Desire, directed nominally toward females in romance, is in fact largely redirected through competitive interaction with other men, espe- cially in the cycles of the Grail. These men all want the same things:status, esteem and the possessions that go with it, including rich young women. It is astounding how often Perceval fights over the course of
60,000 lives and almost every encounter with another male involves an immediate threat. This is sometimes diverted upon recognition but more often leads either to death or the capture of the challenger and his subsequent submission to the court of King Arthur. These battles serve at least three ends: they direct the energies of men toward compe- tition with other men, thus reinforcing patriarchal structure; they lead to the social and economic establishment of knights through acquisi- tion of land and marriage; and they contribute indirectly to the success of King Arthur’s own political ambitions, since almost every defeated knight is offered service to Arthur in lieu of prison, and all accept that option.
Gender is then inculcated not so much through opposition to femi- ninity as through competition with other males.26 If, in patriarchy, all identity is constructed in relation to the masculine, “within a masculine economy in relation to another model of the masculine,” then imitation and resultant conflict (as in Girard’s mimetic desire) would not only be constitutive of entry into the Lacanian Imaginary (formation of a self- image) but would function as well at the point of interpellation into the Symbolic Order (the Law) and continue to support the illusion of the unified subject within the Symbolic.27 Perceval’s initial misrecognition of the first knights he meets is a perfect illustration of this mirroring effect. Overwhelmed by the multicolored surface of their armor as it glistens in the sun, Perceval exclaims:
Ce sont ange que je voi ci. / Et voir or ai je mot pechie´ / Or ai je molt mal esploitie´ / Qui dis que c’estoient deiable. / Ne me dist pas ma mere fable, / Qui me dist que li ange sont / Les plus beles choses qui sont / Fors Deu qui est plus bel que tuit . . . Ne vi je or / Les plus beles choses qui sont, / Qui par la guaste forest vont? / Qu’il sont plus bel, si con je cuit, / Que Dex ne que si enge tuit. . . . Mais molt iroie volantiers / Au roi qui fait les chevaliers, / Et g’i erai, cui qu’il en poist. (ll. 132–139, 364–368, 457–459)
[These are angels that I see here. ... My mother wasn’t kidding when she said that angels are the most beautiful things that exist, except for God, who is more beautiful than all things. . . . Didn’t I just see the most beautiful things in the world moving through the gaste forest[Wasted Forest]? I think they are more beautiful than God and all his angels . . . I would really like to go to the king who makes men knights, and go I will, I don’t care who objects.]
Perceval has seen his ego ideal and henceforth carries it within him as the image of himself. In Lacan’s terminology, the ego ideal is “the signifier operating as ideal, an internalized plan of the law, the guide governing the subject’s position in the symbolic order, and hence anticipates secondary (Oedipal) identification, or is a product of that identification.”28 This image is an object of desire which continues to govern Perceval’s relation to the Law long after he himself becomes a knight.29 In this sense it is not limited to an imaginary identification but serves as well a disciplinary function in the symbolic order. It is reinforced every time that he engages in competitive battles for supremacy. Violent mimetism is the rule of chivalry and its power to blind and seduce is most in evidence in those scenes of m´econnaissance in which Arthurian knights, friends, and brothers battle each other almost to death before realizing who they are.30 Any notion of individuality is subsumed within the intense, primary rivalry of gender identification and the need to re- establish that identity through combat.
Women Under Chivalry
In support of Gaunt’s point that gender within patriarchy is constructed always in relation to a notion of the masculine, the women who appear in the Roman du graal and the Continuations, even when allowed a voice and a diegetic role, are depicted in terms of their inclusion within, or opposition to, the parameters of patriarchy. Even in the all-female Castle of the Maidens, where the women appear to be self-sufficient and happy amongst themselves, they are defined in relation to what they have rejected or cannot have.31 Women in the Grail texts fall generally into the categories of: persecuted damsel in distress, rape victim, devil in disguise, other-worldly fairy, or ugly messenger – and often these roles overlap. The portrait of woman is not entirely negative, though, despite the generally misogynistic slant. These romances have their share of demonic female seductresses, and evil messengers from beyond (e.g.,ll. 2516–2586; 12432–12500), but Perceval also defends women, in Gerbert de Montreuil’s text, for having played a role in redemption:
Vilains est et de mal afaire / Li hom qui feme deshonoeure: / Par feme fut dedens une cure / Recovrez toz li biens del mont; / Feme fu le premerain pont / Par cui Dieux en enfer passa, / Qui toz ses amis respassa / D’infer et traist for de la porte: / Par li fu la mors d’infer morte, / Ki fame fait lait ne hontage, / Li meismes fait son damage. (7230–7240)
[Wicked and corrupt is the man who dishonors a woman: it was through a woman that all the goods of the world were recovered; a woman was the first bridge by which God entered into hell and brought back with him through those gates all his friends: through him was the bite of hell destroyed; he who mistreats or brings shame upon a woman brings upon himself his own ruin.]
Many of the mistreated women in the romance defend themselves against their male aggressors in similarly eloquent terms. One in partic- ular, defending her right to marry the man who has seduced her with false promises, speaks for a whole class of pastourelle women when she says:
Si me requist son bon a faire, / Et je qui fui de sot affaire / Li respondi que je feroie / Son bon et tot li sofferroie, / Mais qu’il me fianchast sa foi / Que loialement en bone foi / M’espourseroit en loialte´. / Li fols, plains de desloiaute´, / Me fiancha lue´s de sa main / Qu’il m’espourseroit l’endemain. / Sor sa fiance l’en crei / Et il a moi tant acrei / Qu’il prist cele nuit tant del mien / Qu’il ne me puet rendre por rien. . . . Ore ai fait, ce m’est vis, le salt / Que sote fait qui ne se garde, / Qui par fol sens son cors escarde. / Malvaisement me sui gardee, / Vilainement sui escardee. (ll. 1775–1794)
[So he asked me do what he wanted and I, who was foolish and inexperienced, said that I would do what he wanted and let him have his way with me but that he should first give me his word that he would truthfully, in all good faith, marry me. That lying cheat, he promised me right then and there with a sign of his hand that he would marry me the next day. I believed his promise and that night he took a loan from me that he can never in any way repay. . . . Now I realize that I jumped into something, like a fool who isn’t lookingout for her own interest, who gives up the wholeness of her body without thinking. I did not look out for myself, now I find myself discarded!]
Perceval goes to this woman’s defense and she ends up getting the mar- riage she bargained for, but her case is unusual. Most women are in the opposite position of being forced to marry men they despise. Defended or chastised, the women are nonetheless entirely determined, within the economy of these romances, by how men treat them. Their individual- ity or their problems are only interesting insofar as they further or break off their relations with men.
As Kathryn Gravdal recognized, romance “by its definition, must create the threat of rape,” and the threat of rape is indeed omnipresent in these Grail romances.32 Perceval himself is uncomfortably associated with a potential rape in his very first meeting with a woman alone:
La pucele de paor tramble / Por le vallet qui fols li samble
...
Mais dedesfanse mestier n’i ot, / Que li vallez tot de randon / La baissa, vosist ele o non, / Vint foiz, si con li contes dit. (ll. 651-652; 670–673)
[The young woman trembled with fear over this young man who seemed crazy . . . but she didn’t need to defend herself because he suddenly kissed her seven times, whethe
r she wanted it or not, as the story goes.]
Raped or not, the woman is then doubly punished in that her lover believes not only that she had sexual relations with the youth but that she participated willingly. Since all women are slaves to physical pleasure, according to this knight, l’Orgueilleux de la Lande, men cannot be blamed for taking advantage of a woman even when she says “no”:
Et s’il baissa maugre´ suen, / N’en fist il apre´s tot son buen? / Oil, ce ne crerroit ja nus / Qu’il le baisast sanz faire plus, / Que l’une chose l’autre atrait. / Qui baisse fame et plus n’i fait, / Des qu’il sont sol a sol andui, / Don cuit je qu’il remaint an lui. / Fame qui sa bouche abandone / Lo soreplus molt de legier done, / S’est qui a certes i entande. / Et bien soit qu’ele se desfande, / Si set en bien sanz nul redot / Que feme velt vaincre partot / Fors qu’en cele mellee soele / Qu’ele tient home par la goele, / Si esgratine et mort et tue, / Si vodroitele estre vaincue. / Et se desfant et si li tarde. / Tant est de l’ostreier coarde, / Ainz velt qu’ a force l’en li face, / Puis si n’en a ne gre´ ne grace. / Por ce cuit je qu’il jut a li. (ll. 3789–3811)
[And if he did kiss her against her will, didn’t he then have his way with her? Yes, he did – no one would believe that he just kissed her without going further, for one thing follows upon the other. Anyone who kisses a woman and does no more, when they are alone together – why, it can only be because he’s slow on the draw. A woman who offers her mouth gives up the rest very easily if the other person puts his mind to it. And even if she does defend herself, it is common knowledge that a woman wants to win by any means except for that one battle in which she grabs a man by the throat, scratches, bites and kills him; and that’s precisely when she wants to be conquered. So she defends herself and yet she wants it, so it’s time to call her bluff for what she wants is to be raped/to be taken by force. Then she can pretend she had no say in it and has no need to acknowledge what happened. And that’s why I think he had it off with her.]
L’Orgueilleux’s argument does allow that a man might choose not to continue to press his advantage but only if he holds back within himself (“il remaint en lui” [l. 3862]). This little aside could be taken as an admission that all men are not entirely enslaved by bodily desire, as women are, or that all men are not necessarily heterosexual. None of the unworthy knights that Perceval meets would seem to fall into those categories, however. They are completely taken with their own power, define themselves as knights in relation to that power to control, and take full advantage of any opportunity to exert that power over any victim, especially women. Thus, even in scenes where rape is not explicitly described, scenes in which knights lead women around the countryside half-dressed and undernourished, it is implicit. Here is one typical scene from Manessier’s Continuation:
Et Sagremor....
Si vit un gue´ grant et parfont. / De l’autre part de l’eve font / Dui chevalier une foilie. Une pucelle despoillie / El milieu de la loje sist, / A qui lor estre pas ne sist. La pucelle fu an chemise / Et uns des chevaliers l’a mise / Trestoute estandue an un lit, / Que faire an voloit son delit. / Mais la pucelle crie et pleure, / Et molt maudit le jor et l’eure / Qu’elle de sa mere fu nee . . . Un chevalier tint la meschine /Descoverte, que la poitrine / Blanche et nue li paroit toute. (Manessier, The Third Continuation, ll. 34735–34757)
[And Sagremor saw a large and deep abyss on the other side of which two knights were doing something terrible. A very young woman was sitting, undressed, in the middle of their hut among the trees, and did not like being there. She was in her underclothing and one of the knights lay her down flat on a bed so that he could have his way with her. But the girl screamed and cried and cursed the day that she was born of her mother.... One knight held the girl down with the clothing undone, so that from the waist up she was completely nude and so white.]
And here are several others, all from Gerbert de Montreuil’s Continu- ation, in which the rape motif is evoked to different degrees. Though some turn out to be lies, ploys used by treacherous women to undermine Perceval’s quest, one gets the impression that such treatment of women is the rule rather than the exception:
l. 7158: Perceval comes upon a knight beating a woman with a heavy club. She cries out that she has done no wrong; she simply has refused to be his “amie.” He has abducted her from her own lover and she now vows never to sleep with him of her own accord. She will kill herself first or let herself be killed. He, meanwhile, is twisting her arms, breaking her bones, and pulling her along by the hair. By the time they reach a chapel where the knight demands that the resident hermit per- form a wedding ceremony, the woman’s body is covered with blood.
l. 9004: The pucelle au cercle d’or’s lover has been killed by the knight with the dragon shield. He is now attacking her castle and will abduct her and force her to be his lover. As he has killed all her possible defenders, she awaits his arrival and swears never to give in to his desires. She will dress forever with her clothing on backwards as a sign of her mourning.
l. 15064: A young woman (who is actually a treacherous liar) is naked in a fountain. Her lover, in a jealous rage over the mention of Perceval, has stripped her and made her sit in the fountain, never to leave it until saved by her supposed hero, Perceval.l. 15332: A young woman (another liar) has been abducted by two knights on horseback. When they arrive at their destination, they put her down on the ground and ask her to let them have their way with her. She replies that she would rather be torn to pieces than give in to them. When two other knights come upon the scene, they battle with her abductors to defend her.
The regularity with which these scenes appear, along with what might be called the rare, legitimate love scenes, manage to inject a presumption of heterosexuality, thereby distinguishing them from the world of epic in which emotional bonds are mainly between men. The romances totally fail, however, to introduce heterosexual relations in any positive way. If anything, the Continuations work to reinforce negative attitudes toward sexuality in general. Men behave badly, raping women and fighting with every other man they meet. There is the suggestion, of course, that it is only unworthy knights who rape, while Arthurian knights fulfill their pledge to protect women; but it is hard to say whether that is actually the case, especially when these same rapists are, upon defeat, recruited to serve in the Arthurian forces. Knights of the Round Table, on the other hand, with the possible exception of Gauvain, are sexual only to the extent that they respond, as does Perceval, to others’ initiative. Their sympathy for the plight of women and their success in combating rapists, thieves, and aggressors of all sorts make them desirable targets for women whose entire diegetic function is to buttress the reputation of our heroes by serving as victims of unscrupulous foes. These women defend their lands by attracting potential husbands/defenders with promises of sex and titles. Blanchefleur presents an emblematic case in the Roman du graal. When Perceval meets her she is noble but poor, victimized, half-dressed, and under the relentless attack of Clamadeu des Iles. On his very first night in her castle, Perceval is asleep in bed when his hostess comes to him saying:
Por De´ vos pri et por son fil / Que vos ne m’an aiez plus vil / De ce que je sui ci venue. / Por ce se je sui pres que nue / Je n’i pansai onques folie / Ne malvoistie´ ne vilenie. (ll. 1941–1946)
[For God’s sake and that of his son, I beg you not to think less of me for having come. Just become I am almost naked does not mean that I was having crazy, evil, or vulgar thoughts.. .]
Despite Blanchefleur’s almost comical disclaimer, she and Perceval end up spending the night together: “Li uns lez l’autre, boche a boche” (l. 2023). Blanchefleur is, on one level at least, a representation of the sexually confident and demanding woman, typical of most of the women who play a part in love scenes in these Celtic-inspired romances. Young and beautiful heiresses, at least according to these male authors, experi- ence and express desire for sex and intimacy as part of a larger strategy of seeking defenders against the assaults of ra
vaging knights. Their world has been laid to waste not by the supposed sins of Perceval and his family, but by the very human forces of unrestrained chivalric aggression. Such marauding behavior is so common among knights that it is even tempt- ing to see Perceval’s “sin” as one of having participated in that cycle of violence. The women’s behavior, understandable and even commend- able, nonetheless reinforces misogynistic theological discourse which sees woman as the corrupter of man and fabliaux portraits of women as sexual predators and slaves to pleasure.33
Sex therefore plays a role in keeping the story moving, in creating promises and obligations that knights must then fulfill. The candor with which sexual acts are described would indicate that the authors, despite their championing of virginity as the ultimate state of perfec- tion, are also careful to insist upon the joys of heterosexual union. Yet they seem to be pulled in two directions. On the one hand, they con- demn male aggression toward women and all non-reproductive sex, including sex between men (see below); on the other, they champion male aggression in every context, provided that it serves the aims of Arthurian Christianity, and celebrate heterosexuality provided that the initiative for beginning sexual relations comes from the woman.34 In fact, a knight such as Perceval should not properly be called heterosexual at all, at least not if we consider some of the modern connotations that were born with courtly literature. Heterosexuality implies not only the consummation of sexual relations with a person of the opposite sex but includes as well an ordering of desire that includes the chase and wooing of that partner, as well as a whole set of ritualized subject positionings and rhetorical tropes. The appearance of the beautiful, barely clothed woman at the bedside of the triumphant knight is a trope that in the Grail romances side-steps male responsibility for having demanded or even desired sex. Thus Perceval’s reaction to Blanchefleur’s appearanceat his bedside is surprise, but when he invites her to join him and spend the night he becomes a willing participant. The next day, as he is about to go forth into battle with the wicked Enguigeron, he asks that she give him her love as a recompense for his efforts. Later, after his victory over Enguigeron, Perceval is led immediately to Blanchefleur’s bedroom by the lady herself, where, instead of eating and drinking, they hug and kiss, lie around, and exchange sweet words (“Ju ent et baisent at acolent / Et debonairement parolent” [ll. 2301–2302]). When Perceval departs, after defeating Clamadeu as well, it is understood that he will return to take possession of her lands.35 It is not even clear that Perceval leaves the castle having had sex with Blanchefleur, never mind that he is now a full-fledged heterosexual, and many earlier critics have claimed that, in fact, Perceval never engages in any sexual relations throughout the romance. Though I do not agree with that assessment and have trou- ble imagining why it seems so important, I would have to say that Perceval’s sexual interludes suggest that he plays a largely passive role in the proceedings. In a scene from the Second Continuation of Wauchier de Denain, obviously inspired by the scene just discussed, Perceval is visited in his bed at the Castle of the Chessboard by a young woman who had earlier promised herself to him:
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