Zolibatare Lebensfuhrung und Jungfrauenidealisierung in Wolframs "Parzival"

After a brief introduction to the Platonic - Augustinean tradition-the author sets out to examine / study the personal, motifs and elements in the Middle High German epic which imply or directly refer to celibacy or virginity. There are two tendencies in the work, of which one seems a perfect example for how much the church (which is mainly the followers of Augustine) still influenced European medieval culture and civilization. Even outside the community of the Grail, within the realm of Arthur and his knights a society is depicted, in which the communication between the sexes seems interrupted completely. Quite contrary to that, in many passages the sensuous world of Courtly love manifests itself. Wolfram clearly favours monogamy without taking the position of the Augustinean hardliners. And he seems to have a benevolant, favourable view on sexuality and a ""frankness in treating erotic situations"" without wanting to propagate libertarianism or even promiscuity. The two opposite poles are personified through Parzival and Gawan, who stand mainly for the world of the Grail (Parzival) and the world of Artus and the table round (Gawan), although - as has been hinted at - this two realms cannot be clearly distinguished. But it is quite clear that none of these two different concepts of Minne seems to be quite ideal. Maybe it is because of this, that although the Platonic-Augustinean-tradition is manifesting itself within the narration permanently, it is also always criticized in a more or less direct way. Like several studies before, this article comes to the conclusion, that the answer for Wolfram is neither virginal chastity nor complete sexual freedom, but what is called 'rehtiu maze' (right measure) in Middle High German.After a brief introduction to the Platonic - Augustinean tradition-the author sets out to examine / study the personal, motifs and elements in the Middle High German epic which imply or directly refer to celibacy or virginity. There are two tendencies in the work, of which one seems a perfect ..