Imagery_in_Beowulf_and_Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight

English 2000 Agnes Juhász-Ormsby Liam Éirinn Parsons Outline for: Images of nature in Beowulf & Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Beowulf is thought to have been written at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period around the year 1000. It is the first great epic poem in the English language. Its authorship is unknown but is attributed to an unnamed scribe, working in a monastic centre somewhere in the south of England. The work is a peculiar hybrid, an infusion of pagan Germanic history that is overlaid with a decidedly Christian commentary. It is at once a nostalgic, celebratory account of a an Anglo-Saxon man, a hero who faces extraordinary challenges, as well as a continual reminder, perhaps the Christian element coming into play, of the transitory nature of this life. The author continually reminds the reader that there is an inevitable end — that change and reversal come to even the greatest of people, and the most preeminent of men. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, whose authorship is also unknown, dates from the 13th century and like Beowulf, is also a hybrid. It is an amalgam of elements stemming from the Arthurian romances and French courtly romances. The resulting product that has come down to us are tales in which legendary heroes from history navigate tricky cultural negotiations within chivalric culture. In this way, Sir Gawain is a re-interpretation of heroic values. The story retains themes of courage, honour and loyalty, however the challenges move from external, physical conflicts to internal, moral ones. Although written in different time periods, Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have some remarkable similarities. For one, the poems share ideas such as the type of qualities that heroes possess such as bravery, honour and truth. Beowulf the warrior king and Sir Gawain the knight are both in possession of such qualities as they each rise up bravely to meet the challenges that are put before them — they are both willing to face mortal danger in order to protect their superiors and their people. Another considerable similarity is that both heroes face certain challenges in the realm of nature. In both tales, the world outside the mead-hall or castle is desolate, cold, threatening and fraught with many dangers. In each, the descriptions of nature serve to represent the psychological state of the hero as he embarks on his quest. Furthermore, it is from nature that the theme of reversal is also explored since it is from the wild, hostile beyond that the stability of both Heorot and Camelot will be compromised. But it goes deeper than this, the shared descriptions of nature serve to contribute to the inherent themes of the poems; those of reversal, nature vs. society, and order vs. chaos. Topic #1 Descriptions of nature in Beowulf and Sir Gawain inform the shared theme of reversal. In both cases, the threats come at times when the respective societies seem at the height of their merrymaking, and come from the realm of nature. “…then from the moor, in a blanket of mist, Grendel came stalking…” “…Grendel’s mother, monster-woman, remembered her misery, she who dwelt in those dreadful waters, the cold streams, ever since Cain killed with his blade his only brother, his father’s kin; he fled bloodstained, marked for murder, left the joys of men, dwelled in the wasteland.” “… For much did they marvel what it might mean that a horseman and a horse should have such a hue, grow green as the grass, and greener it seemed…” – green relates to nature, the world beyond the castle, which we will read about as Gawain goes off to find The Green Knight. Topic #2 Descriptions of nature in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight serve to illuminate the central theme of the work which is nature vs. human society “Now with serpents he wars, now with savage wolves, now with wild men of the woods, that watched fro, the rocks, both with bulls and bears, and with boars besides, and giants that came gibbering from the jagged steps” This passage describes a multitude of physical challenges that Gawain easily overcomes. They are presented here in the transition period between both castles because the poet is communicating that his greatest challenge will not be a physical one. Gawain, and the chivalric code that he embodies, will be put to test in the much subtler, yet more dangerous world of the court. Topic #3 Descriptions of nature in Beowulf and Sir Gawain serve to illustrate the theme of order out of chaos. “By a mountain next morning he makes his way into a forest fastness, fearsome and wild” “The son of nobles crossed over the steep stone cliffs, the constricted climb, a narrow solitary path, a course unknown, the towering headlands, home of sea-monsters…” Camelot and Heorot both stand as symbols of order. Both heroes leave the warmth and light of their safe-holds, where order has been threatened, to the cold and hostile darkness of the natural world, which represents the disorder, the discord that needs to be resolved. It is there, in the wild beyond where the heroes will meet their respective challenges alone in an attempt to bring order out of chaos.