The Grail Quest in the Play At the Hawk´S Well by W.B.Yeats

1 The Grail Quest in the Play At the Hawks Well by William Butler Yeats A search for that which gives meaning to life has always occupied human minds. The ancient scholars, philosophers, writers and intellectuals devoted many years of their lives to find the answer. They created various theories – religious and philosophical – to explain the system of the universe and find the source of all things. On example of William Butler Yeats play At the Hawks Well and Chretiens romance Le Conte du Graal I shall show the way the both authors concern this subject. First, I shall give the historical background of the play and explain the symbolic importance of Cuchulain for Yeats. Second, I shall find and interpret the Celtic symbols in the play,†¦show more content†¦John Rhys advanced the theory that Gawain and Cuchulain is one character. He bases the theory on similarity between their careers and on the fact that both possessed a specific quality – â€Å"their st rength waxed and waned with the rising and setting of the sonâ€Å" (Matthews 29). John Matthews explains this theory in detail in his book Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess. Loomis states that the Irish traditions have reached the French through Wales and has no doubt that the Grail legend is a Celtic heritage (Loomis Arthurian Tradition 341). The central symbol in the romance is the Grail. William Nitze and Roger Loomis maintain the Celtic usage of the word, meaning dish or platter, which â€Å"has the attribute that â€Å"whatever food was wished thereon was instantly obtainedâ€Å" (Nitze 322). I assume the symbolic reading of the symbol and come back to Yeats essay who saw it as a â€Å"source of fertility and abundanceâ€Å" (Skene 126). The parallel appears clear. Both symbols have one semantic meaning in common, that is of vessel. And both may be generally seen as vessels of energy. „There is no reason to be concerned with the Grail as a physical object. It is si mply not possible to know what it stands for preciselyâ€Å", - writes Frederik Locke (9). He describes the Grail as „being multivalent, open on all sides to the power of evocationâ€Å" (9). Locke holds a bold view: „In the