Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Story of the Grail
2) The blood on the snow reminds Perceval of Blancheflor. On page 391, Chretian writes, “The blood and the snow together reminded him of the fresh hue on his beloved’s face, and he mused until he forgot himself. He thought that the rosy hue stood out against the white of her face like the drops of blood on the white snow. Gazing gave him such pleasure that he believed he was beholding the fresh hue on his beloved’s face.” Perceval would always stare into this white snow, because he saw an image of Blancheflor. He remembered her rosy cheeks on her white face. When she went to see him, she was weeping over him in the castle. She was weeping over knighthood. Perceval dressed in red, and Blancheflor was known as the ‘white flower.’ I see this as am image of Blancheflor because he went out to find the knight who killed Blanceflor’s father. She saw him as being one of the best knights because he didn’t speak, even though he really wasn’t. The images of color that we get with them are red and white. Through this image in the snow, I mostly see death because of the blood. The way I look at it with red and white, is seeing it as life and death. The white also can resemble purity. Earlier in the story there were images of blood. We have seen this when Perceval was defeating the Red Knight, and with brother’s eye, these two also resembled the blindness of knighthood. The red knight was killed with a javelin through the eye, blood and guts fell out. Perceval learned that the crow ate his brother’s eye. I brought this back to knighthood because when Perceval kept staring into the snow, I think it resembled he didn’t do what he was getting into. He had been blind on his part, not knowing what the consequences were. Whenever a knight tried to defeat Perceval at the end, Perceval would look back at the snow after the battle. He would always look at the three drops of blood, which could also resemble the drops of tears that Blancheflor wept over him.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Story of the Grail (339-397)
2. Analyze the episode between Perceval and his mother. What is her reaction? What information does she try to impart to her son? Why do you think he reacts the way he does? Discuss his departure – how should he have behaved? (344, 376, 384)
We first hear about Perceval talking to his mother when he came back to his manorhouse with the men who wanted to acquire some information about some men and women who had passed by earlier. His mother had purposely refrained from telling her son about these Knights, because she didn’t want anything to happen to her son.
The mother told her son, “You have seen, I believe, the angels people complain of, and who kill all they meet.” (344) She was frightened for her son. He hadn’t heard of these men before, and once he finally met them, his mom was terrified. She fainted when he told her the story. She tries to tell her son that he had to be careful, and think about what he actually wanted. She didn’t want him to go out and become a knight. He wanted to be brave and go find the King, he believed that he could do it. With a little bit of training, he figured he will be right on track. She came from a family of knights, and didn’t want anything happening to him. She didn’t want to relay that information to him about his family earlier because she didn’t want that life to continue.
I think that Perceval acted the way he does because he wanted to prove to his mom that he was capable of becoming a strong leader. He wanted to keep the tradition alive with the family of knights. He wanted to meet the King, and his mother was still not proud of him leaving. She tried to stall him from leaving, but he left on his journey. If he had stayed with his mother instead of leaving, then she may have still been alive. She fell unconscious when Perceval left, and he didn’t go back to check on her. He found out later from his first cousin that his mother had died. If he had gone back to check on her, instead of going to find the King, then she would have been still alive. If this book was continued, I would have given him the opportunity to keep the knight tradition alive in his family.
We first hear about Perceval talking to his mother when he came back to his manorhouse with the men who wanted to acquire some information about some men and women who had passed by earlier. His mother had purposely refrained from telling her son about these Knights, because she didn’t want anything to happen to her son.
The mother told her son, “You have seen, I believe, the angels people complain of, and who kill all they meet.” (344) She was frightened for her son. He hadn’t heard of these men before, and once he finally met them, his mom was terrified. She fainted when he told her the story. She tries to tell her son that he had to be careful, and think about what he actually wanted. She didn’t want him to go out and become a knight. He wanted to be brave and go find the King, he believed that he could do it. With a little bit of training, he figured he will be right on track. She came from a family of knights, and didn’t want anything happening to him. She didn’t want to relay that information to him about his family earlier because she didn’t want that life to continue.
I think that Perceval acted the way he does because he wanted to prove to his mom that he was capable of becoming a strong leader. He wanted to keep the tradition alive with the family of knights. He wanted to meet the King, and his mother was still not proud of him leaving. She tried to stall him from leaving, but he left on his journey. If he had stayed with his mother instead of leaving, then she may have still been alive. She fell unconscious when Perceval left, and he didn’t go back to check on her. He found out later from his first cousin that his mother had died. If he had gone back to check on her, instead of going to find the King, then she would have been still alive. If this book was continued, I would have given him the opportunity to keep the knight tradition alive in his family.
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