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differences between sir gawain and beowulf IDEAL HEROES
beowulf and sir gawain
differences between sir gawain and beowulf IDEAL HEROES
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Throughout the ages stories have been passed down through the generations by many cultures around the world that gives their interpretation of what is the “ideal man.” Some say it is the devotion of Romeo, or the charm of the prince in Cinderella, that describes what the ideal man should be. In other words, these traits are what women revere most that makes a man worth knowing and pursuing a relationship with. There is no one agreed upon trait of what makes a man ideal in this world, or in literature. The ideal man is subjective in text, such as in the epic poem Beowulf or the renown Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is dependent upon the individual, and the time period in which the text is written or the reader’s lives.
In the Old English poem Beowulf which was originally composed around the time of the early Middle Ages the title character embodies the ideal man of that age, to give glory to God above all things, bravery and to achieve glory. There is no doubt Beowulf is a Christian text. Beowulf, and the author, constantly thank God and praise him for their success and gladly let Him lead them where He wills. At this time this was the example of a perfect male. Lines such as 927 “First and foremost, let the Almighty Father be thanked for this sight” (Beowulf 53) are an example of this. Hrothgar is thanking God first for Beowulf driving Grendel away wounded where he died alone. Beowulf is thanked second as he was granted his success by God which he accepts and is even expected in the Middle Ages. A man who is unselfish and knows power is not in their mortal hands, but in something greater than himself, was a trait that was admired above all others. Throughout the text Beowulf proves his bravery without a doubt with his battles...
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... brave enough to go for what they want and battle court rooms or disease catch a women’s attention. Other traits that have changed with the times but are still prized today are a healthy appearance, wealth, and people skills.
Throughout the centuries the perception of what is the ideal male changes and is subjective to the times. Depending on the individual, where they come from and their environment, or the time period, if it is in a text, what makes a man worth knowing changes all the time and continues to do so.
Works Cited
Beowulf. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. 8th ed. Vol. A. Eds. Stephan Greenblatt et al. New York: Norton, 2006. 34-100. Print.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. 8th ed. Vol. A. Eds. Stephan Greenblatt et al. New York: Norton, 2006. 160-213. Print.
Clark, Gorge. “The Hero and the Theme.” In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Anonymous, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, eds. Abrams, et al. (New York: Norton, 1993), 200.
Many people take the word honor very lightly and believe that it is incredibly easy to be defined as a person who shows their honor for the people around them, and that may be true for some people but not for others. Three people who easily fall into the group of being an honorable person includes, William Wallace from the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, Sir Gawain, and Beowulf. Honor may be mistaken for many different things, but the word honor easily falls into the category of being a hero. In order to be a hero someone has to be honorable, and being honorable includes the same characteristics of being considered a hero. There are specifically two different types of heroes including, an Anglo-Saxon Hero and Epic Hero. There are four very strict
In one of our class discussions on hegemonic masculinity, we attempted to define a general list of characteristics or behaviors that one should have in order to attain this ideal. However, there was no consensus on these qualities. Frequently, the qualities that we would suggest would be those that were the opposite of qualities associated with women. For example, if we would categorize being emotional as a trait assigned to women, we would assign the trait of being impassive to men. This would also occur when we considered which behaviors would be considered masculine. While we assumed women would perform work inside of the house, we assigned men to work outside of the house, doing activities such as maintaining the yard or fixing the car. Most of, if not all of, the qualities and behaviors we assigned as being a part of hegemonic masculinity perpetuated the idea of gender inequality. When we assumed that those characteristics would be considered aspects of hegemonic masculinity, we restricted them to only being assigned to men because if a woman could possess those characteristics, it wouldn’t be considered a masculine aspect. This also explains how hegemonic masculinity can perpetuate
Wright, David. “The Digressions in Beowulf.” In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press,1998.
Markman, Alan M. "The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Modern Language Association 72.4 (1957): 574-86. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
uring the Middle Ages, two poems, Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight embody heroic figures. Beowulf, who demonstrates all the characteristics of an ideal hero, is faced with physical challenges that no other man could face during his existence. Beowulf was not only looking to become a hero, he wanted to reveal the importance of establishing identity. However, Beowulf was not the only hero during this time period. Sir Gawain also participates in challenges that define his character. Sir Gawain was indeed a hero, but he was mostly concerned with maintaining his reputation, which sets him and Beowulf apart when it comes to being the most ideal hero. Beowulf and Sir Gawain are both models of strength and bravery as they achieve deeds in order to bring glory to their king. As both men try to establish a heroic title, Beowulf gained better recognition because he was a hero to his not only his king, but to his entire society.
A hero is someone who is idealized for his courage and noble qualities. Beowulf and Sir Gawain can certainly be called heroes. They both have many qualities that are expected of heroic knights and warriors. They are both brave, gallant, and skilled men, but are they the perfect heroes their people believe them to be? While they are portrayed as perfect heroes and they possess many heroic qualities, Beowulf and Sir Gawain are far from perfect.
Robert Bly explains that the ideal image of masculinity depicted by our western views is said to be the 50’s males. “These men had a clear image of what a man was, and what his responsibilities of a man were, but the isolation and one-sidedness, of his vision were dangerous.” By the sixties, males became aware of the feminism movement that the 50’s males tried so hard to ignore. With the changing times, the combined influence of feminism and the gay movement has exploded the conception and uniform of masculinity and even sexuality is no longer held to be innate. Men during these movements felt threatened by the newfound power of these individuals and sense of self. The 70’s brought upon an era of the ‘soft’ male, who were not interested in starting wars or harming the earth. Yet they remained unhappy, and lacked energy because they are providers and not procreators. Even through the chain of events in American society, the view of masculinity is still ever
8[8] Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Marie Borroff. Norton Anthology of British Literature Vol. 1, New York: WW Norton, 1993.
These men are my dad and my grandpas. The characteristics that they have shown me that define manhood are hard work, honesty, taking care of your family and helping others. My perception of manhood isn’t influenced by sexuality , but by the way a man lives his life and treats other.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume One. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem which tells the tale of a knight who undergoes trials-testing the attributes of knighthood-in order to prove the strength and courage of himself, while representing the Knights of the Round Table. One of King Arthurs most noblest and bravest of knights, Sir Gawain, is taken on an adventure when he steps up to behead a mysterious green visitor on Christmas Day-with the green mans’ permission of course. Many would state that this tale of valor would be within the romance genre. To the modern person this would be a strange category to place the poem in due to the question of ‘where is the actual romance, where is the love and woe?’ However, unlike most romances nowadays, within medieval literature there are many defining features and characteristics of a romance-them rarely ever really involving love itself. Within medieval literature the elements of a romance are usually enshrouded in magic, the fantastic and an adventure. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight follows Sir Gawain over the course of one year, from one New Years to the next, as was the deal he and Bertilak, the green knight, struck.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Brian Stone. The Middle Ages, Volume 1A. Eds. Christopher Baswell and Anne Howland Schotter. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Fourth ed. Gen.eds David Damrosch, and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2010. 222-77. Print.
Masculinity only exists in coherence with femininity. If a culture does not treat men and women as carrier of polarized character types, at least in principal, is not able to have a conception of masculinity, like it is found in contemporary European/American culture. Attention has to be brought to “historical specificity and historical change,” because it “illustrates the social construction of masculinity, the multiplicity of ways in which masculinities can be enacted or lived and the existence and potential of change” (42). A good basis to start discussing what masculinity and femininity constitute out of, is by investigating what men and women do (or how they behave). If gender is cultural, then men and women are able to step into and inhabit masculinity as well as femininity “as a ‘cultural space’, one with its own sets of behaviors” (43). These behaviors include a number of culturally defined characteristics. Male competiveness, aggression, and emotional inarticulateness are said to have their own place in the economic system and stand for masculinity. Still widely accepted is the view that men and women differ fundamentally and that men as well as women have a distinct set of fixed traits that characterizes one as male or