Chivalry · Chapter
III: The Story of the Rattrap explained
King Edward, having been cheated of Guienne and the Lady Blanch by King Philippe, devises a trap to capture the French king.
What happens
King Edward, having been cheated of Guienne and the Lady Blanch by King Philippe, devises a trap to capture the French king. He arranges a secret meeting with Blanch in a forester's hut, but the trap is turned around: Philippe plans to murder Edward there. Edward, however, has anticipated the treachery, arrives with hidden armed men, and captures Philippe and his lords. The chapter reveals Edward's cunning and ruthless pursuit of his goals.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion vs. Reality
The entire trap hinges on deception: Blanch's feigned assignation, Philippe's murder plot, and Edward's counter-trap. Appearances are repeatedly shown to be false.
Power and Queenship
The chapter revolves around the struggle for power between kings, with Guienne as the prize. Edward's cunning and ruthlessness demonstrate the brutal realities of royal politics.
Chivalry and Its Code
The violation of hospitality and knighthood is discussed when Philippe plans to murder Edward, and Edward himself uses a dishonorable trap. The ideal of chivalry is contrasted with pragmatic treachery.
Characters to notice
- King Edward
The aging but cunning English king who sets a trap for King Philippe to secure Guienne.
- Dame Blanch
The beautiful French princess betrothed to Edward, who initially lures him to the hut but later warns him of the treachery.
- King Philippe
The French king who plots to murder Edward but is himself captured.
- Edward Plantagenet
The passionate, imprisoned aspect of King Edward that he releases for the assignation.
- Dame Meregrett
The French princess who comes to warn Edward of the trap, only to find he is the spider.
- Count Manuel
Mentioned in a simile comparing Edward's eyes to those of Manuel of Poictesme.
Key passages
“It is the duty of exalted persons to put aside such private inclinations as their breasts may harbor”
Nobles must suppress personal desires for the sake of duty.
Blanch tries to resist Edward's advances by appealing to royal obligation.
“Love cannot extend his laws between husband and wife, since the gifts of love are voluntary, and husband and wife are but the slaves of duty”
True love cannot exist in marriage because it is based on duty, not free choice.
Blanch uses a courtly love argument to reject Edward's passion.
“Wise persons do not hunt lions with these contraptions: for it is the nature of a rattrap, fair cousin, to ensnare not the beast which imperiously desires and takes in daylight, but the tinier and the filthier beast that covets meanly and attacks under the cover of darkness”
A rattrap catches sneaky, cowardly creatures, not bold lions like me.
Edward mocks Philippe's trap, asserting his own dominance.
“I am this night most hideously shamed. Beau sire, I came hither to aid a brave man infamously trapped, and instead I find an alert spider, snug in his cunning web”
I am deeply ashamed. I came to help a brave man, but found a cunning spider waiting in his web.
Meregrett realizes Edward is the manipulator, not the victim.