Chaucer's "The House of Fame": The Cultural Nature of Fame
QUESTION 7.
DISCUSS THE CULTURAL NATURE OF FAME AND ITS TEXTUAL EXPRESSION WITH REFERENCE TO
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: ORAL HEROIC POETRY, CHAUCER'S DEPICTION IN THE
HOUSE OF FAME AND THE MODERN CONSTRUCTION OF THE CANON OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
YOU SHOULD FOCUS YOUR ANALYSIS ON THE INTERPLAY OF ORAL AND LITERARY TRADITIONS
IN THESE CONTEXTS.
Many critics have noted the complexities within Chaucer's The House of Fame, in particular, the complexities between the oral and the literary. The differences between these methods are constantly appearing; Chaucer is well aware of rapidly changing communicative practises and contrasts the preservation of utterance with the longevity of literary texts. He achieves this by discussing the nature of "Fame" and the difficulties that arise from it. "Fame" can both destroy and create. It can result in the eternal preservation of great works and their creators. However, Chaucer is quick to note the precarious nature of "fame" noting the unreliable process of attaining it and its potentially momentary existence. Every creator with their respective work/s naturally crave and desire "fame"; they want their subjects to remain fresh in the minds of their audience. Chaucer, while neither totally praising the written nor the oral, reveals how essentially the written word is far more likely to become eternal as opposed to the oral. The relative "fame" of any work is dependent on many factors. Many traditional and classical ideas result in the formation of the English canon, yet as Chaucer indicates, the "fame" of these works can easily become annihilated. The arrival of new readers with different ideals and thereby changing tradition, can reject classical or "canonical" work and their "fame" will melt into nothingness.
Most stories, histories and legends that emerge from oral heroic poetry are to herald the achievement of the powerful and wealthy so that their histories will not fade from the memories of the population. The stories of Beowolf are a clear example of this, as within these stories, (whether embellished or no),
Beowolf's fame and legend reaches the modern reader hundreds of years later.
Clearly, Beowolf is still very much dependant on the conventions of oral traditions and written to leave a permanent reminder of Beowolf, to enforce
Beowolf's fame. The use of "Hwaet" to mark the start of an oration, emphasises the continuation of oral tradition. Most oral cultures (usually illiterate), pass on stories and legends learnt from the previous generation, basically using the authority of recalled memory, not as an actual witness; rather 'I have heard it said` than 'I know this to be true`.
The Iceland saga, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, written in the 1300’s, represents about 1000 years of oral traditions. The remarkable similarities between this saga and Beowulf are just too astounding to dismiss as mere coincidences.
There are so many similarities between the hero of the poem Beowulf and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, an Iceland saga representing 1000 years of oral traditions prior to the 1300’s when it was written, that these similarities cannot be attributed solely to coincidence.
The Parliament of Fowls and the House of Fame are closely related to each other and to the Book of the Duchess, as all three of the poetry share several similar themes. Written between 1368 and 1380 they are some of Chaucer’s earliest works in which aspects of some of the great writers of his time are evident. There are three major themes intertwined within the three works, which Chaucer has added to the Dream Vision genre.
The great heroic story of Beowulf gives many examples of the traits a great leader should have. At the end, those same traits were demonstrated by Wiglaf who then became the king of the Geats. This proves that these traits were essential to the Anglo-Saxon culture; however, this also makes Beowulf contemporary. The poem has many themes that are still applicable today. Natural respect and trust are fundamental parts of character in Beowulf and in today's society. This is a great reason to keep reading Beowulf and take it as an example of honor and loyalty. Beowulf is a great hero but also a great example along with many of the characters. The poem itself teaches the reader about respect and
Although Beowulf was written thousands of years ago, when compared with Grendel, it acts as an example of propaganda of a certain perspective that was used throughout the history, even today.
The poem "Fame", by Vladimir Nabokov, seems to begin with the description or rather a search for the description of a character to be placed in one form of literary sat, whether poem or prose. The character's physical description is already formulated in the narrator's mind, "waxlike, lean-loined, with red nostrils soot-stuffed", but the narrator is struggling with the placement of the character, whether human, important, or "nothing special--just garrulous dust." The narrator continues with the description of the character while still unable to decide his standing. Deciding that the narrator is without fame in line 20, the narrator decides that only those of meek hearts can listen to his character's words. One can assume then that those of proud hearts choose not to adhere to this speaker because he holds no fame therefore to them, no words.
Beowulf is a poem of the Anglo-Saxon world approximately a thousand years ago. It was a unique piece of literature at the time it was written and helps us today understand the life of the Anglo-Saxon people during this time. It successfully combined pagan and christian ideas into a story that would help teach the youth of the time good qualities of a leader and a man. The story of Beowulf is one of glorious battles, bold adventures, and of course Epic Heros.
The Anglo-Saxons living in the time of Beowulf did not believe in the afterlife. To them, the only way to experience life after death was to live on in the memories of others. One could fulfill this goal by being known for one’s generosity, courage, and strength. Beowulf, the protagonist of this epic poem, embodied all of these virtues and lives on in memory because of this.
Beowulf is an interesting story in that it has a meaning that is firmly rooted in fantasy creatures based in mythical origins while providing insight into religious ideals and practices of the time. It also speaks of tradition and the struggle of man against things perceived as evil. In this tradition especially, Beowulf is an incredible allegory regarding the struggle of good and evil in the Christian tradition.
Beowulf was always a respected man, everyone in every town loved him because of his achievements as a warrior and that made him get used to all this attention. Beowulf didn’t want to be remembered anymore, he wanted to be worshiped and seen as someone great and mighty. The sense of honor wasn’t important to him as it was before, glory and recognition was what he was now looking for. The stories of people about Beowulf became something so important to him that he lost the true meaning of being a hero that fights for his people.
Beowulf is a great tale but as a person, he isn’t that all that people make him out to be. In his older years his need for attention and glory ended up with the death of him. He fought the dragon alone and in return, ended up killing the dragon, but also sacrificed himself. Even as he died he asked for one thing, his people to build him a memorial near the sea so everyone could see the person that he was. His need for attention, lack of planning, and need for glory caused him to be just a prideful man, not a
Beowulf’s life was truly epic struggle. The monsters he battled made it so. Grendel and the dragon, capable of crushing men physically, stood for evils that could just as easily crush men in spirit. These two beasts represented society’s greatest fears, as well as detriments, and Beowulf fearlessly took them on. Grendel taught the hero a valuable lesson about maintaining one’s humanity in a world dominated by the dogs of war. The dragon, showed Beowulf’s mortality, his imperfection, but the hero eradicates it nonetheless, saving his people from not only physical threat, but sin. Bringing in such spiritual and moral dimensions, these two beasts certainly give the story of Beowulf depth.
Many of the characters and episodes and material artifacts mentioned poetically in Beowulf are likewise presented to us from archaeological sources and from various written sources, especially Scandinavian records, thus adding credibility to the historicity of the poem. But it is obvious that Beowulf, Grendel and the Dragon clearly belong to the classification of “myth.”
In Chaucer’s House of Fame, the reader is privy to a momentous dream of Geoffrey’s, a poet protagonist dedicated to love. In this dream, he meets an eagle that promises to bear him to the House of Fame as a reward from Jupiter himself. Once there, Geoffrey is told that he will “here…mo wonder thynges…and of loves folk moo tydynges, both soothe sawes and lesinges, and moo loves new begonne, and longe yserved loves wonne, and moo loves casuelly (Chaucer, Lines 672-679).” This excerpt is meant to outline what is to be expected from Chaucer and his text. However, when Geoffrey finally arrives at the House of Fame in the opening of Book III, he learns less about Love’s tidings and more about one of the sisters of Love, Fame, and her followers. This redirection of intent forces the reader to question Chaucer, and reconsider the real purpose of Geoffrey’s journey to the House of Fame. Aside from learning of Love’s tidings, the eagle states that Jupiter intended “this caas thee [for] thy lore and for thy prow (Chaucer, Lines 578-559).” Considering this, one realizes that Geoffrey obviously learned a great deal from his visit, but has to question exactly how Geoffrey, and in turn the reader, profited from it and what meaning, if any, is meant to be drawn from The House of Fame. Paul G. Ruggiers, author of “The Unity of Chaucer’s House of Fame”, claims that the aim of the text is to illustrate the influence of Fame on all things, including those subject to her sister, Love. Considering this, one can further claim that Jupiter’s true reward for Geoffrey, and also Chaucer’s intent for the reader, is detailed knowledge of Fame and her subjects, which serves as a valuable example of Fame’s very nature.
Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.