A study of courtly love in ‘The Knight of the Cart’ and ‘The Sun also rises’

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to evaluate the notion of courtly love within Chrétien De Troyes’s 'The Knight of the Cart' and Ernest Hemingway’s 'The Sun Also Rises' in order to assess the applicability of the literary theme within a modern context. The first chapter explores the specific courtly actions that are seen in both texts. Firstly, I seeks to establish the choice of focalizer chosen by Hemingway and De Troye’s respectively and how this choice effects the representation of courtly love, and then I go into detail into some specific courtly actions and how they differ in the modern text. The second chapter focuses on the effects courtly love has on all the participants. I start by delving into the irrationality depicted within courtly love with the help of Julia Kristeva, and then shift my focus towards a woman’s right to love and expressing sexuality, as depicted in both narratives. Finally, the conclusion focuses on the fact that although these two works are written eight centuries apart, the theme of courtly love can still be utilised in a modern context, albeit with a few adjustments.