The Evolution Of The Image Of The Holy Grail And Its Values

As one of the most important images and symbols in Western culture,The Holy Grail is fundamental in the Western value system.It appeared repeatedly in medieval literature and artistic works,especially in the chivalric literature based upon the King Arthur legends.In Western European countries alone,there were dozens of books on the theme.Among them,Percival,written by Chrétien,was the first.His motif of The Grail Adventure has been imitated by many later writers,thus producing a profound influence on European literature and culture.Nowadays,the image of The Holy Grail continues to be present in mass media,including fantasy fiction,films,dramas,and online games.Its great popularity reflects its importance in Western culture.The first literary rendering of the image of The Holy Grail represents the medievalization of ancient folk culture,demonstrating the pursuit of the “unattainable ideal” in Western literature.Taking The Grail as the starting-point and main source,this paper summarizes and discusses the continuous evolution of its meaning in typical texts of each age,aiming to reveal the free character of Western literature and culture in pursuing transcendence.This thesis includes five parts.The first part is the introduction and the first chapter.An overview of Holy Grail literature,the status of research at home and abroad,and a review of the literature are included in the introduction.Chapter one explores the characteristics of Holy Grail imagery and its relation to the motif of pursuit in Western literature.Although the pursuit of the Holy Grail is only one types of the many pursuit in Western literature,it is certainly the prototypical pursuit in Western literature.And the Holy Grail though often replaced in the later literature,the Holy Grail as symbolic.The second part consists of Chapters Two and Three.The origin,the development,the prosperity,the decline and the disappearance of Holy Grail imagery,from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance to the Enlightenment,are analyzed and summarized.Chapter Two covers the primitive mythological origin,the Celtic origin and the Christian origin of the Holy Grail.Although each claim is reasonable to a certain extent,focusing on certain cultural factors,these three origins have their limitations.Taking medieval Grail legends as the object,Chapter Two discusses the medievalization of the image of the Holy Grail.On the one hand,Percival works,written respectively by Chrétien,and by Wolfram,Joseph de Arimathea,written by Robert,and Melech Artus written in Hebrew are analyzed to explain the Christianization of the Grail imagery.On the other hand,through deconstructing Le Morte Darthur;the pursuit of the Holy Grail and the decline of the Arthurian Dynasty,the discusssion,reveals that secular values were in fashion during the 15 th century.Combining the origins of the Holy Grail and the Christianization of Holy Grail imagery,this thesis inferrs that medieval images of the Holy Grail are the result of the combination of Christianity,Eastern Mesopotamian civilization,Western Barbarian Tribal civilization and Hebrew civilization,and that it is the medievalization of folk culture.Chapter Three discusses the decline of the image of the Holy Grail from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and the reasons for this.Culturally speaking,the humanism of the Renaissance and the rationalism of the Enlightenment are the reasons behind the decline and the disappearance of the image of The Holy Grail.Orlando Furioso,written by Ariosto,The Faerie Queen,written by Spenser,and Don Quixote,written by Cervantes,have documented the process from the mocking of chivalry to the decline of chivalric culture.The third part includes Chapters Four and Five.The revitalization of and the skepticism towards,as well as the variations and the deconstruction of,the image of the Holy Grail during the 19 th and 20 th centuries are analyzed to reveal the modernization of The Grail imagery.Chapter Four mainly studies the image of the Holy Grail during the 19 th century.Under the influence of Romanticism,Grail legends were revitalized.The Egyptian Maid or The Romance of the Water-Lily written by Wordsworth,Idylls of the King,written by Tennyson,and Parsifal,written by Wagner,are typical works.Analyzing these three works carefully,it can be concluded that some writers held a skeptical attitude towards the image of the Holy Grail while others seriously believed in it.The conflict between secular and religious attitudes was therefore formed,which led to philosophical debates during the 19 th century in Europe.Chapter Five introduces the variation and deconstruction of the image of the Holy Grail during the 20 th century.On the one hand,the variations of the Holy Grail in Dubliners,written by Joyce,The Wasteland,written by Eliot,The Ill-Made Knight,written by White,and Small World,written by Rocky,reveal the secularization of the image of the Holy Grail and its meanings.On the other hand,the intensification of personal consciousness promoted the individualization of the image of the Holy Grail during its secularization.Everyone had his or her own “grail.”As a result,the modernization of the image of the Holy Grail has been gradually realized.The fourth part is Chapter Six,which discusses the reshaping and flourishing of the Holy Grail imagery from the late 1990 s into the 2000 s.During this period,the reshaping of the image of the Holy Grail starts from the overthrow of the Christian tradition of the Holy Grail.The diminution of the importance of the Grail,which symbolizes the blood of Jesus,reduces Christ from a god to a secular king and regards the Holy Grail as representing the bloodline of a royal family—i.e.,that of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.Guided by the Grail legend,Dan Brown constructed a symbolic system based on the Holy Grail,The Rose and a V-shaped symbol,to re-explore the idea of female worship,aiming to create a harmony between different genders and different cultures.Although The Grail Conspiracyplot is based on the traditional contract structure,it expresses the desire for and pursuit of universal values,such as life,dignity and peace.Facilitated by modern media,the image of the Holy Grail has been verified and spread around the world,leading to the post-modernization and globalization of the Grail image.The Fifth part is the conclusion,which discusses the significance of Holy Grail imagery in Western literature and culture.The Holy Grail reflects the pursuit in Western culture of elusive ideals.The evolution of that imagery demonstrates not only the free character of Western literature and culture in pursuing spiritual transcendence but also the development of symbolism in that literature,and hence of great aesthetic significance.The image of the Holy Grail embodies the convention of rational morality,the externalization of spiritual transcendence,and the anxiety of the awareness of being alive.Its cultural value is universal.The spread of the Grail story and the secularization of its imagery definitely demonstrates its great significance.