East Meets West Along a Fault Line - Love in Shota Rustiveli's The Man in the Panther's Skin and Chrétien de Troyes' Arthurian Romances

Sep 5, 2026

Examining love in Shota Rustaveli’s The Man in the Panther’s Skin alongside Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian romances, this paper focuses on how each poet frames love’s fulfillment. Close reading argues that both writers privilege marriage, not adultery, as love’s proper completion. Attention to plot development shows distinct patterns: Chrétien balances private affection with public duty, while Rustaveli emphasizes rational steadiness, emotional self-correction, and the ethical restoration of nobility and virtue through love.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

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Pages17

Reading Time6 min

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Abstract

Love as Proper Fulfillment in Marriage

Chrétien de Troyes: Balance of Private and Public Life

Rustaveli: Rational Heroism and Emotional Self-Correction

Similarities and Differences Between the Poets

# East Meets West Along a Fault Line:Love in Shota Rustiveli'sThe Man in the Panther's Skin and Chrétien de Troyes'Arthurian Romances Sally Newell Independent Scholar,M.A.,Duke University Abstract:Given the proximity in time of Chrétien de Troyes and ShotaRustaveli and some similarity in their writing,this paper examines theportrayal of love in Rustaveli's The Man in the Panther's Skin and theromances of Chrétien de Troyes.Close reading of the texts supports theposition that for both poets,marriage,not adultery,was the properfulfillment of love.Looking more closely at the development of lovewithin the text,however,differences emerge.In Chrétien's romances,the marnied couples strengthen their love by finding the proper balancebetween their private love and their public lives,and adulterous couplesare viewed negatively.In Avtandil,Rustaveli shows us a hero whoalready thinks and acts rationally from the beginning and whose love isnot questioned.He is able to maintain emotional control by self-correcting his moments of grief and despair when he is parted fromTinatin.His role in the poem is not merely to find Nestan,but to restorethe nobility and virtue which is inherent in Tariel.Rustaveli alsodevelops the friendship-love between male characters far more thanChrétien does in his romances.An analysis of the love betweenAvtandil and Tariel shows some similarities to the Neoplatonic conceptsof friendship between noble men which developed in the WesternMiddle Ages.There are striking similarities between the two poets,butthe differences indicate that they developed independently of eachother. Keywords:The Man in the Panther's Skin“,Rustaveli,Chrétien deTroyes,marriage,friendship,love Near the beginning of Shota Rustaveli's powerful poem TheMan in the Panther Skin,King Rostavan,Avtandil,and otherattendants of the king encounter Tariel,who is beside a streamweeping [14,v.84-97].Tariel does not reply when the king'smessenger addresses him,and he kills or injures the men who try tobring him to the king forcibly.This is a startling and exciting eventfor Western readers familiar with the romances of Chrétien deTroyes because it so closely resembles an episode in the romance ofPerceval [6,pp.432-436].Chrétien's knight is rapt in contemplationover three drops of blood on the snow that remind him of his lover'srosy cheeks to such an extent that he fails to hear Arthur'smessenger Sagremor,who wants to escort him to King Arthur.Furthermore,Perceval severely wounds Sir Kay,who is sent next.As readers continue Rustaveli's story,however,they realize that inspite of many similarities between the Easten and Westernromances,Rustaveli's story is also very different.This paperattempts to identify the common points of view but also the natureof the differences between them. Readers will easily find many similarities between Rustaveli'spoem and the romances of Chrétien in the behavior of the couples.Lovers in both Chrétien and Rustaveli show the familiar symptomsof love:men and women alike praise their lovers'beauty;they sigh,turn pale and wither,weep,tear their hair or clothing,scratch theirfaces.Eastern and Western lovers alike agonize through innermonologues debating the cruelty of Fate,whether their love isretumed by the other,and the painful absence of their lovers.Theyfall into reverie,swoon,and even go mad.Although modern readersmight find these symptoms excessive,they in fact indicate the greatpower of the emotion and the strength of the hero [2,p.223;4,p.242].In addition to the scene from Perceval referred to earlier,Lancelot has his own reveries.On his way to the Sword Bridge,heis so wrapped in his thoughts about Guinevere that he “forgot whohe was;he was uncertain whether or not he truly existed;he wasunable to recall his own name.….”[6,p.216].When a knight knockshim off his horse into a stream,only the cold water revives him.Tariel falls into a three-day swoon when,as an adult,he first sees Nestan [14,v.332,336].At the extreme end

FAQs

What does the paper argue is the proper fulfillment of love in both Rustaveli and Chrétien?

For both poets, marriage—rather than adultery—is presented as the proper fulfillment of love.

How does Chrétien’s portrayal of married couples differ from Rustaveli’s development of love?

Chrétien shows married couples strengthening love through a balance between private affection and public life, while adulterous couples are treated negatively; Rustaveli develops a hero whose love is stable and not fundamentally questioned.

What additional love dynamic does Rustaveli develop more than Chrétien?

Rustaveli develops friendship-love between male characters far more than Chrétien does.

Sep 5, 2026

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