Dwarves

Texts: Erec and Enide and Lancelot   

A dwarf driving the titular cart

    

Descriptive Excerpts from the Texts: 

From Erec and Enide:"But the spiteful dwarf sallies forth to meet her with his scourge in hand, crying: "Halt, maiden, what do you want here? You shall advance no farther." "Dwarf," says she, "let me pass. I wish to speak with yonder knight; for the Queen sends me hither." The dwarf, who was rude and mean, took his stand in the middle of the road. and said: "You have no business here. Go back. It is not meet that vou should speak to so excellent a knight." The damsel advanced and tried to pass him by force, holding the dwarf in slight esteem when she saw that he was so small. Then the dwarf raised his whip, when he saw her coming toward him and tried to strike her in the face. She raised her arm to protect herself, but he lifted his hand again and struck her all unprotected on her bare hand: and so hard did he strike her on the back of her hand that it turned all black and blue."         

From Lancelot:  Whoever was convicted of any crime was placed upon a cart and dragged through all the streets, and he lost henceforth all his legal rights, and was never afterward heard, honoured, or welcomed in any court. The knight on foot, and without a lance, walked behind the cart, and saw a dwarf sitting on the shafts, who held, as a driver does, a long goad in his hand. Then he cries out: "Dwarf, for God's sake, tell me now if thou hast seen my lady, the Queen, pass by here." The miserable, low-born dwarf would not give him any news of her, but replied: "If thou wilt get up into the cart I am driving thou shalt hear to-morrow what has happened to the Queen." Then he kept on his way without giving further heed.

 

 

Literary Context       

Dwarves are being included in this bestiary because, though they are obviously humans, dwarves are a perfect example of how an abnormal outer appearance can demote your status on the human-beast spectrum. The first passage, in which the dwarf acts as the antithesis to chivalry, especially emphasizes the disdain and low regard that dwarves are held in in the world of medieval romance, and the scorn they are viewed with is projected back onto their personalities It is predictable that the dwarf in the second passage is employed in a role where he is connected to shame, dishonor, and uncouthness. The cart-driver engages in what is portrayed as a favorite past-time of dwarfs -trickery -by forcing Lancelot to ride in his cart if he wants answers.  The dwarf Tyrion in Game of Thrones also engages in trickery -but because of his high birth, they take the shape of larger political schemes. Tyrion fights back on many of the negative portrayals we see here in Chretien -and which he faces in his own world- because he regularly shows a greater degree of humanity and empathy than a majority of the show's characters, and often ends up as an unlikely hero.

 

Modern Representation

Tyrion  (center) on Game of Thrones  also engages in trickery and perseveres through the biases he faces due to his ambiguous status. He asserts at his trial that is only crime is being a dwarf, for which he has been on trial his whole life.