
So, my dear friend, to make a start
in all professions, you need heart
hard work, and practice; you will see
we gain all knowledge by those three (1465-68).
Gornemant also gives him detailed lessons in practical matters, such as how to use his weapons and what to do in several different combat situations.
After receiving the nobleman’s hospitality, Perceval expresses his desire to journey back to his home to see what has become of his mother. He had noticed her fall down in a swoon upon his departure, and now resolves to make his way back to her. Before he goes, Gornemant outfits him with proper clothes and declares that the office of knighthood has been officially extended to Perceval:
He gave the young knight an embrace
and said he’d given with the sword
the highest honor of Our Lord
an order made by God’s decree
and it was knighthood, chivalry;
that such an order must remain
without deceit, without a stain (1632-38).
In a passage similar to the earlier advice from Perceval’s mother, Gornemant advises Perceval about the rules of chivalry, repeating the counsel to defend the defenseless and demonstrate good Christian piety. He also adds a few new rules, such as that a knight should show mercy to a defeated opponent and should not talk too freely.
Lines 1699-2975 Summary
Following the stop at Gornemant’s castle, Perceval is ready to proceed in his adventures as a knight, beginning with a self-imposed quest to return home and check on his mother:
The new-created knight departed
for he was eager to get started
to find his mother, and to learn
that she was well on his return (1699-1702).
He comes across another castle, but its fields and town are in a dire condition—empty, broken, and in disrepair. He is met and welcomed by the nobility of the castle, including a beautiful young woman named Blancheflor, who becomes his main guide and interlocutor.
Perceval, however, is trying to follow Gornemant’s advice of not talking too much, and he creates an awkward situation by not saying anything at all. Eventually Blancheflor asks him where he came from, and he describes Gornemant’s castle only to learn that Blancheflor is Gornemant’s niece. After Perceval has gone to bed, Blancheflor approaches him in the middle of the night to confess the true scale of her castle’s plight. It has suffered a long assault by the forces of Clamadeu, a hostile nobleman, and Clamadeu’s knight Anguingueron. Perceval comforts Blancheflor and they lie together, kissing till morning but not (apparently due to Perceval’s naiveté) engaging in any behavior beyond that.
The next day, Perceval pledges to go out and defeat Anguingueron. After the townspeople pray for his welfare, Perceval confronts the knight, who reveals that the castle and its town are due to offer their surrender that very day, and that Blancheflor would then be taken forcefully to wed his master Clamadeu. Perceval persists and demands a fight, in which he overpowers the older knight with both the lance and the sword. Anguingueron surrenders, but begs Perceval not to send him as a prisoner to either Blancheflor’s castle or to Gornemant’s, either of which would mean his execution. So Perceval sends him to surrender himself to King Arthur’s court, with a greeting to the young woman whom Kay slapped and a message that he will come back to avenge that blow.
Clamadeu decides to press his assault on Blancheflor’s castle even after Anguingueron’s fall. His initial attack fails, and the castle experiences a reprieve from the siege through the timely arrival of grain barges. With all his military attempts faltering, Clamadeu challenges Perceval to a fight, which proceeds along the same lines as Anguingueron’s duel: Perceval quickly emerges as the victor and sends Clamadeu to surrender himself as a prisoner to King Arthur’s court.
The messages are received at court with surprise, as Arthur and his officials are impressed by Perceval’s prowess, and Kay suffers the repeated shame of having Perceval’s warnings brought before him. The scene returns to Blancheflor’s castle, now free of peril, and although Perceval could have stayed and found love and status there, his mind is still trained on returning home to see what has become of his mother.
Lines 2976-3420 Summary
After Blancheflor’s castle, the next set of scenes is concerned with events that stand at the center of many Arthurian legends: the mysterious Fisher King and the Holy Grail. Perceval comes to a river that runs along a cliff’s sheer face, and in the middle of the river is a boat with a man fishing, who gives Perceval directions to his nearby castle. Perceval presses on, but an air of otherworldliness surrounds the place, with Perceval at first being unable to see the castle, but then slowly coming into sight of it. When he arrives, he is brought into a hall where a nobleman is seated on a bed, evidently in an infirm state.
A squire enters, bearing a sword made specially by a master arms-maker, which the nobleman gives to his guest. Later another squire approaches, bearing a white lance from which drops of crimson blood emerge. Perceval is intrigued by this, but asks no questions, still concerned with following Gornemant’s advice about talking too much:
The knight who came not long ago
beheld this marvel, but preferred
not to inquire why it occurred, for he recalled the admonition
the lord made part of his tuition
since he had taken pains to stress
the dangers of loquaciousness (3202-08).
Following this, more squires and a maiden enter, carrying candelabras and a mysterious grail (likely referring to a jeweled dish rather than a goblet) that shines with radiance.
The lance and grail are taken through the hall and into an adjoining room, presumably to be delivered to someone there, but Perceval again fails to ask any questions about what they are or to whom they are being brought. Even as the grail reemerges and is brought back through the hall during dinner, Perceval does not remark on it: “At every course, and in plain sight / the grail was carried past the knight / who did not ask whom they were serving” (3299-3301). After the dinner, Perceval goes to bed, and on arising in the morning, he finds himself alone, with the castle apparently empty. He gathers his armor and leaves, frustrated and confused by the unusual circumstances.
Lines 1305-3420 Analysis
This section features the main cycle of Perceval’s adventures, which centers on the three castles that he visits: Gornemant’s, Blancheflor’s, and the Fisher King’s. The symbol of castles is thus readily apparent in this section, as each episode in the journey revolves around a particular castle. The castles stand as representations of the adventures themselves and also provide a literary structure that gives the narrative its episodic format (See: Symbols & Motifs).
The three castles introduce three of the main tropes of the literature of knightly quests: training in chivalry (at Gornemant’s castle), the pursuit of a lady’s love by rescuing her from peril (at Blancheflor’s castle), and the mystical and religious elements of being a Christian knight (at the Fisher King’s castle). This progression ties in with Chrétien’s theme on The Significance of Questing. While none of these three castles represent the goal of Perceval’s current quest—which is to return home and check on his mother—they nonetheless illustrate the adventures that accompany the questing of a knight. A knight’s life is presented as being one that is always in motion, moving from place to place and facing whatever challenges might present themselves along the course of his quest.
This section also introduces another important set of symbols: the grail and the bleeding lance, mystical relics whose importance can be deduced from the episode at the Fisher King’s castle, though the reason for their importance is as yet unexplained in the narrative (See: Symbols & Motifs). Their apparent connections to well-known relics of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion establish them as fitting within the poem’s repeated emphasis on the pious observance of the Christian faith, but their significance to the narrative remains unexplained until after Perceval has journeyed away from the Fisher King’s castle. Their appearance underscores the theme of Knowledge as the Key to Healing and Growth, as it is implied in the text that Perceval should be seeking knowledge of what the relics are and to whom they are being carried.
The theme of Chivalry and the Meaning of Knighthood is prominent in this section, especially in the episode at Gornemant’s castle. Gornemant’s main purpose in the narrative is to establish Perceval as a knight, which had not been officially done at King Arthur’s court. Following his stay at Gornemant’s castle, the text begins to refer to Perceval more often as a knight and less often as “the youth.” In addition to knighting him, Gornemant provides valuable training in both the morals and practice of life as a knight. He instructs Perceval in how the weapons and armor of a knight are used and adds to the rules of chivalry that Perceval has already begun learning from his mother.
Gornemant’s instruction once again puts the spotlight on the theme of Knowledge as the Key to Healing and Growth, but it is not yet enough to overcome Perceval’s characteristic ignorance. As in the case with the counsel he received from his mother, Perceval misapplies Gornemant’s instructions, taking the advice about not talking too much too literally by rendering himself practically mute. His lack of knowledge and common sense thus sets up the central tragedy of the text, in which he unknowingly misses his chance to ask a question that could bring healing and restoration to the Fisher King and his whole realm, as later episodes in the story will explain.
The motif of comic folly (See: Symbols & Motifs) is also present in this section, but is gradually diminishing as Perceval grows in his experience of knighthood. Its main appearance in this section comes with Perceval’s misapplication of Gornemant’s counsel not to talk too much, which Perceval overdoes by hardly talking at all. This leads both to comic consequences, as in his awkward introduction to Blancheflor, and to tragic consequences, when he fails to ask about the bleeding lance and the grail.
There is also a comic element in the way that other characters perpetually think that Perceval is likely to fail, and yet he easily overcomes most of the challenges that come his way. Even those characters who are kindly disposed toward him, like Blancheflor and the residents of her castle, assume that Perceval probably cannot beat Anguingueron or Clamadeu, and yet Perceval beats them so quickly and easily that Chrétien does not even bother to narrate the fights at any great length. Thus, while the story of Perceval (and later, of Gawain) is the story of a knight bouncing from one fight to the next, Chrétien’s interest appears to be less focused on stories of valiant combat and more on the surprises and ironies introduced by the personal interactions in the narrative.
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