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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: general. To appreciate fully the chaste treatment of Chretien
one must know some other forms of mediaeval literature, such as
the fabliaux, farces, and morality plays, in which courtesy
imposed no restraint. For our poet's lack of sense of
proportion, and for his carelessness in the proper motivation of
many episodes, no apology can be made. He is not always guilty;
some episodes betoken poetic mastery. But a poet acquainted, as
he was, with some first-class Latin poetry, and who had made a
business of his art, ought to have handled his material more
intelligently, even in the twelfth century. The emphasis is not
always laid with discrimination, nor is his yarn always kept free
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