It has multiple themes, namely, temptation and testing, hunting and seduction, nature and chivalry, games and times and seasons。 And through the pages of the story, we can also see many symbolic images and objects。 Scholars domestic and overseas have thrown light on one or more than one of these aspects。 Especially the chivalry has been long discussed through the comparisons made between various masterpieces during a diachronic course。

2。 On the Analysis of Chivalry     

2。1 An Introduction about Chivalry, its Characteristics, Evolution and Development文献综述

In a word, chivalry is the main rule of behavior that the knights in the medieval time should obey。 The major codes of chivalry are justice, loyalty, defense, courage, faith, humility, generosity, and nobility。 The knights always seek for what is “right” unaffected by bias or any personal interests。 And they should always obey the people or ideals that they choose to follow。 They should always defend their lords as well as their families and their nations。 They ought to be brave and face fearlessly to those difficulties and dilemmas。 The pace is not smooth and the life is full of restrictions。 The faith that is deeply rooted in their system of values supports them to serve and receive all the challenges。 Though they may make great accomplishments, they think lightly of them and always there to admire others。 They are the source of generosity, with which they are highly respected。 They seek for great stature of character by holding to the virtues and duties of a knight。 All of these make them the ones praised and sung in many poets and novels。

   When it comes to the development of chivalry, it can be mainly pided into three stages, the primary stage, the climax of its development and its downturn。 The first stage originated from the military reform of Charles Martel and ended in 11th century。 At that time, the knights are those professional soldiers who are responsible for protecting their own nation。 The main task of them is to fight in various wars to show their values。 This is a class which is open to anyone who can afford the weapons and horses and participate the official ceremony。 The knights are given the right to name anyone to be a knight。 However, this is worthless for the reason that the equipment is very expensive and the skills are hard to possess。 The knights at that time must be outstanding and they can get their reputation if they made huge achievement or defeat some aggressive or notorious people。 All the knights are feudal lords at that time, they can gain feuds from their superiors on the basis of which they get the incomes for buying their equipment。 They are not highly respected people because they are brutal and ruthless。 They could do many immoral things without being seriously punished and this even doesn’t betray the norms that they are following。 The Christian Church thus launched a campaign to fight against this phenomenon and those brutal knights would be exiled from the Christian churches。 The second stage is the climax of its development which was about from the 12th century to the beginning the 13th century。 Under the religious and the military discipline, the major good qualities of knights developed to its climax。 After 12 century, the stature of knight became a descendant privilege。 Thus, if a knight is named, the family would become a family of knights。 The gap between the knights and the peasants was very wide at that time。 Social classes were clearly settled。 The third stage began from the 13th century and ended during the Religious Reform Period。 Chivalry was in decline and gradually it disappeared from the history because the knight transformed to the common noblemen with nearly no special characters。 “Knight” only represented reputation and it was very casual to name a knight。 For example, the king always named a group of soldiers “knights” only for the purpose of cheering them up in the war。 This title can even be sold with a very high price to make money by those bureaucrats。 With the urgent need for well-trained armies to fight in wars and to protect the nation, the previous knight system can no longer adapt to this situation because it didn’t have certain time and discipline restrictions。 Thus, it became something must be thrown away。 In conclusion, the “knight” had lost its original connotation and just represented reputation。