Christopher Paolini's Brisingr

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.

Throughout the ages the tale of the epic hero has been subject to change, as writers found new inspiration and allowed the art of storytelling to evolve. With it, there was the change of the portrayal of the epic hero, and I will be illustrating this through an analysis of the epic heroes from Beowulf, suggested to have been first composed between the 8th and 11th century, and Macbeth, composed early in the 17th century. It is important to note the time difference, and all the change that time would have brought to social structures in written fiction. The tales of epic heroes are a good way of researching historic civilizations, as they play a role in reflecting the ethics and morals of civilizations and always have. Beowulf and Macbeth play a similar role as the works of the Greek poet Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey or tales from other cultures. It is partially through the differences in character portrayals and roles within the plot that someone can understand the morals of those before us and

For many years, stories have been a part of children’s childhood. The countless tales of magic and valiant heroes with daunting adventures have entertained and enlightened the minds of many people. In this generation, stories of warriors captivate heats with their selfless and their quests for a greater purpose. However, with the increase of stories told by authors, readers might realize that a hero might have similar characteristics to another. Perseus “Percy” Jackson and Harry Potter are two different heroes with many parallels in their stories.

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.

Archetypes are universal symbols used 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 demonstrates how a single character can play many archetypal roles.

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.

With every corner we turn in today’s culture, we become more and more aware of the archetypes that surround us. Archetypes are the works of a typical character, situation, setting, or symbol that can be found in fantasy and reality. An example would be the renowned medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Pearl Poet. The author permeates the story with situational, symbolic, and character archetypes that illustrate the profound life of Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was apprehensive of his journey at first, but as time passes, he began to make choices that unveils to the audience the true flawed knight that he was.

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.

An archetypal analysis of Gawain’s quest reveals some significant changes that occur in the hero’s character. We will analyze the progress of the hero, Gawain, as he ventures out to complete his quest. By analyzing the works of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight along with The Hero With A Thousand Faces, and how it completes the Hero’s Journey.

In both the Inferno and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the central characters are riddled with moral inadequacies. Both Dante and Gawain set forth on a journey that reveals the flaws within themselves. Each is faced with challenges that force them to go against their original beliefs. Dante endures a full 180 degree transformation on his views of sin and Gawain is unable to uphold the perfect identity of knighthood. Based on these journeys the nature of the individual in medieval literature is to be in a state of identity crisis because Dante’s views of salvation are based on arrogance and Gawain is obsessed with perfection. The self view of each character provide an element of moral progression throughout the story and the ultimate theme behind each piece of literature.

Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic that was transmitted verbally for hundreds of years before it was written down. Around the time of its composition, Christianity was beginning to gain prominence in England and was quickly replacing the animistic religion of the Celts. As a result of the dueling religions of the time, the poem includes influences from both Christianity and paganism, leaving its readers to wonder which religion had the most sway over the poet. Beowulf is a fundamentally more Christian epic on account of Beowulf’s resemblances of Jesus Christ, its allusions to the Bible, and its intimation of a supreme, monotheistic religion.

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.

In the story Beowulf, there are a few different religions that are represented by the author. All the religions are portrayed in the story through the author’s eyes and his beliefs. The author makes clear what religion he believes in and his views. Some instances in the story also relate to the conflict between Christianity and the code of warriors. Throughout the story, the author is faced with the challenge of trying to portray his beliefs with a character whose actions are in conflict with his beliefs. Beowulf, in this story is based on the total opposite of the author’s beliefs and there are instances when his behavior is shown, and after there is symbolism of Christianity, to show its conflict with his behavior.

The settings and time periods play a huge role in the values and beliefs of Christianity and paganism and whether the values are good or bad that are shown in the stories. Since Beowulf was set in Denmark and Geatland around 500 A.D. it shows us that the main factor of Beowulf was the values of paganism. But we don’t necessarily know if the paganism we’re being shown is for the better. And so on for “The Dream of the Rood”, set at the crucifixion, which is an obvious Christian element, so the entire story is mainly based around the Christian values all Christians followed. More detail is needed about the stories to

In the previous century there have been two major series of fantasy novels; "Lord of the Rings" and more recently "Harry Potter". The genre, fantasy, is very broad, but generally contains one main character, the protagonist, who is fighting for, or against something, often against evil. In both these novels the main protagonist is fighting against evil and endures a kind of adventure and personal growth. As in most fantasy novels, the main characters are in an ulterior world, which is comparable in many ways. I intend to investigate into some of the many comparable components of these two novels.