De Troyes: Personified Emotions

One point that I noticed from the De Troyes writing was the personification of emotions. I vaguely remember discussing this idea in British Literature, although I can’t remember fully the significance of it. I do feel that De Troyes’s use of the capitalized and personified emotions speaks to his writing taking place earlier than Malory’s. It becomes extremely common in the section we read for today (more so than the earlier chapter). For example, on 242, he writes Launcelot’s internal struggle by using Generosity and Compassion as battling emotions. He says, “He wishes to content them both: Generosity and Compassion demand that he satisfy them both, for he is both generous and merciful.” (242). He continues to say "One wants him to give the head to the girl who asked for it; the other urges pity and kindness." (242). This literally gives the reader an image of two characters, Generosity and Compassion, fighting with/over Launcelot. Similar instances of such personification appear throughout De Troyes's story. He also uses Love, Cowardice, Nobility, Hatred, etc to better explain his story. Although I cannot remember the exact analysis from British Literature, I feel as though De Troyes makes these emotions seem much more prominent by making them into characters and giving them actions. Instead of saying "Launcelot was jealous," he creates an overwhelming feeling of Jealousy by devoting a character to the emotion.