Grail Quests

¶ … Grail Quests In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, cup or vessel that caught Jesus' blood during his crucifixion. The Holy Grail was said to have the power to heal all wounds. Over the course of the three Grail quests of medieval, Arthurian origin, "Percival," "Parzival," and "The Quest for the Holy Grail," the meaning of the quest for the Holy Grail shifts over time, although the Grail retains its integrity as a symbol of healing.

In the earliest incarnation of the Holy Grail quest narrative, entitled "Percival," the Grail is a means by which to heal an ailing king and a barren land. In "Parzival" the Grail becomes a test of the hero's Christian values and integrity to inquire what ails the sick Fisher king. Finally, in "The Quest for the Holy Grail," the Holy Grail is not a means or quest for individual heroic achievement and a demonstration of fidelity to one's Lord at all.

Rather, realizing the quest for the Holy Grail takes the form of a non-chivalric, even unearthly test of a knight's chastity and purity. Seeking the Holy Grail becomes means for healing all of Arthur's knights, and a way to restore all of the Christian people and land of England. In the first two versions of the text, the knight Percival, later known as Parzival, is a knight who is intensely grateful to his Lord Arthur, for bringing him out of his early poverty and obscurity.

The Welsh knight begins his life is ill-clad, unlettered, and entirely lacking in the chivalric graces expected of a knight, yet his foolish but holy innocence leads him to the Holy Grail and the dwelling of the Fisher king, though this location has eluded so many of Arthur's greatest knights. But unlike later "Quest" narrative, the heroes of "Percival" and "Parzival" do not remain chaste. Both Percival and Parzival marry ladies, as is expected by the chivalrous knights these originally rude and unlettered men eventually become.

Percival marries a woman named Blanchefleur and Parzival becomes husband and a father. But in the narrative of the "Quest" Galahad's ability to access the grail is due to his chastity -- only a person who is entirely pure can access the Holy Grail.

In both earlier versions Percival (later Parzival) is the guest of the lame Fisher King and this becomes the framing and focus of the entire tale, rather than simply its narrative beginning as in the "Quest for the Holy Grail." The Fisher King presents the Holy Grail and other relics to the knight to incite the hero Percival or Parzival to question the objects and thereby, heal the Fisher King.

In the earliest incarnation of "Percival" the question is "Whom does the Grail serve?" This suggests the sense of lordly obligation that the knight Percival is attempting to learn about -- the knight Percival does not ask the question because he has been advised of the impoliteness of asking too many questions.

The service of healing Grail is supposed to perform in this earliest version of the tale also underlines the fact that the land is barren, like the lame King, and that healing the King will also heal the land, just as the ailing King hurts the fate of his land and people.

But in Parzival the key question is simply "What ails you, uncle?" which places the focus on the simplicity and morality demanded of the Christian hero, and also places the moral stress of the text upon the religious holiness of the mindset of Parzival, and the moral inquiry required to heal. In both incarnations of the Fischer King tale, the hero invariably fails to ask the right question. But in the Cistercian Monk's expansion of the tale, the Holy Grail no longer becomes about merely healing an individual land and.