Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Criticism of Minnedienst in His Narrative Works

Book excerpt: This book is a textual analysis of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and Titurel, dealing specifically with minnedienst (Love Service--fin amours) and its negative influence on the female characters in the narratives. By scrutinizing the women in Wolfram's works, one can see that there are surprising similarities in female characters and their situations. The author examines the actions of the male characters and follows the often painful repercussions stemming from the never-ending search for honor. Wolfram states often that love is related to pain. By doing so, he is actively criticizing a literary construct created by Chrétien de Troyes and continued by Hartmann von Aue. The author provides examples of Wolfram's criticism of his predecessors and makes a statement as to the nature of that criticism: that Wolfram was criticizing an element of society through the themes presented in Parzival and Titurel. It is a widely held opinion of researchers that Wolfram had a positive opinion of women and the institution of marriage. The author maintains that this is true but argues that Wolfram had a negative opinion as to the means whereby love was to be won. Wolfram generally liked and respected women and went to great lengths to portray them positively. It is shown through textual examples that he pitied them and sympathized with their pains brought on by the society that they lived in. It is also hypothesized that Wolfram wrote not for mere entertainment but for the betterment of society and for the advancement of women's roles in a patriarchic society.