A closer look at Medieval Romance

and the

Heroic Quest

"Romance" –It’s not just a genre anymore!!

• Vernacular French language which was called romanz (derived from the language spoken by the Romans, i.e. Latin).

• "Romance" refers to stories of the chivalric adventures of knights and their ladies, often set at the court of King Arthur.

• Audience • Made up of women • Women played more central roles

• Influential Women • Eleanor of Aquitaine: her interest in poetry, music and the arts.• Her daughter, Marie, continued this tradition

Chivalry and the 5 Knightly Virtues

• Friendship

• Generosity

• Chastity

• Courtesy

• Piety

http://www.baronage.co.uk/chilvalry/chival1a.html

Courtly Love: Is Chivalry Dead?!

• Emphasis on the sort of love relationship that is depicted in troubadour poetry, commonly known as "courtly love"

• Modeled on the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege lordThe knight serves his courtly lady (love service) with the same obedience and loyalty which he owes to his liege lord.

• She is in complete control of the love relationship, while he owes her obedience and submission (a literary convention that did not correspond to actual practice!)

• The knight's love for the lady inspires him to do great deeds, in order to be worthy of her love or to win her favor.

• Thus "courtly love" was originally construed as an ennobling force whether or not it was consummated, and even whether or not the lady knew about the knight's love or loved him in return.

Loss of Romance in the Relationship??

• "Courtly love" relationship typically was not between husband and wife

• Idealized sort of relationship that could not exist within the context of "real life" medieval marriages.

• In the middle ages, marriages amongst the nobility were typically based on practical and dynastic concerns rather than on love.

Whatchoo mean, “you got ninety-nine problems….?!”

The Gentleman’s Guide to Social Behavior

• "Courtly love" may have served a useful social purpose: a model of behavior for a class of unmarried young men

• One reason why the lady in the courtly love relationship is typically older, married and of higher social status than the knight may be because she was modeled on the wife of the feudal lord, who might naturally become the focus of the young, unmarried knights' desire.

• Invented to provide these young men with a model for appropriate behavior, teaching them to repress their desires and to channel their energy into socially useful behavior (love service rather than wandering around the countryside, stealing or raping women…Mmmm…Not good)

The Love Quiz: 8 signs that prove you’re in love

Typical symptoms: • Sighing (oh stop it!) • turning pale (good grief, she’s just a girl!)• turning red (make up your mind!)• Fever (seriously?)• inability to sleep, eat or drink (this is definitely bad)• Romances often contained long interior monologues in which the

lovers describe their feelings (aw, man…it’s Romeo and Juliet all over again!)

Sound familiar? (Don’t worry…there’s a support group)

Elements of Medieval Romance

• “Bob and Wheel” metrical style of poetry

Bob and wheel is the common name for a metrical device most famously used by the Pearl Poet in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The feature is found mainly in Middle English and Middle Scots poetry, where the bob and wheel occur typically at the end of a stanza.

It is characterized as thus:

a short, one or two-stress “bob” followed by four three-stress lines which are the “wheel.” The rhyme scheme is ABABA with the second and fourth lines of the wheel rhyming with the bob.

Example: “You will grant me gladly the little game that I ask

as my right.” A

Arthur gave him answer B

And said, “Sire noble knight, A

If it’s duel you’re after B

We’ll furnish your fight.” A

For more examples of the Bob and Wheel style://web. cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_B.html.

Elements (cont’d)

• Notice a “Boast” anywhere?• The Green Knight boasts his

prowess in fighting• Sir Gawain boasts his bravery

and skill when he agrees to take on the knight

• Notice the presence of a “Trickster” anywhere?• The Green Knight is a trickster

by luring Gawain to a fight he cannot win

• Lord Bercilak (the Green Knight in disguise) is a trickster, deceiving Gawain to think he is merely a noble lord

• Lady Bercilak is a trickster, tempting Gawain and his sense of sexual virtue with daily kisses and entreaties to be unfaithful

Symbols

Shield with Pentangle

Five points on the shield represent the 5 knightly virtues

His virtue is tested and it represents whether heavenly virtue can operate in a fallen world.

A symbol of truth, the star has five points that link and lock with each other, forming what is called the endless knot.

Sash and all things Green

Represents the fall from all that the Pentangle represents

She claims it possesses the power to keep its wearer from harm, but we find out in Part 4 that the girdle has no magical properties (FAIL)

representing cowardice and an excessive love of mortal life. He wears it from then on as a badge of his sinfulness.

Significant Numbers5: five points on a star, five knightly virtues, faultless in his five senses, never to fail in his five fingers, to be faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the cross, to be strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption)

3: the number of times he swung at the Green Knight

The number of times Lord Bercilak hunted and his lady attempted to seduce Gawain

Symbols to Compare: Pentangle and the Girdle Pentangle Girdle Benefice, brotherly love, Shame, pride, guilt, un- Pure mind, manners, com- mannered covetousness, Passion (endless knot) per- disloyalty, cowardice, fection knot that binds imper- fection to the body KNOT The Pentangle’s image The Girdle represents his Portrayed what Gawain fall from all that the Pent- Thought of himself. angle represents. He finds Pentangle is worn on the that he is not what he surface and we have no thinks he is. The Girdle is idea to believe that he is a symbol that Gawain has deserving of it. earned, we have evidence

of that. The cut on his neck reveals his humanity.

Hero’s Quest

• Remember Beowulf? Sir Gawain pursues the very same stages of the hero as any other archetypal hero does:• The call• The threshold• Test, trials, obstacles• The abyss• The atonement• The boon• The return

Bravery vs. Moral Courage

• In addition to being testing for his bravery, Sir Gawain, and knights in general, were tested for their moral courage as well—how well they held up their values in the face of temptation, fear, or pride.

How can we categorize

the hero’s decisions

based on the chart?

Level 1: Pre-conventional

Obedience, punishment, avoidance

Self-Interest Orientation

How can I avoid punishment? What’s in it for me?

Level 2: Conventional

Conformity to societal norms

Following authority

What is good behavior? What does the law say?

Level 3: Post-conventional

Democratic expectations

Do the greatest good (martyrdom)

How will it affect the world?

Use of Rhetoric

Pathos

Purpose: Motivation

The Mode: playing on another person’s emotions

Elements: Use of repetition

Logos

Purpose: Persuading

The Mode: Arguing the point with facts

Elements: Differences

Ethos

Purpose: Informing

The Mode: establishing trust

Elements: Similarity

Analyze the Green Knight’s persuasion of the knights at King Arthur’s table.

Analyze Lady Bercilak’s persuasion of Gawain.

Final Essay

Apply one of the codes of chivalry discussed in the Pre-reading section of this guide to evaluate Sir Gawain’s actions in the poem.

See http://www.baronage.co.uk/ chivalry/chival1a.html.

In what ways does Gawain live up to the code, and in what ways does he fail? Overall, does Gawain emerge as a chivalric hero or as something different? If you applied modern day standards of conduct to Gawain’s actions, how would that change your evaluation, if at all? Refer back to the text to find support for your response.

(Typed, double spaced, 12point font)