Essay on Gawain and the green knight
1.Which of the heroes (tragic or epic) we’ve read about (Gilgamesh, Oedipus, Odysseus, Kumagai, Rama or Atsumori, Beowulf, Gawain) comes closest to our contemporary idea of “heroic?” This answer will need you to explain what you and your contemporaries consider “heroic,” if anything, as well as detail the ways in which the character you’ve selected measures up to that definition and the ways the others fail to measure up. Many very people have claimed that we live in an anti-heroic age (not believing in heroes any more at all.) (Noah is, in literary terms, neither an epic nor tragic hero – do not use him in this answer no matter how “heroic” he may seem to you personally.)
2. “Gawain and the Green Knight” represents a kind of poem we call Medieval Romance. Use your knowledge of all the other poetry we’ve read to show how it is that this tale of King Arthur’s court from the fourteenth century represents the extension of the heroic or epic literary mode into Christian Medieval Europe (the blending of Christian and Germanic cultures) and is at the same time a bridge between (or combination of) the epic and lyric traditions in European poetry. In other words, what features and attitudes of both epic and lyric poetry does “Gawain and the Green Knight” contain?
3. Dante “built” his version of hell utilizing rather equal measures of Roman Catholic doctrine and his own personal perspective (sometimes rather vindictive) regarding the guilt or sins of the people he put there. Pick one character who seems to be in hell for reasons the Catholic church of the time would approve, and one who seems to be there simply because Dante was “getting even.” Explain how this is so in each case using details from the poem (as well as from whatever historical sources you wish to reference).
4. We’ve talked a lot this semester about the idea of “fate,” comparing it to religious determinism (God has a plan) and to the rationalist’s or humanist’s notion of free will (Oedipus “deserved” his fate, because . . .) Write an essay on the differences between the various concepts of fate we’ve encountered in our readings here. You must use characters from at least 4 (four) of the “heroic” readings to illustrate your point(s) regarding FATE. (Noah is not a “hero” in this sense, either.)
