courtly love Essay examples

Submitted By anry
Words: 1128
Pages: 5
Open Document
Courtly Love
In today’s society relationship’s presents with some rules, such as you cannot cheat on your beloved, you cannot be jealous, because it can be perceived as a sign of insecurity and not as a sign of love, and if you are marrying someone, you can only love this person and no other. In the middle ages, the rules of love were not the same. Before, the art of love presented itself with its own rules. In the middle ages, Andreas Capellanus wrote a book named “The Art of Courtly Love” that provided rules of sexual and court life at that time. A lot of stories were inspired from these rules. From those stories, we can recall two that best interpret this art: The relationship between Lancelot and the Queen in “The knight of the Cart” and the relationship between Owain and the Countess of the fountain in “The Lady of The Fountain”. Which relationship best exemplifies one based upon Capellanus’s The Art of Courtly Love? The relationship between Lancelot and the Queen is a lot more similar and their passion is a lot more perceived by the way they are talking. The relationship of Owain and the countess is a lot more based on drama and not so much on passion.
First of all, it is said in Andreas Capellanus rules that: “An easy conquest strips love of its charm; a difficult conquest enhances its value.” Therefore, we see that the relationship between Lancelot and the queen is a lot more similar to Andreas capellanus book the art of courtly love. We can already see that the love that Lancelot has for the queen is undeniable. He can’t refuse her anything. Although he hesitated for a moment to enter the Cart, because he knew that entering it would mean the loss of his dignity; he decided to enter even if there were consequences. With that we see that the love that he has for the queen is far higher than even his self-esteem. “Because Love ordered and wished it, he jumped in; since Love ruled his action, the disgrace did not matter” (Chrétien De Troyes 58). He would give anything to be with her and nothing could stop him from seeing her. We see a bit farther in the story that he was able to give up his friendship with King Arthur and break iron bars with his bare hands to be with her. On the other hand, we have the relationship between Owain and the Countess of the Fountain. This relationship represents at the beginning of the story nothing more than a fling. Even if he loved everything about the countess from the first time he saw her, it didn’t take him much time to forget about her. When he went to Arthur’s court to celebrate his returning, he promised the queen that he would return after 3 months to be with her. But 3 years passed and there was no sign of him. “And the Countess gave her consent, although it was very painful to her.” “And when he was once more amongst his kindred and friends, he remained three years, instead of three months, with them.” (Anonymous 122). We can see from those quotes that the queen is deeply in love to the point that it is painful for her to let him leave for 3 months, and he on the other hand forgets about her. Therefore, we see that in his relationship Lancelot would do anything to find the queen and to be with her and that it is what enhances the value of the conquest, and in the relationship between Owain and the Countess he forgets about her for 3 years because he is with King Arthur and the other knights.
Secondly, it is said in Andreas Capellanus book that no one should be deprived of the object of his love without sufficient cause and that the pretext of marriage is never a legitimate excuse against love. In the relationship between Lancelot and the queen, we can still see an undeniable love. In the episode, where King Arthur putted the queen in a chamber with iron bars, he was able to break them and enter the chamber of the queen to be with her. ”I don’t believe that iron could ever stop me. Nothing but you yourself could keep me from coming in to you.”(Chrétien De Troyes 81). He
Show More

Related Documents: courtly love Essay examples

Courtly Love In The Knight's Tale

hopelessly in love with a beautiful damsel. Chaucer uses these qualities to develop real and lifelike characters. Theseus is a duke,king of the Athens, and the one who put Palamon and Arcite in the prison tower next to to the garden who is described as full of wisdom and chivalry. Theseus in this tale serves as a ruler who has absolute authority in terms of representing law and order in the tale. Theseus is a real king but didn't get enough characterization to get a lifelike…

Words 575 - Pages 3

Chivalry And Courtly Love Analysis

Chivalry and Courtly love William was clearly a better example of Chivalry and Courtly love in this story for multiple reasons. First he showed all of the qualities of a knight, secondly he showed respect to Jocelyn, and last he honored his liege lord. Count Adhemar on the other hand showed no qualities of a knight and hardly showed respect to Jocelyn or his liege lord. The first reason why William was a better example of chivalry and courtly love in this movie was because of his qualities he shows…

Words 570 - Pages 3

Courtly Love In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

The Court: Courtly Love How is the court determined? In the middle ages, someone in control establishes the court. In many stories, there is a court formed by a king. Courtly love is a major part of the court throughout the history of literature. Courtly love is brought upon many poems and stories read by several of us today. Through evolution, the court and courtly love have changed. The elements, history, and evolution of the court are apart of literature. What elements are in the court? Elements…

Words 1322 - Pages 6

Comparing Knight's Code And The Un-Courtly Love

The Un-Knight’s Code and The Un-Courtly Love The three Canterbury Tales have different ways of showing chivalry, courtly love, and the portrayal of women in the stories, mostly in a negative way. Chaucer shows in The Wife of Bath’s and the Miller’s tale that men don’t follow the Knight’s Code and the men and women don’t follow Courtly Love. He’s breaking those stereotypes of the knights and how they act and how women and others break the rules of Courtly Love. The Knight's Tale on the other hand…

Words 1449 - Pages 6

An Analyis of the Conventions of Courtly Love Within the Miller's Tale and Morte Darthur Essay

Conventions of Courtly Love Within The Miller's Tale and Morte Darthur While both “Morte Darthur” and “The Miller's Tale” display some characteristics of a satirical approach in which human vices are attacked in a whimsical manner through irony, comedy, and folly, they are actually quite different in their literary genre and style. “Morte Darthur”, an adventurous tale with an imaginary setting that perfectly idealizes the chivalrous knight-hero and his noble deeds done for the love of his lady, is…

Words 1849 - Pages 8

Song Analysis Of The Song 'Risk It All'

starts off with the artist singing how it feels to love someone who they think would be a perfect match. Even though “we’ve heard that hearts can still be wrong” he is sure that the person he wants is the one for him. In this tune courtly love is about a boy yearning for a girl and risking everything he has so that she would reciprocate the feeling. He is willing to get hurt as well as let her “break it” meaning his heart, because he is so in love with her that nothing could get in the way. He has…

Words 718 - Pages 3

How Is Love Presented in Romeo and Juliet and Two Poems from the Shakespeare Literary Heritage Essay

How is Love presented in Romeo and Juliet and two poems from the Shakespeare Literary Heritage Love is presented in a variety of different ways in Romeo and Juliet and my chosen poems from the Literary Heritage: Stop All the Clocks and Sonnet 130. For instance, in Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare is attempting to challenge the tradition of courtly love that was prominent in the Elizabethan era. He is suggesting that the tradition of courtly love is artificial and essentially false. Courtly…

Words 1205 - Pages 5

Shax Paper

Alysha Grossenburg Love in Shakespeare March 6, 2015 Shakespeare's Magic Trick: Why Beatrice and Benedick take center stage in Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare portrays love in a very new way in Much Ado about Nothing. He challenges the ideas of courtly love, which was an unrealistic version of love at the time, by carefully displaying two versions of love: one in Beatrice and Benedick and the other in Claudio and Hero. The especially unique aspect of this play is that while Claudio and Hero…

Words 1602 - Pages 7

Examples Of Lowbrow Humor In The Miller's Tale

pokes fun at the idea of courtly love by over enhancing it. In “The Miller’s Tale,” Chaucer ridicules the idea of courtly love through the lowbrow humor of his characters. Courtly love is a romantic story where virtuous characters win the love of a good woman through noble acts. It looks as if it would be a story of courtly love because the characters seem to worship the lady from afar and perform heroic deeds of valor to winter the lady’s heart using the rules of courtly love. Lowbrow humor is Chaucer's…

Words 915 - Pages 4

In What Ways Is The Code By Which Greek Heroic Code And Different?

Study Guide for World Lit. Exam 2 1. What does Beowulf mean when he says that an undoomed man can escape death in battle if his courage is good? If you are undoomed you might be able to escape death if you fight well in battle. If you don’t fight well or bravely you still have a possibility of death. If you are doomed, no matter how you fight you’re going to die. 2. In what ways is the code by which Beowulf fights like the Greek heroic code and different? The Greek heroic code involves fighting…

Words 1111 - Pages 5