British Literature I

Matthew Butcher
English 210
Dr. Colvin
11 September 1993


1. One can compare and contrast the two genres of epic and romance by citing examples from Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green knight. Both are classic representations of their respective categories.
Beowulf is a classic epic. It is a long narrative poem written in a heightened style, focusing on heroic deeds and on one main heroic protagonist in particular. The heroic character is central to the foundation of the culture. Beowulf is the hero and man of action. He heard of the horrors of Grendel and would dispose of the beast with his might. ". . .of mankind he was the strongest of might in the time of his life, noble and great." That is what an epic hero is. He boasts of his past accomplishments ("In my youth I have set about many brave deeds.") and boasts of what he will presently do with might that is only his ("I scorn to bear sword or broad shield, yellow wood, to the battle, but with my grasp I shall grapple with the enemy and fight for life, foe against for.").
Also in an epic, and thus in Beowulf, the antagonistic threat must be to the survival of the culture. Grendel has taken Heorot hostage. Heorot was an important place in Hrothgar's domain. It was "a great mead-building that the children of men should hear of forever." It was the place that brought his kingdom together. By attacking Heorot, Grendel attacks the foundation of Hrothgar's empire, threatening the survival of that culture. Beowulf fits all the classic determinations of an epic.
A romance contains many of the same characteristics of an epic and only varies slightly. A romance deals mainly with the chivalric adventures of a knight, motivated by love and righteousness. The knight is also a lover defending his Christian culture against threats to its values.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is of the romance genre in those respects. Gawain is a classic knight of chivalry. He was one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. The three major interests of medieval romance consist of knightly bravery, ideal love, and Christian action and values. The Green Knight employs all these things of Sir Gawain. The plot tests how noble and honorable Gawain is. ". . .an opportunity to study how successfully Gawain, as a man wholly dedicated to Christian ideals, maintains those ideals when he is subjected to unusual pressures.
As is evident from above, the two genres of epic and romance share many of the same traits but vary in certain respects.

2. In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer implements a great deal of irony. With his church-type characters, Chaucer writes a satire on the church itself. He also chastises the entire class system.
Chaucer tackles the evils of the present church system through his descriptions of his church characters. With subtle wording that seems to flatter the character, Chaucer in fact debases the character and viciously attacks the church.
There's the Nun that Chaucer shows to be anything but chaste and plain. She wore expensive jewelry ("She wore a coral trinket on her arm") and had a brooch that read Amor vincit omnia. That doesn't seem to comply with the vows of a nun. With the Friar, Chaucer shows how this profession is degenerating. "For in so eminent a man as he/ It was not fitting with the dignity/ Of his position, dealing with a scum/ Of wretched lepers." Friar also gives absolution for gifts. "Sweetly he heard his penitents at shrift/ With pleasant absolution for a gift." A Friar should not do these things. The Pardoner carries common items trying to pass them off as religious artifacts. "For in his trunk he had a pillow-case/ Which he asserted was Our Lady's veil." The monk is not studious and hates books. "Was he to study till his head went round/ Poring over books in cloisters?" Monks are also supposed to be exempt from worldly possessions but this Monk, according to the text, had fine fur on his sleeves and gold fashion pins.
The Pardoner's Tale is also a satire on the church itself. The Pardoner wanted to tell a scary story to make people but pardons, therefore pushing his own occupation and enriching his wallet.
Chaucer also shows contempt for the class system. The characters of the supposedly higher class are rotten and corrupt while the lower class are good and kind.
The Woman of Bath was promiscuous. "She'd had five husbands, all at the church door,/ Apart from other company in youth." "And knew the remedies for love mischances,/ An art in which she knew the oldest dances." The Doctor carried his own drugstore where he could make money for himself. "All his apothecaries in a tribe/ Were ready with the drugs he would prescribe/ And each made money from the other's guile." "Yet he was rather close as to expenses/ And he kept the gold he won in pestilences." Sounds like the Hippocratic oath to me. The Franklin was a man that lived for pleasure. "In whose opinion sensual delight/ Was the one true felicity in sight."
The Parson, though a holy man, was truly good. "He much dislike extorting tithe or fee,/ Nay rather he preferred beyond a doubt/ Giving to poor parishioners round about/ From his own goods and Easter offerings." The Plowman was also as good man. "He was an honest worker, good and true,/ Living in peace and perfect charity,/ And as the gospel bade him, so did he." Chaucer, by the text descriptions, also thought well of the Knight.
From the surface the reader doesn't see the ironic fun Chaucer is making of the church and the class system. Delve a little deeper tough, and it is there.

3. The literature we have read tells a great deal about the culture that inspired it. Beowulf is a surviving epic of a time period almost forgotten. Beowulf is a tale that the reader can just imagine being told by a medieval scop in an ancient land. An analysis of its contents even displays the religion of the period. Beowulf contains strong Christian overtones and values. "But while admitting such values, the poet also invokes many others of a very different order, values that seem to belong to an ancient, pagan, warrior society." Even though Christianity was a strong influence of the author, it had not destroyed the older pagan traditions. Beowulf also delves into the relationships of the time, between the warrior and his lord and between kinsmen. When a warrior, or thane, promised allegiance to his lord it was a relationship based on "mutual trust and respect." For kinsmen, "each rank of society was evaluated at a definite price, which had to be paid to the dead man's kinsmen by the killer who wished to avoid their vengeance." These aspects of Beowulf tell a lot about the rime period that inspired it.
Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales does an excellent job of examining the ills of the period. As explained in Question #2, Chaucer satirizes the entire church system. The Tales were also influenced by the emerging changes of the world, "economically, politically, and socially."
Sir Gawain is important because women begin to become increasingly important in literature. Literature also begins defining love and creating conventions of love.
Everyman is a classic example of the popular morality plays of its time. These plays were to teach illiterates good moral sense. Its cousin, the mystery play, was a representation of Biblical texts. The morality plays were presented as allegories, to teach the populace about being good.
From in-depth analysis of any of these works, one can bring forth a flood of information relating to the time period.