History of Culture Supersedes Material Riches.

Beowulf: History of Culture Supersedes Material Riches Epic poems are defined by certain characteristics such as a hero, a villain, tragedy and usually a moral. It is through these characteristics that the literally work can be evaluated, discussed and applied to a culture. Those literally works that are usually deemed by the powers that be as classics, tend to have morals that can transcend time, place and culture. In this epic poem, Beowulf's belief is that to an honorable person history and culture are ultimately more important to a society than gold or other material riches. When Beowulf is first introduced in the poem he comes to the aid of the King and his people. Beowulf feels obligated to help rid the town of the dragon. Despite being given special armor as a gift, Beowulf is driven more by the challenge and the honor that goes with being a great warrior. Throughout the poem there is discussion on what makes a good king. Beowulf strives to learn the intricacies of being a great king so when it is his time he will be as successful at ruling as he was as a warrior. As the poem develops, Beowulf goes from being a great warrior, to being a good king. There is a learning curve that goes with being a king, and like present day leaders many times a leader or king can not be labeled great until well after they are dead and people can retrospectively look to

  • Word count: 1095
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Virtue and the 'endless figure' in the works of the Pearl-poet. The Pearl-poets works reveal a preoccupation with the fate of the individual: Jonah in Patience, the Dreamer in Pearl and Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and their moral conditio

Discuss the idea of virtue and the 'endless figure' in the works of the Pearl-poet. Thomas Aquinas defines virtue as 'a certain fullness of ability, measured by a perfect fitness to act.' This notion of a perfect ability is one of the primary concerns of the Pearl-poet, particularly in a moral sense. The idea of a moral completeness is central to all four texts: Pearl, Patience, Cleanness and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Moral virtues require further definition: Moral virtue is primarily a disposition to choose well, which involves intending a goal (the role of the moral virtue) and picking out the means (the role of prudence...Moral virtue then is a disposition to choose a balanced course of action such as a prudent man's reason would decide is right.1 Aquinas distinguished between virtues which are innate and God-given, and those which require man's will in order to be achieved. The words 'choose well' indicate the freedom man has to decide the course of action he will take. The Pearl-poet's works reveal a preoccupation with the fate of the individual: Jonah in Patience, the Dreamer in Pearl and Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and their moral condition. In each case there is a progression in terms of the character's own moral awareness from the beginning of the tale to the end, although this progression is accompanied by a curious sense of circular

  • Word count: 2506
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

The main characters in Le Roman de la Rose and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are capable of finding an identity that suits them; the different paths that each characters takescourtly love and chivalrywere the highest ideals in medieval times

Le Roman de la Rose and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Search of an Identity In medieval times the romance genre was a portrayal of the world of the court, a genre that belonged to the aristocratic class overlooking the realities of the outside world. Adventures, quests and ladies were the conventional reasons for the courtly knights to embark in exciting experiences that helped to establish a set of rules that all other persons of the court were to follow, reinforcing their ideals. But even as the tradition of the romances spread to modest courts and finally to the uprising bourgeoisie, they kept reflecting the fears and necessities that are common to mankind: the construction of a personal identity and the problems to preserve it. In contrast with texts of the previous epic genre, like Beowulf, the reader is no longer confronted with the construction of a national identity but with a personal one that others can relate to. Romances were born in the French courts with famous troubadours like Chrétien de Troyes that used the tales and characters of the Arthurian tradition to reflect the life and values of the courts. The concept of "courtly love", a sentimental refinement, was one of the main principles for the people in the court, it emphasized the "link between love, its social setting (the court), and its ways (courtliness): the set of social qualities and skills

  • Word count: 3939
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Can Middle English Romances be considered popular and non-courtly? Discuss.

Can Middle English Romances be considered popular and non-courtly? Discuss Middle English romance is one of the most comprehensive of literary forms and its range of subject matter and metrical styles is vast. It is difficult to 'classify' romances as they exhibit so much variety, and some critics have questioned whether it is possible to speak of a romance genre at all. In the beginning of the Middle Ages, the word 'romance' was a term used indiscriminately to any kind of long narrative in French verse. Gradually, the term 'romance' began to refer to tales describing knightly prowess, usually set in remote times or places, and involving some element of the supernatural. The early Middle English romances are strikingly different from the sophisticated voice of French courtly romance. French courtly romance was characteristic of high medieval culture, with only elite audiences capable of understanding the code of social values they presented. Twelfth-century French romance concerned itself with the examination of ideal aristocratic values and there was a notable distance between the poet and the audience. Early middle English romance however spoke to a larger community, and the narrating voice made an attempt to include itself and its audience in the world the poem is describing. Because of this fact they can be considered popular as they appealed to the wider general

  • Word count: 1488
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Beowulf: The Trojan Horse of Christianity.

Juan Carlos Trujillo Trujillo 1 Professor Miller English 45A 9 March 2003 Beowulf: The Trojan Horse of Christianity One of the most written about topics and still uncertain topics in Beowulf is the topic of the Pagan and Christian elements found throughout the poem. While I tend to believe in the former, one of the main questions has been, as posed by F.A. Blackburn: Does a Christian, who used old lays in his material, compose the poem? Or is it a heathen, either from old stories or from old lays, and at a later date revised by a Christian? Again, it seems to me that a Christian poet wrote Beowulf-it is too consistent to be otherwise. What the poet appears to be doing is taking familiar pagan stories (or at least stories which are pagan is style), and embedding in them Christian elements. What evidence is there that the Beowulf poet is doing what is described above? There is quite a lot of evidence. One of the most obvious features is the occasional insertion of Judeo-Christian consequences/behavior after or during pagan-like behavior. For example, when the poet describes the people's natural reaction to Grendel's attacks, he writes that "Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed / offerings to idols, swore oaths / that the killer of souls might come to their aid / and save the

  • Word count: 1592
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Reinterpretation on Beowulf - A Homosexual Translation

Bryan J. Tanner December 11, 2002 Reinterpretation on Beowulf A Homosexual Translation In Beowulf you have several different characters portraying several different roles in their society. These roles can be translated into our society as well. However, the way the characters are portrayed can be taken in several different manners. An interpretation that is not usually or probably ever reached about Beowulf, is the analysis of Grendel homosexually. Many would ask how this could be done, but I think that it is quite possible. Take, for instance, the fact that Grendel is portrayed as an evil beast that is cast away from civilization and is forced from Christian views. This very thing is done with homosexuals in our present day world. Do you think that Grendel would have been accepted to marry another evil beast in their society, just as it is illegal in forty-eight states for homosexuals to marry? Additionally, the way that homosexuals are talked about in such a harsh and inhumane bashing, is much like the treatment of Grendel by society in Beowulf's time. Grendel is also cast away by God, just as Cain was cast away from every one he ever knew, which is not very coincidental considering it was believed that all monsters and evil beasts were direct descendants of Cain. Compare that to how homosexuality is frowned upon by so many religions in today's age. They are

  • Word count: 768
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Dantes Divine Comedy. Discuss what you consider to be the most important allegorical features of the journey of Ulysses in the Inferno, and give your interpretation of their meaning.

Discuss what you consider to be the most important allegorical features of the journey of Ulysses in the Inferno, and give your interpretation of their meaning. Word Count: 2443 Ulysses represents great ambiguity for Dante both as the pilgrim and as the poet. Is he the hero of Greek Cicero and Seneca whose love of knowledge, in Dante's adaptation, desires to go beyond all earthly boundaries in order to seek human knowledge? On the other hand is he the Ulysses of Latin Virgil and Ovid, the man of cunning and manipulation, who seeks knowledge of the external world and discards all others and more importantly discards all virtue? Canto 26 is set among the eighth ditch of the eighth circle of Hell, a scene in which the sinners are punished in flames that burn inward, and the central feature is a 'cloven-crested flame'1 which embodies the shades of Ulysses and Diomed. In all of this Dante creates some of the most complex and intriguing allegory in the whole of the Divine Comedy. The significance of this allegory is based upon the interpretation of Ulysses' journey. To understand the allegories you first must understand the interpretations. To understand the interpretations you first must understand the role of Dante. This preface, to the discussion of the most important allegorical features, will outline Dante's duality, and the two main competing interpretations of Ulysses'

  • Word count: 2774
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Between the Lines of Happily Ever After.

Between the Lines of Happily Ever After Nan Ni After a long journey of travail and tribulation, the valiant hero returned to the arms of loved ones. Oh, Mr. Unknown Medieval Author, what a predictable ending, how you disappoint the readers of the twenty-first century! Is there is some artful insight that I am missing about this standard romance ending? Indeed, at first glance, the last fit of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems to leave our protagonist blissful, unscathed and morally correct once again. However, delving deeper, one finds that the ending of the novel is a series of events and revelations that profoundly changed Gawain. The conclusion informs the audience much about Sir Gawain's self-perception. Before accepting the "splendid stratagem to escape being slain", it is safe to assume that Gawain thought himself to be remarkably virtuous in his dealings thus far. In fact, even after he "swore outright" that Sir Bertilak should never know of the girdle, he did not seem to feel much guilt. This is because Gawain's confidence in his own morality is so strong that it did not allow him to recognize his own blunders in judgement. It is only after the Green Knight jocularly reprimanded Gawain that he relialized his wrongdoing and "shrank from shame". The Green Knight and the audience can easily forgive Gawain, for after all, his failing was not due to lust, but "for

  • Word count: 981
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is a poem of heroism, chivalry, brave knights and romance.

Veronica Leturia April 3, 2003 Medieval English Literature Dr. Paul Oppenheimer Sir Gawain And The Fox Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is a poem of heroism, chivalry, brave knights and romance. The longest section of the poem are the hunting scenes. These scenes are the most engaging part of the poem, besides the fact that they are so detailed you draw parallels between the animals and the protagonist. Here we will consider the symbolism and importance of the hunting scenes and how they help develop and enhance the plot. The three hunting scenes in Sir Gawain are told in great detail. The author describes the light of the morning and all the surroundings, the bright sun and the green trees. The description of the animals movements paint a clear picture in your head as you read. Throughout medieval literature animals have held significant meanings, they are an important part of the story. The description of the animals characteristics made the story much more appealing and enjoyable to read. During the three days of the hunts Bercilak goes after three distinct animals the deer, boar, and the fox. The deer was thought to be honorable, but elusive, ready to flee before fighting. The boar was thought also to be elusive, but prone to face his attacker and strike back. The fox has the reputation for being cunning and duplicity. Here we can

  • Word count: 1113
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Discuss the ways in which the Gawain-poet develops the contrasts between the 'inner' and 'outer'.

8. 'In the hunting and temptation scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fitt III, several techniques...are run expertly together to give a complete picture of [Gawain's] inner and outer behaviour.' Discuss the ways in which the Gawain-poet develops the contrasts between the 'inner' and 'outer'. Burrow, J.A. A Reading of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight . 1965 London:Broadway House Intro Appearance and reality -Themes main theme of the poem Gawains front and what he is really feeling contrasted EG His dealing with the lady and his beheading scene 309 green knight in his words reveals what is to haunt gawain though the poem not whether he can keep his word but whether he can live up to the expectations of arthjurs court 01 Gawain and the court have a reputation to uphold but both cannot live up to it The poem asks is what gawain sees himself as or what he tries to uphold himself as his real self. His reputation exceeds himself. She does not believe he is gawain. Gawain, bound to chivalry, is torn between his knightly edicts, his courtly obligations, and his mortal thoughts of self-preservation Lady Berolik exterior shows that she wants |Gawain but this exterior is false as she is tricking him and leading him tio temptasion I s our exterior what we are really like inside? Green knight outside appearance supernatural because of morgan le fay but inside he

  • Word count: 852
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay