Study Guide Exam 1: The Middle Ages

Beowulf
1. Summary

Beowulf begins with the funeral of Shield Sheafson and goes through his family line leading to Hrothgar. Hrothgar is a descendant of Shield Sheafson and the present king. He builds a mead hall called Heorot. Grendel is annoyed by the noise that they are causing in Heorot and decides to go in there and kill everybody. Grendel continues terrorizing Heorot until Beowulf hears of his rampaging and decides to help Hrothgar reclaim Heorot and slay Grendel. Hrothgar throws a feast in Heorot for Beowulf and his men. Beowulf says that he will fight Grendel without armor since it would be the honorable thing to do. Beowulf and his men sleep in Heorot while Grendel attacks. As Grendel tries to attack Beowulf, Beowulf grabs his arm in a lock. Grendel and Beowulf struggle and Beowulf rips off Grendel’s arm. Grendel’s arm becomes a trophy and is hung in the mead hall. Grendel slinks away to his home and dies. Grendel’s mother is furious that her son died so she decides to take revenge. She attacks Heorot and kidnaps one of the retainers. Hrothgar is upset with this attack and Beowulf tells him that they must get revenge for the man that she took. Beowulf finds the lair of Grendel’s mother and is dragged to the bottom of the lake. He fights with Grendel’s mother and finds out that he can not cut her with a normal sword. He finds a giant sword in her lair and uses that to cut her head off. He finds Grendel’s body in her lair and takes his head as a prize. Hrothgar has another celebration for Beowulf and everyone is celebrating his accomplishments. Beowulf then returns home and becomes king. After many years later, when Beowulf is old, a dragon has been provoked since someone stole one of his treasures. The dragon goes on a rampage and Beowulf decides he needs to slay this dragon. Knowing that he is old, he feels that he will die in the fight with the dragon. He still goes into battle with the dragon with an iron shield to protect him, knowing that this would be his final battle. He goes into the dragon’s lair with a few men and his men stay behind while he goes to fight the dragon. Although during the battle one of his men, Wiglaf, goes to help his king Beowulf. As Beowulf was in danger, Wiglaf stabs the dragon in the stomach and weakens him while Beowulf was able to get the killing blow. The wounds that Beowulf suffered during the fight with the dragon were too great and he died. He was celebrated as being a strong warrior throughout his life even to his final moment. Beowulf’s people build him a barrow, Beowulf’s Barrow, as a memorial to Beowulf. Beowulf ends with Beowulf’s funeral.

2. Characters

• Beowulf
• King Hrothgar
• Grendel
• Grendel’s Mother
• The Dragon
• Wiglaf
• Unferth

3. Themes
Honor, Vengeance, Death, Glory, Fate, Balance, Good v. Evil, Greed, Loyalty, Legacy, Mortality

Lanval
1. Summary

Lanval is a noble vassal of King Arthur. He was envied because of his valor, generosity, beauty, and bravery. Because Lanval was envied, nobody, including the king, would help him. He was the son of a king, but he is far from his homeland. He gave all of his money away, and since the king never gives him anything, he becomes poor. Lanval is still loyal to the king throughout though. Lanval meets this beautiful fairy woman and he lays with her. She gives him many gifts and tells him that she will appear before him whenever he wants as long as he does not tell anyone about her. Guinevere makes advances towards Lanval. Lanval refuses her advances because of his loyalty to Arthur. She accuses him of having no desire of women, and he tells her that has a woman that is much more beautiful than her. Since Lanval broke the promise that he made with the fairy lady, she does not appear before Lanval anymore. Lanval becomes upset and love sick. Arthur puts Lanval on trial because Guinevere accused him of making advances towards her. It is found out that that was not the case but he is still on trial for shaming her. Arthur and the barons demand to see Lanval’s mistress in order to prove that she is indeed much better looking than Guinevere so that Lanval would be set free. Although since Lanval broke his promise he knows that she will not appear before them. She appears before them anyway and everyone sees how beautiful she is. Lanval is set free and he rides off into the sunset with his fairy lady.

2. Characters

• Lanval
• King Arthur
• Fairy Woman
• Guinevere

3. Themes
Chivalry, Courtly Love, Role Reversal of Men and Women, Duty to Lord, Duty to Lover, Temptation, Vindictive Woman, Supernatural Woman

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1. Summary

Christmas is being celebrated in Camelot. King Arthur and his court are celebrating merrily and King Arthur refuses to eat until he is entertained. The Green Knight enters and issues a challenge to whoever will accept will have to strike him with an axe and after a year the Green Knight will return the blow. The Green Knight goads Arthur into challenging him, but Gawain intercedes and accepts the challenge instead. He cuts off the Green Knight’s head with the axe and the Green Knight picks up his head and reminds Gawain to meet him in a year’s time and he departs. The seasons go by and Gawain is living his life celebrating up until the few moments when he has to go on his quest to search for the Green Knight to live up to the deal that he had made with him. He finds a great castle where he meets the king and he ends up celebrating Christmas with them. The king invites him to stay in his castle and sleep in while he goes hunting and everything he gets on his hunt, he will give to Gawain, and in return, everything that Gawain receives while staying in his castle, he will give to the king. During his stay, the queen makes advances on him three consecutive days. The first day the king returns with a deer, and Gawain gives him a kiss. The second day the King returns with a boar and Gawain gives him another kiss. However on the third day the queen gives Gawain a girdle that would save his life from the Green Knight and Gawain did not give it to the king. Instead, the king gave him a fox and Gawain gave him another kiss. As his meeting with the Green Knight looms ever nearer, he gets a guide from the king to lead him to the Green Chapel. Once they arrive the guide tells Gawain that he should run away and the guide would not tell a soul what happened, but Gawain refused since he did not want to be remembered as a coward. He goes into the Green Chapel and finds the Green Knight as he sharpens his axe. Gawain presents his neck to the Green Knight and the Green Knight comes down with a swing and Gawain flinches. The Green Knight makes fun of Gawain and then he swings again. He missed intentionally to taunt Gawain. He swings one last time nicking Gawain’s neck and Gawain stands up and challenges the knight since he lived up to his bargain and he missed he did not have to let him cut his head off anymore. The Green Knight tells Gawain that it was all a test and that his aunt is magic and set the whole thing up and that he was Bertilak and that he was staying in his castle and since he did not give him the girdle that his wife gave him he cut him on the neck. Bertilak could not blame Gawain for trying to save his own life, but Gawain saw it as a stain on his honor and wore the green girdle as a symbol of his mistake. He goes through many adventures on his way home in order to make up for his folly and when he finally makes it back to Camelot the knights greet him and take up his symbol of his mistake as a badge of honor.

2. Characters

• Sir Gawain
• Green Knight
• Bertilak
• Bertilak’s Wife
• Gawain’s Aunt

3. Themes
Chivalry, Quests, Games, Trials, Conflict of Courtly Love and Chivalry, Fate, Time, Self-Preservation, Honor

Chaucer’s The General Prologue
1. Summary

Begins with a description of spring, and that around this time of year devout English pilgrims go on pilgrimages to visit holy shrines in distant lands. The narrator, in particular, is going on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. He goes into a tavern where he meets twenty nine other travelers, who were a diverse group of people. They agree to travel together and set off on their journey to Canterbury.

2. Characters

• Narrator

3. Themes
Pilgrimage, Stories, Diversity, Season

The Miller’s Prologue and Tale
1. Summary

Begins with the Miller interrupting the Monk. The Miller is drunk and promises to tell a tale that is as noble as the Knight’s. He reminds everyone that he is drunk and, therefore, should not be held accountable for anything that he says. He sets up his tale as a story of a carpenter and his wife, and of how a clerk sleeps with the wife of the carpenter. The Miller says that he is married and that he does not care if his wife sleeps with other men because it is none of his business. The Miller then begins to tell his tale. An intelligent, good looking, young man named Nicholas has boarded with an old, ignorant, carpenter named John. John has a wife who he is possessive and highly protective of, named Alisoun. Alisoun is young and attractive and is attracted to Nicholas. Alisoun and Nicholas flirt with each other and Nicholas grabs her by the crotch and she denies him. He starts to cry and then she sleeps with him. There is another man who is in love with Alisoun as well, Absolon. Absolon is a parish clerk that is also trying to woo Alisoun. Nicholas and Alisoun hatch a plan in order to spend the night together. Nicholas tells John that there is going to be a huge flood and that he should build three tubs for each of them and load them with provisions and tie them to the roof of the barn. They would sleep in the tubs and when the flood comes they would cut them off of the roof. During the night Alisoun and Nicholas were able to spend the night together. Absolon serenades Alisoun during the night and Alisoun plays a trick on Absolon by asking him for a kiss and presenting her bare butt out the window. Absolon kisses her butt and becomes upset. He gets a hot poker and comes back and asks for another kiss. Nicholas instead presents his butt and Absolon burns him with the poker and he screams for water which makes John think the flood has arrived so he cuts the tubs off of the roof and he falls and breaks his arm.

2. Characters

• The Miller
• Nicholas
• Alisoun
• John
• Absolon

3. Themes
Fabliou (risqué humorous tale), Age Issues, Jealousy, Over-protectiveness, Astrology, Sex, Cuckoldry, Education Issues, Religion

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
1. Summary

The Wife of Bath establishes her authority of marriage. She says that she first gotten married at the age of 12 and has been married five times in total. She believes that being married five times is no big deal. She talks about her three good husbands and that since they were old and did what she wanted, they were happy. Her fourth and fifth husbands, however, were not so good. Her fifth husband was especially bad. There was a huge age difference between her and her fifth husband. He was twenty and she was forty. He had a book called Valerie and Theofraste, which contained stories of the most deceitful wives in history. Jankyn, her fifth husband, would read the book out loud in order to torment her. The Wife gets so frustrated one night that she tears out three pages from the book and punches Jankyn in the face. Jankyn then hits the Wife, which causes her to be deaf in one ear. She tells him that she wants to kiss him, but then hits him when he comes over. Eventually they settle and he gives her his estate and in return she acts kindly and loving. The Wife then begins her tale. Her tale begins with a knight in Arthur’s court who rapes a beautiful young maiden. The court decrees that he should be put to death, but Arthur’s queen decides that he should be given a chance to save his life. She challenges the knight to find out what women want most in the world, within a year, and present his findings to the court. If the court deemed his answer acceptable he would be able to keep his life. The knight begins his quest and finds out that women want different things. He meets this old woman who tells him that she would tell him what women want and, in exchange, the knight would have to pledge himself to her. She travels with him to the court and he tells them the answer that she told him: what women want most is to be in charge of their husbands and lovers. Everyone agrees that this is the correct answer and the knight is spared. The old woman then asks the knight to marry her. He tries to relent and offer her all of his possessions instead of getting married but she refuses and he is forced to give in. They get married and get in bed that night. The old woman asks the knight whether he would rather have her ugly and loyal or young and beautiful but unfaithful. The knight tells her to choose what she thinks is best and so she becomes young, beautiful, and faithful.

2. Characters

• The Wife of Bath
• Jankyn
• The Knight
• Guinevere
• The Old Woman

3. Themes
What Women Want, Marriage, Control, Rape, Supernatural Woman, Time, Quest, “Happy wife, happy life”
The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale
1. Summary

Begins with the Pardoner telling everyone what he does, which is preaching and selling promises of salvation. The main topic to his sermons is always that greed is the root of all evil. He tells the pilgrims that the relics are fake and that the parishioners always believe him and make offerings and that he takes their money. The Pardoner admits that he is only preaching to make money instead of helping the people. He preaches about greed even though he is greedy himself. All he wants to do is fill his ever deepening pockets. Once he finishes telling the pilgrims about himself he begins his tale. His tale begins with a group of young men indulging in all forms of excess. Three of these young men hear a funeral bell and find out that one of their friends have been slain by Death. They go on a quest to find Death and kill it. They come upon an old man who is waiting for Death to come. The three men figure that the old man would know where Death is. The old man tells them that Death is under an oak tree. The three men go to the oak tree and find gold instead of Death. They figure they should carry the gold during the night, as to relieve any suspicion, so they send one of the three men into town to get food and drink in the meantime. The man that went to town plotted killing the other two with poison and the two men plotted to kill the man by stabbing him. The man that went to town came back with poison drink and the two men stabbed him. They drank the drink to celebrate and they end up dying as well. The pardoner reminds everyone to beware the sin of avarice and that they should get pardoned by him even after telling them that the relics are fake.

2. Characters

• The Pardoner
• The Three Men
• The Old Man

3. Themes
Greed, Gluttony, Hypocrisy, Religion, Fraud, Exemplum (sermon), Relics, Absolution, Quest, Death, Irony

The Book of Margery Kempe
1. Summary

Margery Kempe tells her story of how she goes crazy after the birth of her first child and sees devils all around her. She recovers after seeing visions of Jesus Christ and decided to devote her life to God. She convinces her husband to accept her celibacy after having fourteen children. She becomes very intense eccentric with her beliefs and decides to go on a pilgrimage. She convinces her husband to let her go, with the help of God, and she sets off to Jerusalem. She has intense visions during her pilgrimage which makes her cry a weep a lot. She gets married to the Godhead, even though she wanted to get married to Jesus Christ, the man. She eventually has to return home to nurse her sick husband. Finally she has a vision of the Passion sequence, where Jesus had died.

2. Characters

• Margery Kempe
• John Kempe
• Unnamed Priest

3. Themes
Role of Women, Women and Faith, Faith and Sexuality, Matrimony, Relationship with Jesus, Use of Third Person, Education, Religion

Everyman
1. Summary

Everyman is a morality play. It begins with Everyman trying to bargain with Death, and Death allowing him to bring a companion with him. Everyman goes to find a companion that he can bring with him to Death. He first asks his friends, but they tell him that they cannot go with him. He then asks his family, but they tell him that they cannot go with him either. He then tries to ask his goods to come with him but Goods tells him that bringing him would not be a good idea. Everyman then asks Good Deeds to come with him but Good Deeds is too weak. Good Deeds then brings Knowledge with them and together they go to Confession. With Confession, Everyman begs God for forgiveness, and after he is absolved from his sins, Good Deeds becomes strengthened and is able to go with Everyman. Good Deeds then summons Discretion, Strength, Five-Wits, and Beauty and they go take sacrament. After taking sacrament Discretion, Strength, Five-Wits, and Beauty leave Everyman and he is only allowed to bring Good Deeds with him. Everyman goes into his grave with Good Deeds and they go to heaven. Then the Doctor closes out the play and provides the moral of the story, that man can only bring his good deeds with him to heaven.

2. Characters

• Messenger
• God
• Death
• Everyman
• Fellowship
• Kindred
• Cousins
• Goods
• Good Deeds
• Knowledge
• Confession
• Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five-Wits
• Angel
• Doctor

3. Themes
Morality Play, Importance of Good Deeds, Importance of Absolution, Time, Quest, Death, Religion

The Cipher of Chivalry: Violence as Courtly Play in the World of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Cipher of Chivalry: Violence as Courtly Play in the World of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Carl Grey Martin, defends the violent games in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by explaining them in a chivalric sense. Martin begins by saying, “The dominant act of the Middle English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the grotesque physical breaking and disfigurement of one knight by another” (311). He goes on to explain how this act of violence goes against the Christmas festivities that are going on during the time of the Green Knight’s challenge. Martin says, “The Green Knight’s proposal to endure a decapitating stroke in return for the chance to deal one himself appears to subvert the tenets of courtly civility and of Christian fellowship” (311). Then he backs up the knight’s chivalry by saying, “Yet he pursues this contest with a true knight’s obligatory magnanimity and finesse” (311). I agree with Martin and his idea of violence as courtly play. It kind of goes against each other but they work together so well in this sense. The Green Knight issues the challenge of having someone take an axe to his neck and in a years time that person would have to seek out the Green Knight so that the Green Knight can return the blow back. The challenge contains honor and the risk of bodily harm to each person involved, much like any other “games” that knights would play, such as jousting and sword fighting. In fact, in the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Arthur refuses to eat unless he would be entertained by a duel between two knights. So even the extreme act of violence of Sir Gawain lopping of the Green Knight’s head contains a certain chivalric aspect to it.

Martin also goes on to explain certain aspects of chivalry and honor in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Martin shows the humanity and also the courage of Sir Gawain: “He is prepared for death, but in the end declines to accelerate or ensure it. Like the Green Knight, Gawain has a trick up his sleeve. And just as the Green Knight arched his body to bare his neck to the ax, so Gawain, conquering his instinct to shrink or shun the blow” (320). He also compares and contrasts the Green Knight and Sir Gawain’s courage and honor to the game that they play. Martin viewed the Green Knight as not being honest to the rules of the game: “Beheaded yet alive, the Green Knight would instead evade restrictions, defy definition, and erode the difference that renders play meaningful—a privileged sphere of action” (325). Martin had a more favorable view of Sir Gawain, in terms of honoring the rules of the game: “Untouched by magic, he truly exhibits the warrior-noble’s vulnerability to courtly-chivalric mystification; he has rationalized his relation to physical suffering” (325).

Works Cited:
Martin, Carl Grey. "The Cipher Of Chivalry: Violence As Courtly Play In The World Of "Sir Gawain And The Green Knight.." Chaucer Review 43.3 (2009): 311-329. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Sept. 2012.

How much control do the characters in Beowulf have over their fates? Are skilled warriors any more likely to succeed than cowards? Who does the narrator remind us is calling all the shots?

In Beowulf the fate of the characters are ultimately decided by God. Although if a character is strong and brave, he would be favored more by fate instead of a weak and cowardly character. Overall, the characters in Beowulf can only improve themselves in order to gain favor with fate, but in the end, (as the narrator often reminds us) God, is the ultimate deciding factor.

The characters in Beowulf only have control of themselves in terms of how much strength and courage they have as they enter the battle. If they were to have great strength and courage, they would be favored by fate more. If they were to be weak and cowardly, fate would not be in their favor. Beowulf explains to Hrothgar about fate and God in relation to his upcoming fight against Grendel:

“Whichever one death fells

must deem it a just judgement by God.

If Grendel wins, it will be a gruesome day;

. . .

No need then

to lament for long or lay out my body

. . .  

Fate goes ever as fate must” (440-455).

According to Beowulf, God chooses who will be the one to live or die. If he was too weak to defeat Grendel, then Hrothgar should not bother having a funeral for him since it is his fate to die because he was not strong enough to defeat Grendel. In other words, fate is determined by the strength of the character, but the ultimate result is determined by God.
The narrator of Beowulf often reminds the reader that God is the one who is calling the shots. The narrator says, “So may a man not marked by fate / easily escape exile and woe / by the grace of God” (2291-2293) when he tells the readers about the dragon’s fury. Meaning, hopefully all the innocent people, who did not disturb the dragon, be spared by God. Another example of the narrator reminding the readers that God is the one calling the shots is: “The truth is clear: / Almighty God rules over mankind / and always has” (700-703).

Introduction to Beowulf

• Beowulf begins with a quick backstory of Shield Sheafson, his rise to power, and his funeral, and goes through the lineage leading to Hrothgar, who is the current king and the builder of the great mead-hall Heorot. 
• A powerful demon named Grendel is introduced. Because of the noise in the mead-hall, Grendel was annoyed by it and goes to investigate. He finds people sleeping and begins creating havoc and killing people. He goes on to do this until the mead-hall Heorot is deserted. The king Hrothgar feels defeated and upset because he is powerless to stop Grendel and has lost his mead-hall to the demon. 
• Beowulf hears about the demon Grendel and decides to help Hrothgar. So he and his men sail across the sea in order to meet with Hrothgar. Once they arrive they are greeted and questioned by the people there before they get a chance to meet with Hrothgar. Once Beowulf and his men get a chance to talk to Hrothgar, Beowulf tells him how he wishes to help him defeat Grendel. Hrothgar agrees to let Beowulf help him defeat Grendel. 
• Beowulf and his men stay in the mead-hall Heorot and have a feast. Beowulf gets antagonized by Unferth. Beowulf tells him about the time he swam in armor and fought countless sea creatures while competing with Breca in a swimming match. Once the story telling and feasting was over, Hrothgar entrusted the mead-hall to Beowulf and set off. 
• Beowulf insisted on fighting Grendel unarmed, since it would be the fair thing to do against the unarmed Grendel. Later in the night Grendel burst into the mead-hall and killed one of the guards and ate him up. As he was about to attack Beowulf as he lay in bed, Beowulf suddenly got him in a armlock. Grendel tried desperately to escape, and as he tried to get free from Beowulf, the struggle shook the mead-hall to the core. The rest of the guards in the mead-hall tried to attack Grendel while he was locked in the grip of Beowulf, but it was to no avail. Finally the demon's arm popped off and, fatally wounded, escaped the mead-hall. 
• After confirming that Grendel was dead, Hrothgar praised Beowulf and awarded him treasure, and thanes sang and recited the triumphs of Beowulf, and they had a celebration at Heorot. 
• Grendel's mother, wanting revenge for the death of her son, attacked Heorot later that night. She took one of the retainers in the mead-hall and abducted him. Beowulf wasn't in the mead-hall because he was given another place to stay, but after having heard of the attack, he goes in search of this new terror. 
• Beowulf goes out in search of the demon's lair. Once they find the spot where the demon dwells, Beowulf suits up in his armor and dived into the lake where the demon lay in wait. The demon grabbed Beowulf and dragged him to the depths of the lake and into her lair. Once Beowulf was able to see the demon, he struck at her with his sword. The sword was not able to cut her however. Beowulf then had to grapple with Grendel's mother since he couldn't use his sword on her. During the fight, Grendel's mother almost killed Beowulf with a knife, but his armor, luckily, deflected the attack. Beowulf was able to spot an ancient sword in Grendel's mother's lair that he felt would be able to cut through her. He picked up the sword and swung it at her, lopping her head off with it. Beowulf explores her lair and finds Grendel's corpse and cuts it's head off. Beowulf takes the head and the hilt of the sword that he used to cut Grendel's head off, since the blade melted due to Grendel's blood, back to Hrothgar. 

A quote that I found interesting was when Beowulf was preparing to fight Grendel he says:

When it comes to fighting, I count myself
as dangerous any day as Grendel.
So it won't be a cutting edge I'll wield
to mow him down, easily as I might.
He has no idea of the arts of war,
of shield or sword-play, although he does possess
a wild strength. No weapons, therefore,
for either this night: unarmed he shall face me
if face me he dares. And may the Divine Lord
in His wisdom grant the glory of victory
to whichever side He sees fit.

I feel that this quote reveals how Beowulf is as a person. It shows that he is very honorable, that even when fighting a demon, he wants to have a fair fight. It also shows his pride and his confidence in his own fighting prowess. Also, it shows his belief in fate and the Lord. 

Finally, here are some illustrations I found that may help to envision Beowulf: http://www.enotes.com/beowulf/pictures