Green Knight Part One

So I wasn't in class when you all discussed the first part of the Green Knight, but I wanted to share a few things that ran through my mind. The way I perceived this was basically that this green knight shows up, randomly challenges King Arthur to beheading him but receive payback in a year, and for whatever reason Gawain steps up and wants to do it. I mean, I guess to me, if I knew in a year this would come back at me, I probably wouldn't cut off someone's head. I thought maybe if someone wanted to be so crazy to take on this kind of challenge, maybe it was a chance for Gawain to show that he is noble and cares for the king. At first I couldn't really understand why someone would "want" to do that, then again I'm not a knight. Gawain taking on this kind of challenge will forever have him remembered and maybe something good would come out of it doing such a thing. However, I still think its a bit crazy, interesting first part of the story though!

my brain hurts about this mantle stuff

As i was studying for the midterm I was re-reading some of The Saga of the Mantle and it got me thinking. Why aren't the guys ever put in these situations? Yes I know I'm a guy and I should be happy this isn't the case, but it bugs me.

Not at all am I bashing the story but I'm just sitting here as I'm reading, I want to know the guy's side as well. Is there not a piece of armor or anything that the guys could wear and do the same test? Am i the only one wondering if the guys were actually unfaithful? What if only one of the guys was going around sleeping with all the other knights beloveds? I am truly distraught. For all we know, Karadin could have slept with every single one of the other maidens, but his beloved was faithful to him so the mantle fit her.

Please, someone out there tell me that they thought about this and I'm not losing my mind here.

Also, Are we to believe that after this, the knights and maidens just go back to like this never happened? Were the knights that drunk that they had no recollection of any of this even happening? Okay, that very well may be, but i still can't wrap my head around the fact that we know nothing about anything after this. I can't be the only person out there who would just forget about finding out that my beloved was unfaithful.

Okay, my rant is over. I leave you with this wonderful meme of how i feel right now.

The Harrowing of Hell: When Demons Chat

Harrowing of Hell

Prose of Merlin opens with Merlin’s genealogy and a piece of early Christian theology. The narrative tells us his father was a demon, born of an unwilling maiden.  Then the author uses renders a narrative describing a portion of a Christian creed, or confession of faith called “The Apostle’s Creed.” The creed is one of the earliest Christian confessions of faith. The author’s intended audience would be familiar with the doctrine of the creed. 

Originally the “Apostle’s Creed” was used for teaching and to preparation for baptism.  The creed briefly outlines basic beliefs that various factions Christians could agree to in the 4^th century.  This particular confession of faith continues to be used by Catholic and assorted Protestant denominations.  One section of the creed addresses Jesus death stating, “He was crucified, dead, and buried.  He descended into hell.” Sometimes it is worded as “He descended to the dead.”  In iconography and other religious art this particular scene is often called the “Harrowing of Hell” or the “Harrowing of Hades.”  This You Tube video from Smarhistory of the Kahn Academy describing an alabaster relief of the "Harrowing of Hell.".

Our anonymous author of The Prose of Merlin does a creative, concise, and nicely unpacked exposition of the Christian doctrine of redemption, salvation, and grace.  We hear a demon lament “we have lost them all!” (The Romance of Arthur).  Using dialog, our author explains what happened between Jesus death and his resurrection.  Lord over all time and space, Christ’s descends to Hell and offers salvation to all who are captive, or who will be captive. The Prose of Merlin’s author has done a quick exposition of doctrine that theologians continue to wrestle with today.

One example theological wrangling happened within the past few years. Former Mars Hill mega church pastor Rob Bell wrote a book titled Love Wins. Coming from an evangelical tradition Bell’s book caused a theological firestorm in evangelical Christian circles—some called him a heretic for not completely rejecting universal salvation. The controversy played out in book reviews, interviews, and magazine articles.  People do not want to see blanket forgiveness and salvation; they want winners and losers.  A demon in The Prose of Merlin tells us that since the “harrowing” things aren't like the good old days.  The demon indicates the idea of free will.  People have redemption “unless they choose to come back to us” (Romance of Arthur).   The Prose of Merlin demon conversation reminded me another piece of fiction that features demons chatting as a literary device.

The book is by novelist and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.  Lewis wrote a piece of “satirical Christian apologetics” called The Screwtape Letters.  It features a conversation between the senior demon, Screwtape and his nephew the demon Wormwood.  In both The Prose of Merlin and The Screwtape Letters demons are concerned with improving recruitment strategies.  Readers of Lewis often forget that Lewis was an Oxford University don of medieval literature and eventually became the chair of Medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge.  I've provided a clip of a dramatic rendition of a short section of The Screwtape Letters. If viewing the video, remember it is a conversation between two demons about their enlistment tactics.

Any Hood College students that are fans of CS Lewis might consider Dr. David Hein’s class “CS Lewis and Friends.”  I took the class as a small seminar that was held before the publication of his book by the same title.  It’s a great class, lots of thought provoking topics, but only offered every two or three years.  

Sir Gawain the Wonderfully Unimpressive

So about Sir Gawain. I know a big part of chivalry is modesty but in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Sir Gawain leaves something to be desired. He seems fairly lack luster and as if he's only famous because his uncle is the King. I didn't see his offer to face the Green Knight as bravery so much as a 'someone had to do it' and he wasn't really anyone of value.
He seems to be proving himself to be at least true to his word over the course of his journey. So I guess that's good. He hasn't had much of a chance to prove himself quite yet. He cut off a guy's head, wandered around, and partied a bit. Hopefully the second half proves to be more interesting.
I guess I'm just used to Gawain being the greatest of all knights and doing all these incredible feats and being awesome.
 
The Gawain in this story thus far just kind of seems to be bumbling around, making things up as he goes. I'm just not that impressed.

Good ole loyalty...not

So I know the big discussion has been Courtly Love in our lecture lately. The more I read these stories, the more I am beginning to hate Courtly Love. I don't think every single rule is bad (only about 98% of them) but really, some of them are so over the line and you couldn't pay me to be that way for someone. As I do believe that the mantle is just an object, and doesn't necessarily declare the true love of a couple, it still was crazy to see how quick the knights turned on their wives as if they were pieces of trash (kind of made me giggle). But what these knights didn't think of is that their wives have probably been fooling around with the other knights! I would have enjoyed reading about the knights trying the mantle on. When it comes down to it, everyone is pretty much disloyal in this story. Totally enjoyed reading it though. Props to Saga de Mantle.

I have been really enjoying the readings in this class so far. Usually I hate reading for classes, but these readings are what interest me so it is less of a  chore. There are two readings that have really been fun to read. They are,The Knight of the Cart and The Saga of the Mantle. The Knight of the Cart had me from the first three pages. Every page made me want to keep reading to find out what happened next. Since I talked about the first part of this story in my last blog, I will talk about the second half this time briefly. The parts that I found the most interesting were the parts with Meleagant. Even though Meleagant's father, King Bademagu, refused to give aid or assistance to him in fighting Lancelot, Meleagant still wanted to fight. Throughout the story he  wants to fight Lancelot and always his father says he is alone. Going off of that, the part where Meleagant walks into the room where Kay and Guinevere sleep, he sees blood on both Kay's and Guinevere's sheets and immediately wants to have Kay killed. This just shows that Meleagant is always wanting to fight and always ready for someone to die. One part that I found confusing at first is after Lancelot has come all the way from Arthur's court and after going through many obstacles and fighting many opponents, Guinevere doesn't want anything to do with him. At first this just gave  me a big slap in the face because I was expecting her to throw her arms around him and thank him justly, but instead she turns and walks away. After reading further I came to find out why she did this, but it still seemed weird to me. One aspect of Lancelot that I admire is he always keeps his word. The Saga of the Mantle, at first, was a little slow. But after the women start to put on the mantle it becomes interesting. At first, the women do not know that the mantle will reveal whether they have been faithful or not. But after some have tried it on,they find out that it tells if they have or have not. Despite knowing what it will do, all of the women still put the mantle on. Throughout the story I was thinking that at least one would be found to have been faithful but instead there were none. It was only at the very end that a girl is found in a room alone and brought to the mantle that someone was found pure. This was interesting because until I read this I thought that women in this time period were going to be very faithful to their men. These are, to me, the most interesting readings so far.

You Can Call Me Al

Ever seen something that you find so humorous, but then you rethink what makes it funny and realize how sad it truly is? The first thing that comes to mind for me is the demon spawn show, Jersey Shore. I once watched fifteen minutes of that show (my other option was watching paint dry), and chuckled inwardly at the stupidity of everybody on that show. However, I soon became disturbed at the fact that people who are so influential in the world are also so ignorant.  
 

Why is this popular? At all.

The Saga of the Mantle was also like this for me. The true corruptness of the characters are what makes it humorous, and at the same this humor is an indicator of the cultural anxieties of the time. The fact that "well respected" people in Arthur's kingdom are full of disloyalty and adultery makes me wonder how much better other kingdoms are (and according to the mysterious visitor who brings the mantle, not by much). It also makes me question the successful-ness of courtly love.

Is Guinevere's affair with Lancelot a reflection of marital problems with Arthur, or is she just greedy with her love? I'm not sure yet.

Let's look at one couple, however, the one who ended up getting the mantle: Karadin and [insert name here]. Did anyone notice how Karadin treats his beloved...can we call her Betty? (A high five for anyone who gets that Paul Simon reference.) When she is asked to put on the mantle he says, "...I love you so profoundly that I don't want to lose your love- not for all the gold in the world, even though I were to be aware of any misdeed of yours." See, unlike the other couples, this mantle is merely a material object, less important than their love. His beloved answers, "...If my beloved does not take it amiss, then I will put on the mantle." The mantle ends up fitting her, and it is safe to say that neither one of them have been cheating on the other. Their love (a two-way street) reminds me of Odysseus and Penelope from The Odyssey. 
 

Odusseus and Penelope by Francesco Primaticco

Odysseus is gone for twenty years on a voyage, and Penelope stays faithful to him, after he is thought of as dead, after suitors enter her home and demand she marry one, after she is bullied time and time again. Odysseus returns, disguised as an old man, and beats Penelope's suitors in an arrow-shooting contest that only he could win. Returning to his normal form, Odysseus remains happily for the rest of his life with Penelope. It is stories like The Odyssey and The Saga of the Mantle that emphasize the importance of loyalty to the one you are betrothed to, and the troubles it can save you from. 

This makes me think...is courtly love good or bad? It gave Lancelot the strength of ten men, but humiliation to the women loved by such men.

Have a good day, fellow Arthurians! And if you never got my reference, this title will be 100% awkward.