Characters, Society and Nature in the Chevalier de la Charrette (vv. 247-398)

The analytic assessment of the vv. 247-398 from Chrétien de Troyes’ Chevalier de la Charrette makes it possible to show that the description of the natural and social environment is proportional to the description of opportunity for actions required by the novel for the development of its main themes. Accordingly, the ecology of the medieval verse novel revolves around the knight and his courtly ethos and emerges from descriptive systems which are based on current social and cultural models. Such remarks leads to an idea of ‘realism’ which allows to explain why so-called ‘fantastic adventure novels’ and so-called ‘polyphonic social novels’ have been part of the very same literary system throughout the whole history of the genre.