Summary Of Eschenbach's 'Parzival'

Another large topic Eschenbach’s chooses to tackle in his telling of Parzival is the controversial discussion of gender and love. While Eschenbach does treat women with respect and even empathizes with them occasionally he still does not break far out of from the thoughts of his era. While women do play an important part in the story they still seem to be there only to as a sort of prize for the men rather than individual human beings. These woman were “set on a pedestal for the purpose of being worshipped and were confined in a small place far from life’s action (Textbook 232).” Eschenbach obviously was spited by some woman in his life which can be seen in his apology in which he says “I withhold my loyal service - having found her unfaithful,
Sigune, Jeschute, and Repanse are some of the important female characters found in Parzival. Sigune is woman to which Eschenbach gives the highest respect, in a way she was the one closest to being a knight. Eschenbach ascends Sigune to the highest levels of respect and purity though her undying and beautiful love for the deceased husband. Sigune makes the knight's conquest for a maidens love something divine in that she stays by even the side of the corpse until her very own death (Pg 399). This is a sort of behavior a knight would be expected to display for his dead maiden but instead we see it in Sigune and knight who hadn’t yet one her love. Her love was perfect, pure, and embodied chivalry in its ideal form. The next big female character was Jeschute through which Eschenbach displays his empathy for the plights women often face. When Parzival wrongs Jeschute by embracing her and removing her of her ring, Eschenbach says “the wrong done to Lady Jeschute could not fail to anger me (Pg 80).“ This empathy and care for women's rights and feelings was unnatural in a time in which women were treated mainly as untrustworthy
While Eschenbach does seem to care about women, this horrible doing of Parzival that caused Jeschute was later passed over as youthful ignorance on Parzivals part because the future of King of the Grail could do no such wrong on purpose. Parzival “takes responsibility” by beating Orilus in joust somehow making all the pain and suffering he caused Jeschute completely forgiven. By doing this Eschenbach places the honor of men over the suffering of any women. The last important female symbol in Parzival is Repanse de Schoye who is best known for being the maiden of the grail, was a symbol of divine innocence and beauty. She held the important position of being the maiden of the grail but in the end she ends up merely being bait to switch the infidel Ferefeiz to Christianity. While Eschenbach does provide these characters with strong roles he still constricts them mostly as beautiful prizes or rewards for being a noble and well deserving