Comparing Sir Gawain And The Green Knight And The Rape

“Good artist borrow, great artist steal,” (Picasso) This statement rings true throughout all forms of art including literature. It reflects why we can find similarities in different pieces of literature, despite being written by different people, at different times, in different places. Throughout history authors have borrowed themes, ideas, genres, and even characters from each other, this is true of the three works the author has chosen to examine. By using genre criticism the similarities between these works become rather obvious. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The faerie Queene, and The Rape of the Lock, are all works written by different authors at very different times, yet they are all heroic satires, that look at human characteristics

The author creates a dramatic setting throughout the story by keeping up with an exciting plot. Both drama and mockery are at work in the character of Sir Gawain. He seems to be an over exaggerated character who in some cases is used to poke fun at king Arthurs knights. The author also seems to be making fun of stories of “True love,” this is shown most when the lady of the house gives Gawain a longwinded dramatic speech about true love as she tries to seduce him. Although, the author may be trying to show the qualities of a knight it comes off pretentious and self-glorifying on Gawain’s part. The work also uses a similar writing style as some of the other Arthurian tales written previous to Sir Gawain’s publication. In addition to using characters from previous Arthurian

Like other mock epics The rape of the lock, takes advantage of the characteristics of drama, exaggeration, humor and mockery. Drama is an important piece of all mock heroics and no work uses it better than Pope’s The rape of the lock, the entire story itself is an over dramatized version of a regular day. Pope uses exaggeration of trivial everyday things such as playing cards in the first canto to an over exaggerated tale about recovering a lock of severed hair. The humor in the story shines through using the expressions of exaggeration and overdramatized tales of everyday life. Similar to the first two works The rape of the lock, uses mockery to look at both the downfalls of man such as pride and vanity as shown through the character of Belinda who for vanities sake continues to try to get her hair back despite being told that grace and forgiveness would suit her better. Pope also uses the The rape of the lock, also mocks the daily tasks of life by giving them an overdramatized narration similar to how a sports newscaster tries to add drama when they talk about a game. Alexander Pope uses they story of a group wealthy young people to mock the lives of those consumed with greed and vanity. Pope uses the style of a typical epic poem and utilizes the rhythm of heroic poems similar to the Iliad a work that inspired much of The rape of the lock. Using this style makes the