The Poor Knight II

From Søren Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling, p.30-A Panegyric upon Abraham

"Not one shall be forgotten who was great in the world. But each was great in his own way, and each in proportion to the greatness of that which he loved. For he who loved himself became great by himself, and he who loved other men became great by his selfless devotion, but he who loved Ideals became greater than all.

Everyone shall be remembered, but each became great in proportion to his expectation. One became great by expecting the possible, another by expecting the eternal, but he who expected the impossible became greater than all.

Everyone shall be remembered, but each became great in proportion to the greatness of that with which he strove. For he who strove with the world became great by overcoming the world, and he who strove with himself became great by overcoming himself, but he who strove with ideals became greater than all. So there was strife in the world, man against man, one against a thousand, but he who strove with ideals was greater than all. So there was strife upon earth: there was one who overcame all by his power, and there was one who overcame God by his impotence. There was one who relied upon himself and gained all, there was one who secure in his strength sacrificed all, but he who believed those Ideals was greater than all.

There was one who was great by reason of his power, and one who was great by reason of his wisdom, and one who was great by reason of his hope, and one who was great by reason of his love, but the one who chose ideals, and Idiot to other men, was greater than all: great by reason of his power whose strength is impotence, great by reason of his wisdom whose secret is foolishness, great by reason of his hope whose form is madness, great by reason of the love which is hatred of oneself."

The Poor Knight I

From Dostoevsky's Idiot, Book 2, Chapter 6:

"Deepest respect," Aglaia went on gravely and earnestly, "because that poem simply describes a man who is capable of an ideal, and what is more, a man who having once set an ideal before him has faith in it, and having faith in it gives up his life to it. This does not always happen in our day. We are not told directly what the 'poor knight's' ideal was, but one can see it was some vision, and the knight in loving devotion has put a rosary around his neck instead of a scarf...anyway, it's clear that the poor knight did not care what his lady was, or what she did. It was enough for him that he had chosen her and put faith in her pure beauty and then did homage to her forever.

That's just his merit; if she were to become a thief afterwards, he would still be bound to believe in her and be ready to break a spear for her. He seems to be, in one striking figure, the grand conception of chivalry's Platonic love. Of course that is all an ideal- in the poor knight that feeling reaches its utmost limit in asceticism. It must be admitted that to be capable of such a love means a great deal, and that such love leaves behind a profound impression."