ABSTRACT
Gawan, King Arthur’s nephew and the second most important protagonist in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival (ca. 1205), appears rather late in the story. Let us first consider the context. Because his teacher Gurnemanz instructed him to speak in the presence of lords only after he was approached by them, Parzival fails to ask the crucial question at Castle Munsalvæsche and hence fails to end the suffering of his uncle Anfortas. Thereafter follow several important encounters. First, he meets his aunt Sigune, who deeply laments that he did not ask the question: “ze Munsalvæsche an iu verswant / êre und rîterlîcher prîs” (knightly honor and esteem vanished with you at Munsalvæsche!; 255, 26-27; p. 135).1 Next, Parzival meets Orilus and his wife, Jeschute, from whom Parzival had taken a ring and a brooch and had rudely grabbed some food, all of which led her husband to believe she had had an affair behind his back. As punishment, Orilus mistreated Jeschute ever since, but now Parzival defeats him and reveals his own guilt. Through an act of public penance (269; p. 141), he convinces the duke of his wife’s innocence. Because it was beyond his comprehension at the time, Parzival did not know how to act during the religious experience at Munsalvæsche, but here he demonstrates true chivalry by defending an innocent woman against her husband’s abuse.
