Yvain

Within the story of Yvain by Chretien de Troyes, our class was asked to analyze the difficulty of being a knight.  I personally believe that the difficulty of being a knight within the era the story of Yvain takes place in is almost the same as being considered “normal” within today’s society.  By contrasting the two societies, they both have numerous rules to be and/or act a certain way, no matter what era is taking place.

For example, in Yvain, knights have to uphold the characteristics of being noble, loyal, brave, and strong.  They are willing to lie down their lives if they need to; they’re noble in the sense that they fall in love with the women of that time period and nothing else matter to them.  On the other hand, within today’s society, in order for one to be considered “normal”, they must uphold a certain amount of characteristics depending on that person’s setting.

I believe that it would have been extremely difficult to be a knight because there was so much pressure forced upon them to, in a sense, be perfect.  If they were not willing to risk their life for their kingdom or true love, they were looked down upon and not withholding the expectations of being a true knight.