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The role of woman in literature
The role of woman in literature
The journey of a hero
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In book 1, Redcrosse and his story is an example of the journey an epic hero, similar to Odysseus of Homer's the Odyssey, would take while still being the embodiment of holiness as Spencer expresses. This is so due to the knight's unwavering devotion to the queen of the story and the acts he commits in her name; the knight's expressed devotion is a direct representation of Spencer and his dutifulness towards the queen considering that the piece is written for her as the subject of interest. However, while Redcrosse and the other characters of the story such as Britomart, are the ideals that Queen Elizabeth I upholds and portrays they all have flaws that discontinue the similarities. For example, Redcrosse is deceived by the witch, Duessa, thus
Jacob and Odysseus are completely different in a literary sense; meaning that Odysseus is fictional and Jacob is historical. They share the obvious character traits of deceitfulness and pride. They both experience lifelong obstacles and eventually overcome them.
What would you do for entertainment in a time before television? The Ancient Greeks solved this dilemma with Bards. Humans have always enjoyed great stories and storytellers; the ancient Greeks were no different. However, oral tradition can encompass and convey much more than stories. It can reveal an identity, motivation or persuade an audience. For the Ancient Greeks, stories take on the additional role as the sharing and spreading of information. So, while it is enjoyable to hear tales of adventure, oral tradition has practical uses too.
“O muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story...Of that man skilled in all the ways of contending...A wanderer, harried for years on end…” (Homer). These are the opening words of The Odyssey. This is also in the opening scene of O Brother Where Art Thou?. O Brother is a reception of the revered story of Odysseus’ journey with a bit of a twist. The works have similarities that only a person well informed of the Odyssey could see. The Odyssey and O Brother highlight the trials of the main character’s journeys. While the Odyssey was written in the eighth century, O Brother is set during the 1930s in the deep south. Each of the trials that the characters face is supposed to make them quit their journey, but they proceed with greater determination.
In Odyssey, Homer creates a parallel between Odysseus and Telemachos, father and son. The two are compared in the poem from every aspect. One parallel was the quest of Telemachos, in correlation with the journey of his father. In this, Odysseus is developed from a childish, passive, and untested boy, to a young man preparing to stand by his father's side. This is directly connected to the voyage of Odysseus, in that they both lead to the same finale, and are both stepping-stones towards wisdom, manhood, and scholarship.
When referring to archaic writing, it is clear to see the recurring archetypes and symbols throughout plots and situations. Understandably, certain patterns involving such motifs have continued through centuries, resulting in various works based around the same monomythic template with slight variations. All the big movie titles we love, Aladdin, Shrek, even, Sharknado contain more than traces of these archetypal patterns, consisting of a hero, a mentor, a dark figure and so on. Prime examples of this archetypal plot structure, with their own unique adaptations, may be found within the two poetic narratives Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Aside from their completely disparate backgrounds and morals, both works include and follow the monomythic journey, as perceived by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as well as in the secondary works of others who have helped to further our understanding of this analytical method. This generalization, however, is shifted when one dissects further into these two pieces of literature. As in the majority of monomythic quest narratives, the protagonist often practices and displays the characteristics of courage, loyalty, humility
In literature, authors often use words that have many meanings within the piece of work. By looking deeper into these meanings, an insightful interpretation can be developed to allow the reader to experience a version of the work not apparent from the surface. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” the author successfully attaches virtue, vice, and valour to the green girdle, an object Sir Gawain obtains as a gift. The green colour of the girdle represents rejuvenation and change throughout the story. Just as nature is reborn when winter changes to spring, Sir Gawain is reborn when the girdles meaning changes from virtue to vice to valour. This helps Sir Gawain to recognize the qualities he possesses in his character, and he eventually becomes a knight of valour and distinction.
The Knight shows bravery and loyalty, and the pardoner displays a great heap of honesty, about himself of course. The Knight was off battling in the crusades until one day he came back just in time to go on a religious journey to a shrine. His bravery was shown there because he fought in the war, let alone he was loyal enough to his religion to come back to the shrine. He had no time to even change his clothes to go onto the journey, but as always he was dressed to battle. Right when he returned he went straight into another journey. This shows his loyalty to his land and people. The other character, the pardoner, was a so called “holy” man who had pardons sins for money. He lied and snuck people into scams which led to more money for the pardoner. Although the pardoner belonged to the church, he is probably the most sinful men on the whole canterbury tales journey. He shows brutal honesty by telling everyone on the journey about his schemeful plans and his “holy relics” that he sells. These relics are all just the things that he found on the side of the road. As a result the pardoner and the knight has shown bravery, honesty, and loyalty to resemble the cultural values of this time
The Knight’s tale was entertaining to everyone that was going on the pilgrimage. The Knight tells a story about two men fighting for Emily, the woman of their dreams. Theseus, the ruler of Athens, discovered two wounded enemy soldiers lying on a battlefield. “And they were neither fully quick nor dead” (30). Theseus decided not to kill the soldiers, but to heal their injuries. However, these soldiers must stay in an Athenian prison. “And he decreed they should at once be sent To Athens, and gave order they be kept Perpetual Prisoners” (30). The two soldiers, Palamon and Arcita, were prisoners for many years. Then one early morning in May, Palamon looked out the window to find a young and beautiful girl, Emily. Palamon instantly fell in love with Emily, and...
As the protagonist in the novel, Catherine is also the dynamic character because of the changes she undergoes too change her perspective and personality. Early in the book Catherine reveals herself as a stubborn character. This is inferred from the fact that her father attempts to force her into marriage with a suitor yet she refuses to do so. She continuously does whatever she can to get rid off the suitors that her father brings. For example, “I thought he spoke in some foreign tongue or cipher designed to conceal a secret message, but it seems only that his nose was plugged. And it stayed plugged throughout his entire visit, while he breathed and chewed and chattered through his open mouth. Corpus Bones! He troubled my stomach no little
... She first criticizes Hero’s choice of a ruff; then she indirectly denigrates Hero’s wedding gown by contrasting its simplicity with the duchess of Milan’s lavish garment (3.4.14-23); finally, she mocks the prim and proper Hero by making a coarse sexual allusion (3.4.27). When Hero rebukes her, Margaret refuses to be shamed and defends herself: “[ashamed] of what, lady? Of speaking honorably? Is not marriage honorable in a beggar? Is not your lord honorable without marriage? (3.4.28-31). By implying that honor is achieved not through any marriage but through a “good,” socially suitable marriage, Margaret implicitly criticizes the inequality in her society and expresses her desire for a marriage that will not leave her “below stairs” (5.2.10). But she is acutely aware that she has no such marriage prospects as she resentfully watches Hero’s wedding preparations.
Literary works can have many ways of revealing to the readers how protagonists in their stories portray themselves, and ultimately how they represent the paradigms and values of their age . Readers often learn along with the protagonists during their journey, such as lessons unique to their cultural values and even sometimes their way of thinking. In the Middle Ages, for instance, in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the protagonists Sir Gawain and Beowulf exhibit similar ways of thinking, while also having different key characteristics compared to one another.
In the anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the character of Sir Gawain is portrayed as the imperfect hero. His flaws create interest and intrigue. Such qualities of imperfection cannot be found in the symbol of the pentangle, which he displays on his shield. This contrast between character and symbol is exposed a number of times throughout the poem allowing human qualities to emerge from Gawain’s knightly portrayal. The expectations the pentangle presents proves too much for Gawain as he falls victim to black magic, strays from God, is seduced by an adulterous woman, and ultimately breaks the chivalric code by lying to the Green Knight.
The title characters in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight were both considered paragons of excellence by their peoples. Yet, upon close inspection of the specific actions of these characters, stark differences emerge. While Gawain is virtuous and exemplifies selflessness, Beowulf's heroism is marred by his pursuit of fame and wealth, which seems to dominate his every action. The discrepancy can be explained by a contextual analysis of both heroes. Gawain's code of chivalry emphasized perfection and thus he is flawless. Beowulf on the contrary adheres to the code of heroism, which is much less stringent on man's actions, and much more open to interpretation.
The Knight begins his tale with the story of a prince named Theseus who married Hippolyta, the queen of Scythia, and brought her and her sister, Emelye, back to Athens with him after conquering her kingdom of Amazons. When Theseus returned home victorious, he became aware that there was a company of women clad in black who knelt at the side of the highway, shrieking. The oldest of the women asked Theseus for pity. She told him that she was once the wife of King Cappaneus who was destroyed at Thebes, and that all of the other women with her lost their husbands. Creon, the lord of the town, simply tossed the dead bodies of the soldiers in a single pile and refused to burn or bury them. Theseus swore vengeance upon Creon, and immediately ordered his armies toward Thebes. Theseus vanquished Creon, and when the soldiers were disposing of the bodies they found two young knights, Arcite and Palamon, two royal cousins, not quite dead. Theseus ordered that they be imprisoned in Athens for life. They passed their time imprisoned in a tower in Athens until they saw Emelye in a nearby garden. Both fall immediately in love with her. Palamon compares her to Venus, and he prays for escape from the prison, while Arcite claims that he would rather be dead than not have Emelye. The two bicker over her, each calling the other a traitor. This happened on a day in which Pirithous, a prince and childhood friend of Theseus, came to Athens. Pirithous had known Arcite at Thebes, and on his request Theseus set Arcite free on the promise that Arcite would never be found in Theseus' kingdom. He now had his freedom, but not the ability to pursue Emelye, and lamented the cruelty of fate...
One of Geoffrey's less believable main characters is the Knight, for reasons of chivalry. The knight displays many traits which make him seem almost too good to be true, and a true gentleman that rarely exists in reality. The narrator sums up the knights character by stating that "Though he were worthy, he was wys,/And of his port as meeke as is a mayde." (pg. 5, The Canterbury Tales) The knight holds four main admirable traits, making him the most liked traveler in "The Canterbury Tales," and also amplying the doubt of his realism. The reader is prepared to learn of each of his noble accomplishments and importance when the narrator remarks that" A knight ther was, and that a worthy man,/That fro the tyme that he first bigan/To ryden out, he loved chivalrye,/Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisye." (pg. 4, The Canterbury Tales) From the characters impressive introduction, it is clear that this man is the most valued and honorable traveler among the group. This perfect gentleman holds a love of ideals that are often not displayed by people. First and foremost, he believes in the ideals of chivalry, and always stays true to its principles. He also feels that one should be honest, truthful and faithful, which many people are not all of these ideals. The knight thinks one should only do what is right, and what will gain him honor and reputation. This character also believes in freedom and generosity towards all, and displays this ideal repeatedly throughout the novel. And lastly, the knight also strongly feels that any proper person should display courtesy and elegance at all times. Another aspect of this character's life which makes him seem too prestigious to be truthful is his impressive military career. He fought in the holy war, known as the Crusades and was involved in 15 "mortal battles." In the prologue, the narrator informs the reader that "Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,/And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,/As wel in Cristendom as hethenesse,/And ever honoured for his worthinesse.