In some select stories of old/middle english, we can see that people have been fascinated by ideals of heroism, chivalry, and what we now refer to as romance for a very long time. I will argue in this document, that our fascination with such imaginary laws has never ceased, and in some ways is even more fantastic. Every further mention of romance will refer to all of these ideas, the way it did when the term was introduced into english. If all things are to be considered this short essay would turn into a book.
I would like to compare and contrast Beowulf, Lanval, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with some of the modern day creations especially in looking at the values, and belief systems in all of the three “classic” stories. I will apologize in advance to those who will read this and are not familiar to the texts that are mentioned, due to restrictions in size I must mention all of my topics without specific description of how the stories are told, please at least read “Beowulf” before considering this essay.
Beowulf has and will live in the hearts of many people today, whether they have actually read and studied the text itself or they have merely been exposed to modern movies, books, and music that idealize a classical heroic ideal. We might consider in this topic the modern police officer, soldier, paramedic, FBI/CIA agent, and any who take on with their livelihood the motto “to protect and to serve. ” I believe we will most likely see and inherent desire for honor, and for glory.
These in certain individuals seem to overpower the desire and will to help other people. A scholar by the name of George P. Fletcher states when looking at romanticism and its opposites, “On the one hand, we have stability, order, universality, and the boredom of the predictable and domestic. On the other hand, we have revolt, disorder, partiality, and the intense flames of lust and creativity. This is, of course, the way Romantics might describe the sentiments that move them” (p. 17).
He even goes on to hint that the reason we have waged war on Iraq was because of romantic ideas. We’ll stay away from that debate in this essay and just say that the idea of glory and honor is summed up completely in “Beowulf” by the line “Heaven swallowed the smoke” (L. 3155), in Lanval when he will not lie, despite the costs, despairs and is still vindicated, and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when Gawain fully pays the costs incurred to the king while wearing the green girdle (also a contradiction, see later in this text).
The most glorious of these examples I would say is the swallowing of Beowulf’s smoke by heaven. You do not get much more honorable than to die in combat with a vastly formidable foe, and then have your remains taken to heaven where perhaps you will still be honored. In any case, the Geats certainly always respected Beowulf, and even feared for their safety after he was not there to protect them anymore. To be revered in such a way certainly sounds attractive, maybe in spite of the pain he must have regarded from the fatal wounding endowed by the dragon.
The fact that he has survived in so many hearts and minds nearly two millenia since he would have been alive is a dream that many have wished, and so few have accomplished. I believe the desire to leave behind a legacy is innate in us all, many people devote entire lifetimes to these desires. It is actually comic to me when I compare “Beowulf” to a book I have read by David Laven called Napoleon’s Legacy: Problems of Government in Restoration Europe. I would consider Napoleon to be the opposite of Beowulf in almost every aspect.
Granted, Napoleon is a verifiable real character, he was also a real “king” instead of being just the hero-turned-king that was Beowulf. Napoleon seized power, by using his brain, while Beowulf was granted power by his physical strength and bravery. Beowulf shows his intelligence as a king in the story by predicting a certain event to some extent, but by majority he seems symbolic of brute force. He shows this in his story almost immediately when he makes his boast before Hrothgar especially in response to Unferth’s taunts regarding the swim across the sea.
He then makes his boasts all the better by his battle with Grendel and then Grendel’s mother, who oddly enough is unnamed, which brings me to my next point involving the importance of women in this and the other stories. The fact that Grendel’s mother remains unnamed in the text of Beowulf may tell me a couple of different things. The first, and seemingly most obvious would be that women are not very important to this type of society except that in their beauty and desirability they may act as “peaceweavers” which does not even seem to work all that well in consideration of the burning of Heorot.
Apparently “were-gild” translated “man-gold” or money offered in repayment for death of important kinsmen was the best form of making reparations between these tribes. Otherwise, if no attempts were made, the tribes would constantly battle, or raid, until they were so depleted in resources and people that they would forced to dissolve into, or be conquered by another group entirely. Another idea that comes to mind would be the lack of control that women had over their own destinies which is even mentioned later on in Chaucer’s tale of the Wife of Bath as she gives the criminal a riddle to answer in return for his pardon.
Somehow, while women are so ignored, they are also acknowledged in the example of Offa, who has a profound effect over the man that she marries. It is also notable that in at least one translation of Beowulf the fears of the people are expressed by a “Geatish woman, wavy haired… ” who sings a sorrowful song for Beowulf as his pyre burns (Donaldson, p. 64). Such description may bring emotion to those who have heard a song at a funeral. Here we see that maybe the women were not only useful for beauty, but could act as “spokes-person” for their people in a way that men really couldn’t, or might be to proud to admit.
It seems by the other poems, that women’s role in society was actually realized just a little bit more, and their effect was more included into the romantic ideals. In the respect of women as competent and capable people, I would like to look at “Lanval” as the middle point between Beowulf and modern ideals not in terms of years, but in reference to respecting women as people as is acceptable finally in todays American society. We have finally decided that it is ok for women to generally have strengths over men in more ways than in raising children, and house-keeping.
In fact, in many ways we are looking at a reversal of roles in our society in the near future, just by looking at the statistics of how many women are becoming educated over men. All of these points aside, we can see Lanval as the half-way point in that it is Guinevere’s testimony who gets Lanval into trouble (even if she was lying) and then his lover’s testimony (despite their broken agreement) who saved him, and brought him away to eternal happiness in some kind of utopia called Avalon (I am glad that they had not yet coined the term “lived happily ever after” even though reference to Avalon is surely a similar concept).
In conclusion to this topic, I enjoy that women’s conquest for their rights can relate in a way to one of my favorite things in the world known to us as literature. Lastly, as promised earlier, I would like to present my own spin on the pentangle versus the green girdle. I like the symbolism of the pentangle as it existed then. I find it unfortunate that such a valiant symbol was turned upside-down and used for such evil in more recent times. The five values, the five senses, the five wounds of Christ, these are all incredibly good things to think about and remember.
The shield here represents chivalry in its truly impossible idiom. I would like to argue that the shield did not disappear with the introduction of the green girdle, just because it is not mentioned. To me, thinking of a knight without a shield is similar to thinking of a bird without any feathers, when, of course you consider the feathers as the physical things that protect a bird. The knight holds a shield to stop the things that would pierce his armor. I would like to think of the girdle as a very important and very wise addition to the pentangle on the shield.
As is shown by the whole story, absolute chivalry is truly impossible in that people are not perfect and never have been, even at the round table. The green girdle, the kings and Gawain’s conversation thereof, shows that even though we are not perfect, we can always learn from our mistakes and even improve upon our weaknesses once realized and admitted. The girdle blatantly states Gawains weakness of fearing for his own life, but he is redeemed by withstanding the green knight’s feints and finally his actual blow, which still spared Gawain’s life because of his honesty.
The girdle ends by being a symbol of redemption, not only for Gawain, but for the whole idea of chivalry. In this respect I hope that our idea of such a concept may be changed, for most of us retain some ideas about what is right and good, and what is wrong and evil. When pushed on any issues, any self-respecting individual will make a stand for their own beliefs. This is how chivalry lives on today, in the hearts and minds of those who have not de-sensitized themselves to the point of non-recognition for a battle that rages on everyday, the battle for good against evil.
