Analysis Of Every Trip Is A Quest

Archetypes are utilized to analyze the common patterns of human nature in literature and major motion pictures. In the poem Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Gawain accepts the challenge the Green Knight has to offer and goes on a quest to redeem the honor of Camelot. The Green Knight teaches Gawain a lesson which changes his values. A number of archetypal situations occur in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that serve to promote Gawain’s moral development.

The archetypes that are prevalent in many different stories all have have common origin in Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces. More specifically, in the medieval story, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, there are distinct archetypes that are especially necessary to the theme of the story.An understanding of three key archetypes—the temptress the magic weapon, and the task—reveal the essence of Gawain’s role within the archetypal quest motif.

In many works of literature, many archetypes (or symbols) are used to help the reader understand the story of a hero’s quest. In the Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the hero has to go on a fatal journey to uphold the reputation of Camelot. While enduring that journey, Gawain has to conquer many trails. Gawain’s succession of trials leaves the hero, like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, a “sadder but wiser man.” With all the trials that Gawins intakes, many archetypal characters contribute to the theme of the story.

There are a number of many different archetypes found in works of fiction and nonfiction that bestow upon the hero his true role in a work of literature. In the Middle English, chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain’s role as the hero emboldens as the story describes more and more archetypes of the quest. The monomyth can be described as the three step process that the hero takes in completing the quest motif. The basic template is supported by “separation, initiation, and return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth” (Campbell 28). Each of these three categories contain other subcategories, which help understand the different archetypical situation within the work itself. An understanding of three key archetypes -the magic weapon, the boon, and the unhealable wound- reveal the essence of Gawain’s role within the archetypal quest motif.

Archetypes act as universal symbols in literature to represent fundamental human motifs. In the medieval romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hero must undergo archetypal situations to succeed in his quest to redeem the honor of Camelot. Gawain embodies the transcendent hero as he further goes into “The Zone of Magnified Power” (Campbell 71) then faces conflict resulting from the threat placed on the society. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dramatically demonstrate how a single character can play many archetypal roles.

The qualities of the monster often reflect the views of the time period the novel was written in.

Even in the middle ages of literature, a story such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight had many aspects of Joseph Campbell’s view of the hero’s journey. In the story of our character Sir Gawain accepts a “Call to adventure” (Campbell 45) and goes on a quest that will go through many of the archetypes. Likewise, there lies one character, The Green Knight, that can be many of the archetypal characters in the cycle of the hero’s journey. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dramatically demonstrates how a single character can play many archetypal roles.

This idea fits perfectly in Crispin: The Cross of Lead due to the fact that Crispin’s original purpose for his quest was to flea as a result of becoming a wolf’s head (meaning he could be killed anytime by anyone). However as the plot progresses, us readers begin to notice that the real quest leaves him discovering who he his and as stated in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, we realize , “ the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge. thats why questers are often young, inexperienced, immature, sheltered” This example from the text clearly relates to the novel because the main character Crispin is in fact inexperienced, immature, and sheltered. Furthermore, in the end, he also winds up gaining self knowledge and uncovering information about himself that he would've never found out otherwise. To further elaborate upon the topic, in the novel, it exhibits how Crispin goes on a quest because in the book it states, “ ‘Can you tell me what it says….here?’ i held out my cross….She nodded. ‘It says Crispin-Son of Furnival….You’re Lord Furnival’s son’ ”. This shows how Crispin has gained self-knowledge while on his quest. He discovers that he is royalty and he isn't poor and useless like he had previously thought or was told. Hence this ties together how the knowledge

Foster reveals various tropes and archetypes that can be found manifesting within literature. He proclaims that there is no original works in the world of literature, they have all derived from a singular source. Through the duration of How To Read Literature Like A Professor, Foster continues to explain symbolic figures and how they are not always what they seem to be. In chapter four, Foster explains the greatest thing about being an English teacher is the ability recognize repetitive characters and archetypes within literature, like “meeting old friends”. Later in chapter nine, Foster discussed the significance of how location can change a situation drastically and how climate, culture and a ways of adapting play a big role in

Upon delving into a specific genre, one may have a set of expectations before the commencement of their reading. A historical-fiction novel may entail allusions to monumental events. A tragedy might end with a series of events that go terribly wrong. Finally, a chivalric romance might include a knight who sets off on a quest to prove himself to be loyal to his lord and lady. The poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is an example of a chivalric romance.

Scholars have been analyzing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to determine the true meaning of the poem and the characters. All of this analysis has led many critics to believe that the work of literature is a mythological poem and that the characters are super-human. On the other hand, Marksman believes that “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight deserves the very best attention we can give it as a literary work” (1).

A common theme in literature is the human demand to know, explore and penetrate the unknown. Characters in stories commonly search to find truths about existence and the meanings related to life. Four stories that exemplify that theme are The Great Gatsby, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, “Desiree’s Baby” and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This group of stories all has characters that search to explore the unknown and expand their personal knowledge.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains ambiguity and irony that make it interesting to read and teach. Gawain’s conflict arose when he accepted the girdle that could protect him and when he lied to his host, severing fellowship with the lord for courtesy with the lady. By utilizing a social reconstructionist philosophy of teaching that emphasizes personal beliefs and ethics, a teacher will help the students establish their identities and learn to appreciate classic literature. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight should be taught in high school by focusing on the strained values in Gawain’s pentangle because it leads students to analyze the potential strain in their own values.

Growing up in a family of bookworms, it is unavoidable that I would become a reader of great fiction. My mom read to me from the time I was born, and it wasn’t long before I was reading back to her. From books on backhoes to children’s literature, we read almost everything together. In elementary school, I read Holes and The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp multiple times, as I loved them so much. These two books about somewhat ordinary boys facing unusual situations offered an opportunity to dream about how I would handle some unknown, fantastical situation if presented a chance.

Identifying characters in novels as either a virtuous hero or a malicious villain can appear to be a simple task, yet it is far more complex than many readers realize. The champion of a story must be just and his opposition purely evil. The gallant knight must be saving the princess from the wicked dragon. The knight in this classic tale is rather obviously deemed the protagonist of the story and the dragon the antagonist. Yet, they never stop to consider who the knight is, or that perhaps the dragon is not so vicious as he appears, or that perhaps simply because the knight is the protagonist does not mean he is a hero. A Sensation Novel by W.S. Gilbert, a musical play about four people forced to play roles in the novel