The Art of Courtly Love, Consolation of Philosophy, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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The Art of Courtly Love, Consolation of Philosophy, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Part 1: Consolation of Philosophy, written by Boethius 1. Boethius was a popular member of the senatorial family. He was a philosopher that agreed with Plato that government should be solely in the hands of wise men. After becoming consul, charges of treason were brought against him. He lived in a time in Roman society when everyone was mainly Christian. He was an Arian Christian and believed that Christ was neither truly God nor truly man. Because of his beliefs, he was seen as a heretic in the eyes of the Roman Church. This religious controversy was the root of many of Boethius’s beliefs and writings. 2. The literary genre of the Consolation of Philosophy is a satura. A satura is a combination of poems and prose. The model for Boethius’s work is Augustine. A lot of his work parallels Augustine’s beliefs and readings (especially in Book 5). Cicero was also a model for Boethius. He was a philosopher that had many ideas that Boethius agreed with. The work is structured by a combination of poems and prose. Book 1 starts off with a poem and alternates prose and Book 2-5 starts with a prose and alternates with poems. The prose is considered the story part and the poem summarizes the prose. They are very much like saying the same thing in two different ways. The poems were often Boethius’s response and the prose was Lady Philosophy’s consolations. 3. The benefits of bad luck are that it makes a person stronger because when a person has bad luck, they don’t necessarily emphasize the importance of material and human desires. It is only without these things that a person has the potential to find true happiness. Without bad luck a person ... ... middle of paper ... ... Sir Gawain prays for it, and a green garter that saves the knight from death. Also, the Green Knight gets his head chopped off and picks it up as if nothing happened and rides off on his horse carrying it. All of these examples are of magic and make believe and could never really happen in real life. 9. The poet may be telling the Knights of the Garter to remember that Sir Gawain survived because he lived by the codes of honor and respect that were so important for the knights to live by. As each knight at the Round Table is asked to wear the green garter, they are asked to remember the Sir Gawain’s courage and honorable behavior. Bibliography: Beowulf. Trans. Seamus Heaney. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy. Trans. Richard Green. New York: The Bobbs- Merril Company, Inc., 1962.

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