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Essay about beowulf, sir gawain and green knight, and wife of bath knight roles
Outline plan for comparative analysis essay
Outline plan for comparative analysis essay
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British literature is an interesting and integral part of all literature in the world. Beginning with an epic as old as Beowulf, British literature has had a rich and ever-changing history. I have found that The Longman Anthology of World Literature is a comprehensive book filled with the world's prominent authoritative literary works from the time when stories were oral traditions to the present, including many pivotal works in the history of British literature. The authors of The Longman Anthology made an interesting choice when editing the order that the stories were placed in this book: though Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were written in the latter half of the 14th century, Sir Gawain was placed before Chaucer's writings in this anthology. In fact, Sir Gawain was possibly written a bit before The Canterbury Tales. I believe the editors of The Longman Anthology chose to do this because Sir Gawain was originally an oral story whereas The Canterbury Tales were always written, and Sir Gawain has a deeper connection with older language and themes of the area than The Canterbury Tales due to the spread of Christianity and Christian ideals. Although it may have been physically written down after The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was created long before the former. I know Sir Gawain was an oral tradition before being inscribed because of the rhyme scheme and rhythm of the Original Middle English compilation. A precursor to Shakespeare, although it originated long before, Sir Gawain has the similar structure that an actor or poet would use to help them remember the lines of the poem and perform the piece. There is a certain number of stresses in each line and a particu... ... middle of paper ... ...ourneys, these men go in as an average man of the time, face a challenge that the Church thought a man of the day might experience, and come out purified and learned, as a man of those periods should behave. These stories are examples of how a life should be lived and the challenges that one may encounter. While the frames of these narratives change from fictitious to realistic according to the flow of Christianity-based, Northeastern literature, they each are pictures of the mentality of their times. As time progressed, so did the mentalities, which were heavily influenced by Christianity. This is evident in the slow removal of pagan beliefs in the supernatural monsters like dragons and giants into the more realistic literary frames. While all have their differences due to changing times, the hero's journey as a model for the everyday man is clear in these poems.
What is a hero? Is it someone who pulls a drowning child out of a lake or is it someone such as Nelson Mandela who inspires others to be better? I believe it is both. Although the two differ in what makes them a hero, they are still a hero. That being said, when comparing the British characters Beowulf and Sir Gawain, I found that both fit the hero archetype. Beowulf and Sir Gawain will be compared on the hero archetype characteristics of being better than the ordinary man, proving oneself many times, and having a tragic flaw.
In Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight there are two heroes that help the present day reader gain insight into what the hero of the Middle Ages would have held as ideals and necessary triumphs. Beowulf and Sir Gawain each fill a different role within their unique societies. Beowulf is a leader and a savior in times of need, willing to go to any length to help another group of people as well as his own kingdom. Sir Gawain is also willing to rise during moments of trouble within his court but lacks the altruism that is inherent in Beowulf's leadership. Although there are many pursuable comparisons within the two tales, the most apparent between the two heroes are that of faith, the men who encouraged them, bravery and the adversaries they both faced.
Men exemplify heroic qualities in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, however, women are depicted differently in the two stories. In Beowulf, women are not necessary to the epic, where as in Green Knight, women not only play a vital role in the plot, but they also directly control the situations that arise. Men are acknowledged for their heroic achievement in both stories, while the women's importance in each story differ. However, women are being equally degraded in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
In his Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer assembles a band of pilgrims who, at the behest of their host, engage in a story-telling contest along their route. The stories told along the way serve a number of purposes, among them to entertain, to instruct, and to enlighten. In addition to the intrinsic value of the tales taken individually, the tales in their telling reveal much about the tellers. The pitting of tales one against another provides a third level of complexity, revealing the interpersonal dynamics of the societal microcosm comprising the diverse group of pilgrims.
Then the Danes decide to go back to Herot and while they are sleeping, Grendel’s mother
During the Middle Ages, both “Beowulf” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” were epic stories that were chanted aloud to the public. Each story told about epic heroes who went on a long journey to face or conqueror someone or something. “Beowulf” is a poem about a young man, Beowulf, who slays a monster and his mother with his bare hands to protect the people he loves. As the years go by Beowulf becomes king and a dragon begins to stir. In response to this, Beowulf fights the dragon with a sword and one loyal companion. Beowulf’s life comes to end, but so does the dragons. From this epic poem you can see that good does triumph over evil, but sometimes it comes at a cost. Along with “Beowulf”, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was another popular poem. This poem was about a squire, Sir Gawain, who chooses to take on a game proposed by the Green Knight instead of his uncle, King Arthur. He took on the game because he believed King Arthur’s life was more valuable than his own and that King Arthur should not risk his own life. As a result, Sir Gawain became a knight because of his loyalty and bravery. Both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s and Beowulf’s characters share the same quality of courage, the desire to protect people and the involvement of supernatural beings.
Similarly, Sir Gawain and Green Knight tells the story of a hero and his quest. The romantic poem first appeared in the fourteenth century. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begins on Christmas day when a mysterious Green Knight rides into King Arthur’s cou...
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume One. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.
Many people take the word honor very lightly and believe that it is incredibly easy to be defined as a person who shows their honor for the people around them, and that may be true for some people but not for others. Three people who easily fall into the group of being an honorable person includes, William Wallace from the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, Sir Gawain, and Beowulf. Honor may be mistaken for many different things, but the word honor easily falls into the category of being a hero. In order to be a hero someone has to be honorable, and being honorable includes the same characteristics of being considered a hero. There are specifically two different types of heroes including, an Anglo-Saxon Hero and Epic Hero. There are four very strict
A hero is someone who is idealized for his courage and noble qualities. Beowulf and Sir Gawain can certainly be called heroes. They both have many qualities that are expected of heroic knights and warriors. They are both brave, gallant, and skilled men, but are they the perfect heroes their people believe them to be? While they are portrayed as perfect heroes and they possess many heroic qualities, Beowulf and Sir Gawain are far from perfect.
Sir gawain and the green Knight has a few rhetorical purposes within it. There are only two that stands out to me, sticking to your moral code and make it sound like a song. With those two purpose the author tried to teach the reader a lesson about the importance of a moral code, also the intent to entertain the reader with the song like sound and the action in it.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an organic work because the poem has an inscape development. The poem has been developed from its inner nature outwards to reveal the objects of the poetry work. This inscape art is efficient in that the subjects of the piece of literature are clearly described from their inner core. This brings out the themes in the poem and gives the reader a deeper understanding of the context. For instance, part 1, lines 1 to 490 begins with a mythological narrative of King Arthur at Christmastime in Camelot court. Knight enters the court asking to see the one who was in charge. Knight then demands someone to strike him with an axe on his head, something that astonished everyone in the court. This part then leads to
...an see, when reading a work such as The Canterbury Tales, there are many advantages and disadvantages to the work being in both middle and modern English. Before reading such a work, one must realize his or her own purpose for reading the work and then decide on which version to read. It is the opinion of many that it is beneficial to read both versions in order to educate one self about both languages as well as to experience the evolution of the English language. The English language has changed greatly over the many centuries since the time this work was written. However, this work helps create a bridge between the languages of the middle and modern English worlds. This was a work that transcended any work previously written and one that will continue to have an important place in the history of English literature and the English language as a whole.
John Garner wrote Sir Gwain and the Green Knight in order to show and describe chivalrous actions from a knight, the powers of a magical weapon, and the honor portrayed by a brave hero. “Sir Gwain the Good is come
Over the course of the semester, this British Literature course has adequately exposed myself to a variety of works of differing styles coming from a millennium of English authors and poets. With this literary immersion, some works have proved more memorable than others. Out of these select few, I hope to choose the literary work which demonstrates the greatest combination of entertainment and morals for future readers to take away from the text. After some deliberation, I found the solution obvious, as I had to write about Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. While in reflection of the readings this semester, I could not deny that Chaucer’s collection should be preserved as the author succeeded what his stories were meant to accomplish: to “delight and instruct”. With the alluring variety of characters and entertaining situations which are described in well-chosen detail, each story provided by the pilgrims. Additionally, as each of the chosen tales (as stated in the course reading syllabus) provided a lesson that is still relevant after five centuries, the “instruction” comes from these universal morals. Therefore, in the