Previous
The Indecisive Lady
In “Chaitivel,” the wounded knight is one of the indecisive lady’s four wooers and the only one who survives deadly fighting during a tournament at Nantes. The knight is badly injured, and the lady takes him home to recuperate in her chamber. When the lady composes a lay about the tragedy, the wounded knight suggests that she title it “The Unhappy One” in honor of him—even though he survived, he faces the unhappy fate of being unable to consummate his love for the lady.
The Wounded Knight Quotes in The Lais of Marie de France
The The Lais of Marie de France quotes below are all either spoken by The Wounded Knight or refer to The Wounded Knight . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
X. Chaitivel
Quotes
“My lady, compose the new lay, but call it The Unhappy One. I shall explain why it should have this title. The others have long since ended their days and used up their span of life. What great anguish they suffered on account of the love they bore for you! But I who have escaped alive, bewildered and forlorn, constantly see the woman I love more than anything on earth, coming and going; she speaks to me morning and evening, yet I cannot experience the joy of a kiss or an embrace or of any pleasure other than conversation. You cause me to suffer a hundred such ills and death would be preferable for me.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Lais of Marie de France LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Wounded Knight Quotes in The Lais of Marie de France
The The Lais of Marie de France quotes below are all either spoken by The Wounded Knight or refer to The Wounded Knight . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
X. Chaitivel
Quotes
“My lady, compose the new lay, but call it The Unhappy One. I shall explain why it should have this title. The others have long since ended their days and used up their span of life. What great anguish they suffered on account of the love they bore for you! But I who have escaped alive, bewildered and forlorn, constantly see the woman I love more than anything on earth, coming and going; she speaks to me morning and evening, yet I cannot experience the joy of a kiss or an embrace or of any pleasure other than conversation. You cause me to suffer a hundred such ills and death would be preferable for me.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
