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Iwein
- Penn State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
I w e i n Introduction Hartmann’s Iwein, like his Erec, is a translation of a French Arthurian romance, in this case Yvain (about 1177) by Chrétien de Troyes. Hartmann completed his Iwein, apparently the last of his longer works, sometime before 1203. Whether his translation was commissioned by a patron or written on his own initiative we do not know. Again like Erec, Iwein is more an adaptation than a translation in the strict sense. It is twenty percent longer than Yvain: Chrétien’s epic totals 6,818 lines; Hartmann’s, 8,166. Hartmann’s intercalations consist largely of conversation and often didactic elaboration and reflection. Iwein finds Hartmann at the peak of his creative and adaptive powers—which does not exclude a penchant for preachiness. Whether Iwein was commissioned or not, Hartmann was writing for a court, and his concern was with the noble class that comprised or was attached to a court, and with how the members of that class acted and interacted—or, above all, should act and interact. The court is that of King Arthur, transposed as in Chrétien from sixth-century Celtic antiquity into the contemporaneous twelfth century of knighthood and courtly society. Arthur himself plays a consequential though not a principal role, as do several knights of the Round Table. The full title of Chrétien’s prototype romance was Yvain: Le Chevalier au lion, and the lion, introduced after the knight Iwein’s mental breakdown and recovery, is no less his companion and frequent savior, as Iwein undertakes a series of conceivably redemptive, sometimes overlapping, knightly “adventures.” The adventures are in fact quests involving adventure, missions of rescue and of righting wrongs. For example, Iwein heroically defeats the minions of an oppressor, thus freeing three hundred ladies who had been bound to a sweatshop as wage-slaves. (Predictably, they are all noble ladies, not a commoner among them.) Iwein’s friendship for the lion should also be seen in conjunction with his friendship with H A R T M A N N V O N A U E 236 Gawein, that most perfect of knights. The narrator Hartmann states unequivocally that Gawein “turned out to be [Iwein’s] downfall,” for it is Gawein who first lures Iwein away from his wife Laudine, and who then seems purposefully to keep Iwein from returning home within the time limit. The lion becomes a better companion for Iwein, and the two often save each other from death. Finally, the joust between Iwein and Gawein seems to end in a draw, but Gawein—with a guilty conscience?—insists that Iwein is the victor. The fact that Gawein precipitately took up the unjust cause of the older sister while Iwein defended the magnanimous younger sister, who ultimately gains her inheritance, shows that Iwein overcomes Gawein, and, correspondingly, what Gawein represents: a lack of moderation and forethought. But Hartmann presents much more than a string of perilous adventures undertaken by Iwein and his lion. For participation in these knightly missions of righting wrong brings Iwein into conflict with his obligations and vows as a husband. The theme thus becomes the necessary reconciliation of individual, personal love with chivalric adventure or generalized love. As with many American Western novels , we seem to have in Iwein an initiation story. Early on, the hero, oblivious to his true needs (and those of his wife) goes to ruin—his wilderness period—then recovers; in the course of his knightly feats he undergoes a character development or perhaps a transformation and comes to see the light. That light, in his knightly world, is moderation, balance. And while the ending of Iwein is not closed, the hero does seem to be headed for happiness. It is fair to add that recent criticism casts doubts on Iwein’s presumed development or transformation, preferring to see a merely static character. Still other criticism points to the importance of Hartmann’s irony. King Arthur’s court, as well as the king and queen themselves, are perceived, chiefly by Sir Kei, as flawed emblems of perfection, as creatures of ritual rather than of effective human sympathy , and unworthy of emulation. But Hartmann’s goal of ethical perfectibility remains implicit. Other factors suggest that Iwein is a Christian allegory. It is God, for example, not man, who bestows on Iwein the capacity for triuwe, or faithfulness in fulfilling one’s duty to others. And the lion, a symbol of Christ, allegorizes compassion, selfsacrifice , and generosity...