#ettarde

well, i'm not sure it can be called courtly love at all. arcade/ettarde is forced to go above and beyond a lack of reciprocation considering pelleas doesn't understand consent.

like, arcade really wasn't subtle. her actions leave no room for argument. she ends up sending her men at arms to try and get rid of him and humiliate pelleas in an effort to get him to stop "loving" her and leave her alone. she says this.

the problem is that the foundation of courtly love has to be borne of respect. does this look like a guy who respects his "lady love?"

right. arcade makes it plain she's trying to get pelleas to stop "loving" her, and he outright says that he believes she will reward him for continuing to harass her. just wow.

the other stipulation of courtly love is chastity between lady and knight, as the woman is usually married to someone else. the courtly relationship is not supposed to be consummated. like sure, it was based on sexual attraction, the word "love" is used. sometimes it was consummated. lancelot and guinevere are literally right there. gawain definitely sleeps with arcade/ettarde. repeatedly. (with enthusiastic consent, mind.) but arcade/ettarde is not married, so she can't be pursued in a courtly love framework. pelleas is pursuing her for sex and marriage. the conclusion of arcade/ettarde's story confirms that. in the post vulgate, arcade's own people turn on her, and facilitate her marriage to pelleas in order to elevate his station. here, she ends up the mother of his son, guivret.

then in le morte d'arthur, the lady of the lake curses ettarde to love pelleas as much as she once hated him. the experience is so torturous for her, she dies, and its the lady of the lake who has guivret.