CONCLUSION

Chrétien was a writer of genius, capable of producing works that celebrated everything from courtly and knightly virtues to the enunciation of a chevalerie that placed service in the proper perspective of a correctly ordered will.  Le Conte du Graal is a work that belongs, regardless of the sources he chose to use, entirely to Chrétien, and to understand its role in the Twelfth Century, one must consider it as a Twelfth Century text.  Numerous erroneous or incomplete interpretations of Chrétien’s last romance has proliferated precisely because critics have shown a tendency to analyze this work on the basis of modern techniques or prevailing theories.  In order to avoid errors that have plagued previous analyses, this interpretation has been grounded in the following principles:

1. The sense of the Conte del Graal has not been sought in other grail texts.  It has been confined strictly to the text produced by Chrétien.

2. The text has not been bent to fit external ideas.  It has been asserted that this poem can only be truly understood allegorically, a contention based upon an analysis of prior critiques followed by a close examination of the prologue.  The ideas of Hugh of Saint Victor, a near contemporary to Chrétien, have been used to buttress an analysis of the text, but only insofar as Hugh’s writing’s correspond exactly to the text.

3. The key to interpreting the text has not been sought in accessory themes.  Rather, such accessory themes as the incident at the castle of the Fisher King fit in perfectly with the general outline that has been presented.

4. This interpretation explains the Perceval part and does not ignore the Gauvain part.  While close attention has been paid to the progress of the protagonist, Gauvain’s place in the overall message that Chrétien was composing has not been neglected.

5. Sources or analogues have not been regarded as necessarily a key to the sense of Chrétien’s story.  As stated above, the writings of Hugh of Saint Victor have only been used to clarify Chrétien’s methods.

Le Conte du Graal, then,deserves a privileged place among the romances Chrétien composed, for it differs from the others in content, method of interpretation, and message.  This is not due to the role of new patrons or other sources as some have suggested.  To limit Chrétien to the writing of only a certain type of romance celebrating the same virtues over and over is mistaken at best, arrogant at worst; instead, it is Chrétien himself who is responsible for his masterwork, a poem composed to illustrate, through allegory, an important principle: the knight perfecting himself in his own interests lives an empty existence.  The true soldier of Christ is one who gives up his own will, submits humbly to its reordering, and employs himself in service motivated by charity, or the love of God and neighbor.  Perceval, therefore, was destined to be more than a nice, more than a chivalric ideal, more than a humble servant of God.  Perceval was an exemplar to a generation who continues to fascinate readers to this day.