In Neil Gaiman’s short narrative “Chivalry” . an aged adult female discoveries and buys the Holy Grail in a thrift store to utilize it as a cosmetic component in her house. At the same clip. a knight from the Round Table is in the pursuit of happening this sacred object of God. This short narrative contains many elements of love affair. such as the spiritual pursuit. love and escapade and courtly and knightly life. By overhauling love affair. Gaiman suggests that love and trueness are of import values even in today’s society. that courtly and knightly life are still alive in one manner and that. unluckily. spiritual pursuit is non every bit much valued as it used to be. Gaiman does this by utilizing literary elements such as symbolism. allusion. word picture and sarcasm. Love and trueness are embraced in love affair and in today most people’s lives. In “Chivalry” . Mrs. Whitaker lives by them because she’s really devoted to her late hubby. Henry.

When Galaad offers to Mrs. Whitaker the Apple of Life which can reconstruct beauty and even allow ageless life. she pictures herself immature. beautiful and really attractive to adult male. Right after this she goes to her parlour and looks at a “photograph of her late hubby Henry. smiling and eating ice cream” ( Gaiman. 44 ) and when she comes back she refuses Galaad gift because Mrs. Whitaker realizes that she had already lived her life and that she had a adult male who loved her to which she decides to stay loyal. Mrs. Whitaker is besides a fan of Mills and Boon love affair books which she buys at the thrift shop and although she ne’er manages to read them all. Mrs.

Whitaker grants particular importance to those books. With names such as “Her Thundering Soul” . “Her Disruptive Heart” . “Her Majestic Passion” and “Her Singular Love” . those books seem to stand for the manner Mrs. Whitaker feels in her life and the love that she has for her hubby. and the ground why they are so appealing is because they keep those feelings of love and trueness alive. Besides Mrs. Whitaker. Marie. a voluntary sales representative at the thrift shop besides experiences love in a really particular manner. Through the book. Mrs. Whitaker notices alterations in Marie’s physical expression. and at the terminal we find out that this is due to Marie meeting Galaad.

When the adult female replacing Marie at the thrift shop informs Mrs. Whitaker that Marie “went of with a immature adult male [ … ] on a horse” ( 46 ) . the allusion is made here to the popular belief that every adult female will run into. at some point in life. her perfect knight to whom she will fall in love with and together they will run off on his white Equus caballus. Gaiman makes this popular belief go on to demo that this hopeful ideal love is still alive today. Valuess such as love and trueness are experienced by Mrs. Whitaker through her determination. her book involvements and besides by Marie and her happy stoping.

Courtly and knightly life represents another component of love affairs and they are unbroken alive in “Chivalry” through Galaad. The narrative is someway dry because Galaad is truly a medieval knight and non a adult male from today’s society but his qualities are valuable qualities that even a adult male today would wish to hold. Galaad is gracious and gallant toward adult female. He respects Mrs. Whitaker. calls her a “gracious lady” ( 37 ) and negotiations to her with good manners. he remains polite and leaves the house when asked and he comes back bringing charming impressive nowadayss. Giving gifts. regard and niceness are besides qualities of today’s gentleman around the universe. In add-on to this. Galaad is besides honest because he is a “Knight of the Table Round” ( 36 ) which merely some of the most honest. brave and well-thought-of knights are portion of. A portion of being honest is besides being honest. which Galaad is since he clearly states his ends and purposes to Mrs.

Whitaker. stating that he is “on a Right High and baronial Quest” ( 36 ) looking for the Holy Grail and he besides talks to her about his life and household. Besides. Galaad is a perseverant knight. another valuable facet of every adult male. now and so. Galaad perseveres on his pursuit of obtaining the Holy Grail by ever coming back to Mrs. Whitaker house and making everything in his power to win his quest. He foremost comes to Mrs. Whitaker house on Friday and asks for the Holy Grail but she rapidly “usher [ s ] Galaad to the forepart door” ( 37 ) . On Monday Galaad shows up once more and he brings a gift in exchange of the Holy Grail but Mrs. Whitaker refuses the gift.

He comes back on Tuesday he brings even more nowadayss to Mrs. Whitaker and she eventually accepts to interchange the Holy Grail for one of Galaad’s charming objects that she will utilize as ornament. Galaad ne’er gave up on his pursuit. and alternatively of forcing Mrs. Whitaker. he comes back and tries new ways to convert her. All those qualities are valued by today’s adult male and adult female. because every dandy. honest and perseverant adult male is a respectful and loved adult male.

Even if some elements of love affair as those mentioned above are still alive today. some of them like the spiritual pursuit are less valuable or even nonexistent. The Holy Grail. which is an of import spiritual object. is treated different by the modern characters in the narrative. compared to how Galaad sees it. First of all the store proprietor was able to set a monetary value on it. which is “30p. ” ( 34 ) . non really much compared to its existent value. Besides. Mrs. Whitaker treats it like any other “dusty Ag goblet” . “thickly coated with a chocolate-brown ruddy dust” that she “washe [ s ] out with great care” and puts it “on the mantle in her parlor” ( 34 ) . Clearly she does non acknowledge the Holy Grail’s existent value and importance. This scene is dramatically dry. because we as readers know what the Holy Grail implies and we besides know that it should ne’er be threaten that manner. In contract to Mrs.

Whitaker reaction there is Galaad and his position. First of wholly he qualifies his hunt for the Holy Grail as a “Right High and Noble Quest” ( 36 ) which make us understand how of import it is to him. Then. during the short narrative he tries to dicker the Holy Grail for other charming objects such as the Sword Balmung. the Philosophical rock or the Apple of Life which have unbelievable charming powers. Knowing that he would give all this objects off merely to obtain the Holy Grail demonstrates the Holy Grail’s existent value. The ground why we see those opposite position refering the Holy Grail is because it is a spiritual object and during mediaeval times faith was manner more of import and valued than it is today.

As we can see Neil Gaiman successfully modernized love affair. by conveying of import elements in a modern environment. Most of them. viz. love and trueness and courtly and knightly life are parts of our literature and even our lives today. merely we do non hold knights and ladies. we have teens. gentlemen and aged loyal twosomes. Unfortunately some elements. like the spiritual pursuit lost some of their importance during the old ages. due to the modernisation of our society and the changing of our beliefs. Neil Gaiman demonstrates all this across a short narrative. “Chivalry” which does a great occupation into blending mediaeval times with the modern society of today.

Plants cited
Gaiman. Neil. ”Chivalry” . Smokes and mirrors: Short fictions and semblances. Unites States. 1998. Print