Abstract

The three great French cycles of 13th-century prose narrative ("Lancelot", "Tristan" and "Guiron") share a common feature: at a given moment, important male characters are involved in a love affair with two women of the same name. If at least two of these homonymies can possibly go back to Celtic tradition, it is also true that this particular narrative expedient is exploited by French authors in very different ways within their works. By comparing the texts, the essay points out how, in different Arthurian romances, homonymy responds to a specific strategy: in the "Tristan" it develops an affective and psychological theme; it questions the problem of identity and factual truth in the "Lancelot"; in the "Guiron" it takes into account the relation between love and chivalric companionship.