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.