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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 1-1304Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Lines 1-68 Summary
Content Warning: These Chapter Summaries & Analyses include a brief description of violent antisemitic rhetoric, which is featured in Lines 6292-6296 of Perceval.
The first 68 lines of the poem function as a brief introduction (that Cline’s translation designates as the book’s Prologue), in which Chrétien de Troyes addresses his readers and dedicates the book to Philip of Alsace, the Count of Flanders. At the time, Count Philip was serving as regent for France’s young ruler, Philip-Augustus. Count Philip had apparently commissioned Chrétien to create an Arthurian tale in epic verse (as he had already done many times before, in his earlier works), to be used for courtly entertainment. It is possible, though unclear, that there may have been an earlier form of the Perceval story on which Chrétien based his work. In any case, Chrétien references Philip’s commission as a command that called for his highest skills and produced his best work:
[H]e has striven
at the command the count has given
and made endeavors manifold
to rhyme the best tale ever told
in any royal court (61-64).
Following the common practice of praising one’s patron, Chrétien portrays Count Philip as a moral exemplar, a statesman whose merit exceeds that of renowned conquerors like Alexander the Great. Whereas Alexander was famously prone to vices, Chrétien uses the language of chivalry to extol Count Philip’s virtues: “The count loves justice, equity, / the Holy Church, and loyalty; / all low behavior he detests” (25-27). The portrayal depicts Count Philip as embodying the moral ideals of knighthood. This sets up the poem’s structure to be an instruction and inspiration for the young Philip-Augustus, whose youth and inexperience, in contrast to Count Philip’s more established character, would correlate with the character of Perceval.
Lines 69-833 Summary
This section describes the beginning of Perceval’s adventures, as he encounters a group of knights and is inspired to set off for King Arthur’s court. The story opens with a brief description of the protagonist as “a widowed lady’s child” (75), who is setting off for a springtime jaunt in his estate’s forest. There he meets five armored knights, and it quickly becomes clear that Perceval does not know what a knight is, mistaking them for angels.
The knights approach, hot in pursuit of another group of knights, and want information about whether Perceval has seen them. Perceval, however, cannot focus on their questions and instead gushes over their accoutrements and demands to know about each part of their armor. The knights are astonished by his ignorance of such common objects as lances, swords, and shields, but eventually get him to refer their question to the estate’s workers, who might have seen the group they are seeking. In return, the knights respond to Perceval’s inquiries about knighthood by directing him to the court of King Arthur.
Perceval rides back to his mother, who has spent her life trying to protect her son from knowledge of knighthood in order to forestall the deadly turns of fate that befell other members of the family. She is dismayed by the news of his encounter, but Perceval pays no attention to his mother’s feelings, instead declaring that he is off to King Arthur’s court to become a knight. She tries to dissuade him, warning him that even the best knights constantly face misfortunes, challenges, and tragedies. He will not be talked out of his plan, so she gives him some final advice for how to abide by the rules of chivalry. She tells him to practice his faith, to answer the call of any ladies in distress, to seek the counsel of gentlemen, and stresses the importance of knowing the names and identities of those with whom he interacts. He is eager to be on his way, so he rides off, and his mother collapses in despair behind him.
As Perceval travels, he comes upon a tent in a field and, displaying his ignorance once again, mistakes it for a chapel. Following his mother’s advice that chivalry includes stopping to worship God in chapels and churches, he enters the tent to find a young woman sleeping there, who awakes in terror at the intruder. Perceval then tries to apply other rules from his mother about how a knight interacts with maidens, but ends up doing it all wrong: kissing her without consent, taking her ring, and eating her food. Blithely unaware of his missteps, Perceval enjoys the visit and then leaves, happy to have been a chivalrous knight (in his own mind) and ready to resume his quest to King Arthur’s court.
After Perceval’s exit, the young woman’s romantic partner, a proud and intemperate knight, returns to the tent and observes that someone has been there. Skeptical of the woman’s story about Perceval’s ignorant antics, the knight assumes that he has caught her being unfaithful, and he condemns her to a life of public shame until he can find Perceval and take vengeance.
Lines 834-1304 Summary
The events of these lines provide the foundation for much of Perceval’s subsequent questing. Perceval rides in the direction indicated by the knights he met in the forest, gaining further directions from others along the way: “There is a castle by the sea. / Dear friend, if you will go that way / you’ll find King Arthur sad and gay” (843-45). Upon reaching the king’s court, Perceval rides in and is greeted by the king, who relates that he is troubled by the actions of the Red Knight, who has threatened him and offended the queen. Perceval suggests that the king make him a knight, as he plans to go and dispossess the Red Knight of his arms, having already met the offender briefly on his way into the king’s court.
Arthur predicts that Perceval will become a knight and deserves to be so, but makes no direct commitment beyond those remarks. Sir Kay, one of King Arthur’s knights who serves as the royal seneschal, taunts Perceval for his presumption. As Perceval makes his way out of the room, he greets a beautiful young woman along the way, who cheerfully predicts Perceval’s success:
Young man
if you have long enough to live
deep in my heart I’m positive
no knight will be acclaimed or found
in any land the world around
to be a better knight than you
and I feel certain it is true (1038-44).
Kay, however, is displeased by her support for Perceval, and rushes over to slap her.
Perceval goes out and finds the Red Knight, whom he quickly defeats in battle. One of the royal squires, who accompanied him out of the king’s court, helps Perceval to put on the Red Knight’s armor, since Perceval remains largely ignorant of how each piece is used. Perceval then sends the squire back to King Arthur to report the results of the fight and also to bear a message back to the young woman:
Inform the maid of whom I speak
the one whom Kay struck on the cheek
I hope, before my dying day
to have such reckoning with Kay
she’ll think the scores are evened up (1199-1203).
Upon hearing the squire’s account of the battle, King Arthur predicts that Perceval could have been a great knight if properly trained, but will more likely perish from his ignorance and impulsiveness.
Lines 1-1304 Analysis
The opening sections of Chrétien’s poem establish the foundations for most of the episodic adventures to come. They include Chrétien’s brief introduction, Perceval’s debut as a central character, and the first scene at King Arthur’s court, which provides the launch-point for Perceval’s quests and the site of his ultimate return.
Chrétien’s introduction is one of the most important parts of the books for answering literary questions regarding Chrétien’s historical context and the composition of the text, but it bears limited importance for understanding the poem’s internal narrative. One possible application, however, emerges from the way that Chrétien describes his patron, Count Philip, in terms concordant with the ideals of chivalry. This shows Count Philip to be a wise and accomplished statesman, matching the way that the text’s deuteragonist Gawain is portrayed later in the poem. This might imply that the young ruler for whom Count Philip was exercising regency, Philip-Augustus, is intended to see something of his own potential arc of growth in the other main character, Perceval.
Most of the major themes and symbols of the poem are introduced in these sections, including the leading theme of Chivalry and the Meaning of Knighthood. In Perceval’s first scene, he encounters knights and learns for the first time what a knight is, though his initial impression seems limited to the beauty of their armor. Once his mother sees that he cannot be dissuaded from becoming a knight, she attempts to inform him of some of the basic rules of chivalry, including the necessity of observing one’s faith and assisting women who might require his aid. Later, at King Arthur’s court, the incomplete nature of Perceval’s vision of knighthood is further illuminated by the comments of the king, who remarks on Perceval’s prowess and potential, but notes that his ignorance and lack of training will probably be is undoing, thus preventing him from ever truly becoming a knight.
The theme of The Significance of Questing also appears for the first time in these sections, though it does not receive its fullest treatment here. Perceval’s first action as a prospective knight is to go on a quest, seeking to find King Arthur’s court. This is one of three goals he undertakes throughout the poem, the other two being a quest to return home to seek information of his mother’s fate and a quest to seek the meaning of the grail. Perceval’s quest for King Arthur’s court also includes the first appearance of the symbol of castles (See: Symbols & Motifs), with Perceval receiving directions to seek “a castle by the sea” (844). The repeated appearance of castles provides the narrative with its episodic structure, each one representing its own adventure along the path of Perceval’s larger quests.
A third theme, Knowledge as the Key to Healing and Growth, is not clearly introduced in the opening sections, but the foundations of the theme are laid by counterexample. Perceval’s ignorance is presented as a source of trouble from the beginning, and it quickly becomes apparent that what he needs is instruction in the necessary knowledge of being a knight. His mother tries to provide some of this instruction (but to little effect), and King Arthur remarks on Perceval’s lack of instructional training as one of his potential downfalls.
The motif of comic folly (See: Symbols & Motifs) emerges strongly from these opening sections, as Perceval bumbles from one silly and awkward scene to another. He is called a fool by almost every character he meets (save his mother), and he is perpetually making mistakes, from showing his wide-eyed ignorance of the basic arms of a knight, to his misapplication of his mother’s advice on chivalry, to his rustic manners at King Arthur’s court. One scene in which the motif of comic folly is easily perceptible is in his defeat of the Red Knight, where Chrétien includes only a brief description of the fight. This is followed by a long dialogue in which Perceval confesses to the squire that he has no idea how to get the dead knight out of his armor except by cutting him up, and the squire has to inform him of the most basic principles of how clothing and armor come off and are put on again.
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By Chrétien De Troyes
