The Psychology of Paradox in Konrad von Würzburg's "Partonopier und Meliûr"

Literary scholarship predicates a renewed interest in psychology on an essential differentiation: from a modern perspective, the inner person as likely to deviate from the external person-the internal from the external persona, whereas from a medieval viewpoint, one expects congruence. Konrad exploits the threat of deviation to employ the psychology of paradox as a rhetorical device in Partonopier und Meliûr-a work permeated with paradoxical themes. This study evaluates the significance of the traditional medieval understanding of paradox in Konrad's work by juxtaposing Partonopier's individual belief in Meliûr to that of his unbelieving family and society. Only when he succumbs to the fears of the unbelieving world does he doubt what his lady professes to be with what she truly is, and must atone for his lack of faith.