Yvain Quote Rationale Flashcards
(12 cards)
Quote: “But whatever happened, he’d made up/His mind to help the lion,/For pity urged him on,/Begging him to rescue that noble,/Highborn beast”
This pity is not because the lion is weak. It is the opposite of that. The lion deserves better, as he is noble and highborn, just as Yvain is. Yvain is essentially freeing himself from the “treachery”of the snake (Satan), which is his past dishonor. It has a dual purpose. He saves the lion out of true knighthood, and he saves himself.
Done in private.
“He’d made up his mind” no godly intervention. This was him. Even more significant, then, that he vanquishes the snake. A man vanquishes the biblical symbol of temptation and evil that Adam and Eve (all of humankind), was prone to! (Snake may just be symbolic, but it goes with the argument). Puts him in the position of a God, but he is a man.
“Showing his nobility and goodness,/He began to make it clear/That he surrendered himself to Yvain:/Placing his front feet together,/He stood erect on his hind legs/And bowed his face toward the earth”
Showing regard and deference, what he should have done in his earlier journey. So, the lion serves as a model for what Yvain should be, or what he already is, considering his motivation to save the lion. Clearly a pivotal point.
“Surrendered himself” dive into that: forges a deep trust between the two (between animal to human, no God).
“Surrendered himself” Submission is very religious, but Yvain is a man. Shows a deep trust and reverence. A sacred marriage!
Lions can be savage, but also remarkably conscientious, in the way he treats Yvain (transition).
“And he does, at the very first leap,/And drinks its fresh hot blood./And after the kill, he put/The deer on his back, and brought it/Where he saw his master coming,/And Yvain felt such a rush/Of affection that he took him to be/His companion through all the days/Of his life, so great was his love”
This point is the clear, Sacred marriage/self-unification. Literally, he pledges to stay with the lion the rest of his life, not unlike a marriage vow.
Savagery, but positive: Description of blood drinking is savage. Yet the lion brings the rest to serve his master. He is able to possess animalistic qualities and still have ones of giving and love. That is a contradiction– to possess charity (Christian) values, but also be driven as an animal And Yvain loves him for it. If the lion is Yvain, and Yvain is a religious-like figure to the lion, it follows that mankind has a spiritual essence that is not governed by a higher power. They are everything they need. MUTUALISM (goodness)
“Somehow the lion/Seemed to know that his master/Did not truly dislike/His help, but loved him better/For it. [He charged against them/Until they had reason to complain,/And slashed him with their weapons, and hurt him.]/And seeing his lion wounded/My lord Yvain was angry,/And with reason, and he took such savage/Revenge, attacking with such stunning/Blows that he wore them down,/Reduced them to feeble nothingness”
Lion’s savagery is not seen as negative. It is a positive quality, and one the Yvain appreciates, as opposed to strict society that is not animalistic. He should dislike it, but he doesn’t (should he dislike it because it was not what he agreed to?).
Notable: roles switch here. Yvain becomes described as savage, despite the strict rules knights were supposed to follow in battle (and he did, by placing the lion away when the steward and his son asked). But Chretien says it was “with reason” so his savagery is justified.
And their bond deepens because of it. Their sacred marriage, and bond is based on both pure and savage principles, but comes from love nonetheless. Idea of amor, but it is not sexual. It is just appreciation for each other, for all that they can be, and Chretien makes a clear effort to emphasize it.
“That God and justice would help him/would fight at his side. He put/His trust completely in such comrades/Though he never forgot the lion”
Refers to God as his comrade, as an equal.
Literally, the lion could help him fight off the men intent on killing Lunette. However, he just as steadily trusts himself (as he is the lion, they have such a deep bond), showing a power dynamic struggle (this is important you haven’t mentioned conflict)
“‘But I owe you at least my name./If anyone speaks of the Knight/Of the Lion they’re speaking of me./And that is the name I’ve chosen’”
Context: after he saves Lunette, being anonymous to Laudine.
Fully integrated identity with the lion. The lion is something that distinguishes him, but he chooses the name for himself, rather than others picking it for him. This is a testament to his gratitude for the change the lion brought about in him, and the deep affection for him.
The change and affection is both human and sacred, and making Yvain choose to have it identify himself before he can return to society acknowledges this strange combination.
Conclusion:
Mention that god is named plenty in the book, but the subtleties of the relationship between Yvain and the lion reveal more.
Chretien imbues the text with social commentary.
It is a celebration of the virtues of knighthood and of man, its highest form. These knights represented the highest form of humanity, and, through the lion and Yvain, Chretien asks “what makes them, and their love, inferior to the one that is said to be God’s?”
It is amor, in its singularity, but it is more like agape because it non-sexual. It is much more significant than the love between Laudine and Yvain, which is very one sided.
Final Reminder:
YOU HAVE 40 MINUTES TO DO THIS. the introduction takes less than a minute. about ten minutes per paragraph, including the conclusion. THAT IS TIGHT. get quotes down first!!
title
Write of the Lion: The Conflict and Conflation of Divinity and Humanity in Yvain, The Knight of the Lion
figure out when to define agape.
in the introduction
One more thing about the introduction
define agape here, and how it was viewed by the world!! “setting forth thesis”
review where cuts are
