The Song Of Roland

I’m going to start out with The Yeoman. The way he is dressed, he kind of looks like red robin hood but in green. He carries all kinds of different weapons; more than a would carry. The Yeoman is a unhappy person. He is a servant to the knight but he doesn't like it because he wants to fight.

To honor the Beowulf’s heroic life and battles, I’ve been assigned as one of his closest warriors to exclaim his appellation and share the stories of his battles. One of the citizen came up to me and asked, “I heard that Beowulf was an amazing guy, but I never fully knew him. Could you tell me more about him?” I was extremely excited as this man was the first person to ever ask me about Beowulf. “Beowulf was a strong leader and a great friend. Although he might not have been a very humble man, he was nowhere near being a bully. He’s the type of man that would belittle anyone who hurts the weak and innocent. Beowulf was mettlesome and was never intimidated by any menace.” The man’s eyes were already widen. “He sounds like a guy I would wanna be protected by,” the citizen said, “Can you tell me about one of his battles?” I prepared myself as I was about to begin a long lecture of how strong Beowulf was.

Beowulf starts out as a mighty warrior with nothing to lose, in contrast to his mentor, King Hrothgar, a wise king who wishes to protect his people. Beowulf learns from Hrothgar gaining the qualities fit for a king.

In the books The Big Sleep and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both authors, Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) and Simon Armitage (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), create the protagonist of each story into archetypal knights. The protagonist of The Big Sleep is named Phillip Marlowe and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the protagonist is named Sir Gawain. The 3 knightly qualities that we will be focusing on in this essay are self-sacrifice, loyalty and courage. These qualities are displayed throughout each story in different and similar ways throughout each book.

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.

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.

The negative characteristics of the king are shown in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. The descriptions the author uses to describe King Author and the descriptions used at the end of the story to describe the positive characteristics of Bertilak de Hautdesert. King Authur represents the king of the time period, while Bertilak represents the proper traits of a king. King Arthur embarrasses himself when neither he nor anyone else in the court are willing to accept the “green knight’s” challenge. Kings during the

In the book Beowulf, Beowulf, the main character, is a man of great strength and ability. He is depicted as a man of wisdom, and that he is a prince that comes from a kingdom that is well respected. He fights many battles, and is seen as a hero with glory to his name, but this does not mean that he is as flawless as he seems to be. Beowulf is a man who desires to help those in need, however, he is greedy for the glory and treasure that he will receive in thanks of his success. He is truly confident, but because of this he is impulsive, never questioning his ability to take on a task. He is also brave, he has almost no fear, but this tends to make him reckless. He is a hero to many, but he believes in himself in such a way that he acts foolishly, and it will eventually be the death of him.

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.

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.

Because of this, one might believe that the characters in it would be burdened with original and unique personalities. However, they suffer from the illness of tedium and uniformity. Despite this, they do manage to fulfill the archetypes listed by Campbell. Lucidly, Sir Gawain is the hero. Although beyond that basic point, things begin to get more difficult.

When comparing the epic poem of The Song of Roland to the romantic literature of Ywain, the differences between the early medieval period and the high medieval period become evident. Both The Song of Roland and Ywain depicts the societies from which each story derives its fundamental characteristics. Through close observation, one is able to see the shifts in customs and mentality that make the move from the epic to the romance possible. In his chapter 'From Epic to Romance', R.W. Southern shows how this transformation manifests itself through changing ecclesiastical and secular thoughts and feelings.

A great character to include in this topic is Unferth. Unferth is a very out of the ordinary individual. In Beowulf, the writer’s perspective on Unferth is a pathetic warrior who couldn’t win even the simplest of fights. When first introduced in the poem Beowulf, it’s hard to feel sympathy for Unferth because he is in verbal conflict with Beowulf, insulting Beowulf. When switching to the outside view in the book Grendel, it becomes apparent that Unferth isn’t just doing this to pick a fight. Grendel has been his arch enemy ever since the twelve year war started. Unferth was embarrassed and infuriated in his first meeting with Grendel when Grendel said “I’m going to carry you back to Hrothgar, safe and sound” (p.90). The other people in the book think he’s supposed to be the savior of the kingdom, yet he can’t even come close to killing Grendel and when he does attempt to kill Grendel, Grendel just laughs and teases him. This idea of embarrassment drives Unferth mad with rage. When Beowulf comes along, he claims that he has done all these heroic and outstanding things. He makes the claim that Grendel is hardly a work out which infuriates Unferth. He has worked so hard to get revenge on Grendel and a warrior came from a distant land and claims to kill him like it is nothing. It is not

In Song of Roland, the ideas of chivalry and loyalty to one’s king are central. Throughout the text, the author uses the concepts of good versus evil, shown by the Christians versus Muslims, as well as loyalty versus treason, shown by Roland versus Ganelon, to highlight and exemplify the ideals of the code of knighthood. The main character, Roland, is often presented as being an exemplary knight; he personifies the conventional chivalric values of the time such as bravery and loyalty, but he also struggles to balance these values in order to be a responsible leader. Roland is in stark contrast to his stepfather, Ganelon, as well as being in slight contrast to his close friend, Oliver. These contrasts of character come to a climax as the battle against the Muslim army at Roncesvalles begins; Oliver and Roland debate over whether they should call the king to help them, leading to the eventual demise of the French army. This specific scene brings to light the ideological dilemma of bravery versus wisdom and logic, by utilizing Roland as an example of the former, and Oliver of the latter. Roland, as evidenced by this situation, displays perfect loyalty to one’s king and God by being incredibly brave in the face of danger, making sacrifices that he sees are necessary, and fought valiantly until his death, all the while keeping the utmost faith in his God and king.

In The Song of Roland, Roland interacts with different people just like someone would today. Throughout the poem, Roland speaks and interacts with many people, such as his stepfather, king, and comrade. When he speaks to these three main people, the reader can see many differences but similarities too. For example, when talking to his friend, they get into a quarrel, just like someone and their friend would today. In The Song of Roland, Roland interacts with Ganelon, Olivier, and Charles in many ways, both similar and different.