Sir Kay

Kay in chronicles and romances

In the works of Chrétien, Kay assumes the characteristics with which he is most associated today: hot-headedness and fiery temper (retained from the Welsh literature), supplemented by his role as an incompetent braggart. Chrétien uses him as a scoffer and a troublemaker; a foil for heroic knights such as Lancelot, Yvain, and Gawain. He mocks the chivalric courtesy of Calogrenant in Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, and he tricks Arthur into allowing him to try to save Guinevere from Maleagant in Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, which ends in his humiliating defeat. In Perceval, the Story of the Grail, Sir Kay grows angry with Perceval's naïveté and slaps a maiden who says he will become a great knight; Perceval later avenges her by breaking Kay's shoulder. Wolfram von Eschenbach, who tells a similar story in his Parzival, asks his audience not to judge Kay too harshly, as his sharp words actually serve to maintain courtly order: "Though few may agree with me—Keie was a brave and loyal man ... The mighty Keie."