Everyman – notes

Basic information
full title: The Somonyng of Everyman
author: unknown
genre: morality play
language: Middle English
creation date: ca. 15th century, around 1485 (between the death of Chaucer and the birth of Shakespeare)
(THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD / EARLY RENAISSANCE)

creation place: unknown

first published: early 16th century
setting time and place: not mentioned (but probably contemporary to the writer), Earth and Heaven
style: rhymed verse, yet no particular feet present
I pray you all, give your audience,
And hear this matter with reverence,
By figure of a moral play.
The Summoning of Everyman called it is, (…)

Key terms
morality play
a kind of religious drama popular in England, Scotland, France, and elsewhere in Europe in the 15th and early
16th centuries; morality plays are dramatized allegories, in which personified virtues, vices, diseases,
and temptations struggle for the soul of Man as he travels from birth to death; they instill a simple message
of Christian salvation, but often include comic scenes, as in the Lively Obscenities of Mankind (c.1465);
the earliest surviving example in English is the long Castle of Perseverance (c.1420), and the best-known
is Everyman (c.1510); most are anonymous, but Magnyfycence (c.1515) was written by John Skelton; echoes
of the morality plays can be found in Elizabethan drama, especially Marlowe's Dr Faustus

allegory
a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning;
the principal technique of allegory is personification, whereby abstract qualities are given human shape –
as in public statues of Liberty or Justice; an allegory may be conceived as a metaphor that is extended
into a structured system; allegorical thinking permeated the Christian literature of the Middle Ages,
flourishing in the morality plays and in the dream visions of Dante and Langland; in the medieval discipline
of biblical exegesis (critical analysis of the Bible), allegory became an important method of interpretation,
a habit of seeking correspondences between the Old Testament and the New
prosopopoeia = personification
a figure of speech by which animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate things are referred to as if they were
human; the figure or trope, known in Greek as prosopopeia, is common in most ages of poetry,
and particularly in 18th century; it has a special function as the basis of allegory; in drama, the term
is sometimes applied to the impersonation of non-human things and ideas by human actors

danse macabre = dance of death

an artistic genre of allegory of the late Middle Ages on the universality of death: no matter one’s station
in life, the Danse Macabre unites all; it consists of the dead or a personification of death summoning
representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child,
and laborer; it was produced as memento mori, to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain
were the glories of earthly life; in Everyman this motif is visible through the name of Everyman, reminding
people that this story is universal and may apply to anyone

ars moriendi = the art of dying

a motif of death in literature and medieval art, a frequent iconographic theme; it is also an ars bene moriendi,
or art of good dying; according to the medieval concept of death, the ars moriendi motif is related
to the moment of the judgment of the deceased and ruling whether he was saved or condemned; initially
this name defined sets of commands for priests accompanying the dying; in the 14th century,
the dissemination of such texts ceased to be available only to the clergy; authors of the popular good dying
manuals included practical advice for the dying, often giving up the power of their own fantasies, giving
recipes for salvation, often contradicting religion; the whole Everyman touches the topic of ars moriendi,
as the title character is on the point of dying and being judged by God – so it may be called a manual
for the Christians how to get to Heaven

memento mori = remember that you die

an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death; the expression developed with the growth
of Christianity, which emphasized Heaven, Hell and salvation of the soul in the afterlife; the term memento
mori also refers to something that reminds people that everyone must die, e.g. the painting of a human
skull; the whole point of Everyman is to remind people to live godly, in accordance with God’s laws,
and then they will be redeemed in the afterlife; also: when Everyman asks his companions: Fellowship,
Cousin and Goods for going with him on a pilgrimage and die, they all refuse – emphasized temporality
and uselessness of them in the face of death

Plot overview
The play opens with a messenger calling for the audience’s attention to this moral play,
which will demonstrate the transitory nature of human life. Next God appears, lamenting the unworthiness
of humans, who no longer revere him and who sinfully indulge in greed and lust. Deciding to make people
account for their sins, God orders Death to summon Everyman so that he can be judged by his reckoning,
a ledger of his good and ill deeds. However, when Death approaches Everyman on earth, Everyman
is unwilling to die and unprepared for his reckoning. Clinging to the life he had, Everyman begs Death
for more time. Death refuses, but he allows Everyman to seek a companion for his pilgrimage, provided
that he can find someone willing to accompany him to the afterlife.
A disconsolate Everyman seeks out his friend Fellowship for comfort and counsel, and Fellowship appears,
promising his undying loyalty. However, when Fellowship learns that accompanying Everyman
on the journey means that Fellowship, too, will die, he refuses to help his friend. Fellowship leaves,
and Everyman seeks the help of his relatives Kindred and Cousin instead, thinking that blood will be thicker
than water. However, while Kindred and Cousin promise to stand by him in wealth and woe,
they also forsake him, as they too are afraid of death. Alone, Everyman bemoans this abandonment
by his friends and family and wonders whom he can turn to next for help. He decides
to ask for the assistance of his friend Goods, whom he has long loved. Though Goods (like Fellowship,
Kindred, and Cousin) promises to help Everyman, he immediately reneges on his promise after learning
of Everyman’s predicament. In addition to refusing to join Everyman, Goods also informs Everyman
that he has been damaging Everyman’s reckoning all along: because Everyman loved Goods
so much instead of loving God, Everyman will be condemned to hell.
Shocked by Goods’ treachery, Everyman is in despair, as he is completely alone, with no one willing
to help him. He decides to seek out Good-Deeds, though she is so weak from Everyman’s sin and neglect
that she cannot stand. Unlike his other friends, Good-Deeds is willing to help him, but she is too weak
to do so. Though she cannot accompany him in person, she says that her sister Knowledge can help
him to clear his reckoning. Knowledge guides Everyman to Confession, who teaches Everyman to repent.
To atone for his sins, Everyman prays to God, begging for mercy, and he uses a scourge (a whip) for self-
mortification.
As a result, Good-Deeds is healed and she finds Everyman in order to accompany him on his journey.
Knowledge then bestows upon Everyman a garment of sorrow, which allows Everyman to show contrition.
She and Good-Deeds request the presence of Everyman’s friends Discretion, Strength, Beauty, Five-wits,
who all agree to help Everyman during his pilgrimage. At Knowledge’s instruction, Everyman sees a priest
for the holy sacrament and unction. While the rest of the group is waiting for Everyman’s return, Five-wits
makes a speech about the superiority of priests, claiming that they are above angels in degree. Knowledge
reminds him that not all priests are good, but Five-wits argues that one should nevertheless honor
priesthood. At that point, Everyman returns, having undergone the remaining sacraments of last rites,
and the group continues on their journey.
Approaching death, Everyman weakens and decides that it is time for him to make his reckoning.
When he tries to climb into a grave and asks his companions to join him, Beauty, Strength, Discretion,
and Five-wits all desert him, making him realize that all earthly things is but vanity. In contrast, Knowledge
agrees to stay with him until the moment of his death, and Good-Deeds promises to make his case
as he faces God’s judgment. Good-Deeds and Everyman’s soul pass over to the afterlife, and Knowledge,
who is left on stage, remarks that she hears angels singing and that Good-Deeds will make sure
that Everyman goes to heaven. An angel then appears, welcoming Everyman into heaven
because of his crystal-clear reckoning. The play ends with an epilogue from a doctor, who tells the audience
that they must make amends for their sins before they die and that they can only rely on good deeds to save
them from hell.

Character list
Everyman
✓ he is the character representing all humankind (allegory + universality)
✓ he begins the play being deeply in sins and worldly vices (for example lust and greed), he doesn’t
engage in charity and consider his immortal soul
✓ he is visited by Death (on God’s request), asked to prepare a reckoning – he panics and begs for help
✓ he seeks help where he has typically found it: from Fellowship (his friends), Kindred and Cousin
(his family) and Goods (his wealth) – they all refuse to go and die with him
✓ being all alone and abandoned, he seeks Good-Deeds, a neglected and weak character because
he hasn’t been paying attention to her
✓ he is told to find Knowledge, then is sent to Confession (learn to repent) – after that, he begs God
for mercy and prays
✓ result: Good-Deeds is healed and accompanies Everyman in his journey, and Everyman is genuinely
grateful for their friendship
✓ it turns out that his Strength, Beauty, Discretion and Five-Wits won’t come to the grave with him,
but is comforted by Knowledge and Good-Deeds
✓ at the end of the play he is ready to die: confession and communion have soothed his soul
and he ascends from the grave into Heaven

Death
✓ he travels at God’s command to take Everyman’s soul to the afterlife
✓ his power over the righteous is limited: he will beset all who liveth beastly
✓ he doesn’t accept bribery and chastises Everyman that he should have known Death would always
come
✓ he comes for every person – that is his mission from God (memento mori, danse macabre)

Good-Deeds
✓ earnest and true, the only character willing to come with Everyman after death to plead his case
before God
✓ she wants to help Everyman even when she is too weak to do so
✓ she directs him to her sister, Knowledge, who provides Everyman with the guidance to achieve
salvation
✓ her state refers to the state of Everyman’s soul and behavior – she begins as neglected and weak,
and when Everyman confesses his sins and repents, she regains strength and is able to accompany
him in his journey
Knowledge
✓ a wise and virtuous guide for Everyman
✓ knowledge in the specific sense: knowing the difference between right and wrong
✓ she guides Everyman to religion and correct behavior
✓ she cannot follow Everyman after his death, but she stays with him when all his other earthly friends
have left him
✓ she is responded by Everyman with genuine gratitude, and she stays by his grave after he passes

God
✓ appears only once in the play to establish the moral state of humanity (humans sinfully indulged
into sins and lust) and to send Death for Everyman
✓ but he is constantly present in Everyman’s quest for salvation (everything that happens is set
out by God’s design)
✓ he has laid conditions of Everyman’s redemption and the path by which redemption
can be accomplished
✓ he has given power to his earthly representatives, the clergy
✓ Everyman’s reward is to be with him

Five-Wits
✓ the personification of the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell
✓ he is a companion to Everyman, who regards Five-Wits as his best friend until Five-Wits abandons
him
✓ the senses are helpful on Earth, but they have no place in Heaven and cannot lead to salvation

Strength
✓ she represents physical strength, accompanies Everyman and promises to stand by him
✓ she abandons him once she learns that his pilgrimage is to end in death
✓ this illustrates that what is important on earth is not necessarily important in Heaven,
and that even the most steady-seeming things can be fickle

Themes
Personification and Morality
✓ the play is meant to instruct readers in matters of morality and religion
✓ Everyman represents humankind and other characters personify abstract ideas (different virtues
and vices) – prosopopoeia
✓ the interaction of these characters shows the possibility of human triumph over sin, and instructs
the audience how to lead moral, godly lives
✓ author employs personification to present complex, abstract ideas in a straightforward way,
and he can operate on sweeping moral arguments about these concepts then
 ✓ Everyman – symbolic representation of every person, he is tainted by sin, so everybody is shown
as tainted by sin (Adam and Eve’s fall); casting one character as the personification of all humanity
enables the author to make much broader arguments – people should behave like Everyman
to receive salvation & turn to the Catholic Church for redemption
✓ didactic use of personification: Fellowship and Goods who sabotage Everyman’s relationship
with God, and Knowledge as the key to salvation – defining complex ideas in such a narrow manner,
the author paints a picture that suits his moral worldview
✓ Everyman – morality can only be attained through the Catholic Church + people are innately sinful
and depended on the Church for their salvation

Death
✓ death is part of what it means to be human, as all humans are mortal
✓ we encounter two attitudes towards death in the play: one shown by virtuous characters
(late Everyman), and one shown by sinful ones (early Everyman)
✓ sinful characters fear Death, as they know the loss of life is only the beginning of their suffering
(they haven’t led godly lives), so they try everything to escape from that (including bribery –
Everyman)
✓ godly characters are comforted by death, as they know there is Heaven waiting for them
in the afterlife (Everyman, after confessing his sins and repenting goes into his grave
with contentment and peace, and waits for being ascended to Heaven)
✓ Everyman’s attitude: he looks forward to death because he will be going to Heaven, but he is quite
selfish in that; Good-Deeds, on the other hand, does it selflessly, for Everyman’s sake – different
motivations; also, Everyman had no problem requiring the highest act of sacrifice from Fellowship,
Cousin of Goods, and he was in despair when they refused to die for him

Sin, Human Nature & the Material World

✓ sin in the play is represented by his friends (Fellowship, Goods) – it refers to the indulgence
in the material world: eating, drinking, sex, money, etc.
✓ materialism results in the gradual loss of a person’s soul and, finally, damnation
✓ worldly values (including Knowledge) are of no use when it comes to the afterlife, because
they belong to the material world – so most of them abandon Everyman when he begins to weaken
in his grave
✓ everyone will face judgment with nothing to defend them but their good deeds (that is why
only Good-Deeds accompanies Everyman in his journey)
✓ sinfulness is an innate part of human nature, which is emphasized by Death (in the world each living
creature / For Adam’s sin must die of nature) – the idea of original sin → caused mortality
✓ Adam’s sin is the root of the widespread sinfulness that God laments at the beginning of the play –
humans are drowned in sin and fixated on material wealth, they have forgotten about Christ’s
sacrifice
 ✓ humans must not only deny their worldly desires, but also punish themselves for having them –
Everyman has to self-mortify with a scourge to repent (he whips himself)

Symbols
Reckoning
✓ referred to as a book of count or counting book – it is the ledger book of all of Everyman’s good
and evil deeds
✓ the premise of the play is that Everyman must embark on a pilgrimage to the afterlife and present
his reckoning to God, who will decide whether Everyman goes to Heaven or Hell
✓ it symbolizes God’s judgment of Everyman’s soul & Everyman’s actions which are what God
will judge
✓ at the beginning, Everyman has a reckoning without many good deeds in it, and by the end of the play
Everyman (and Good-Deeds) manages to clear his reckoning → giving him a favorable judgment
and the entrance ticket to Heaven

Garment of Sorrow
✓ it was given to Everyman by Knowledge; according to her, wearing the garment (=showing contrition)
gives forgiveness and pleases God
✓ it symbolizes contrition (=repentance, remorce) for sins, and it is an integral part of the sacrament
of penance
✓ sorrow represented by garment is different from Everyone’s sorrow from the first half of the play:
no despair because of upcoming departure from the material world, but remorse for sins
and forsaking God in favor of it
✓ so, it also represents Everyman’s transformation from a sinner to a faithful follower of God,
from a person who is focused on the world to one who is focused on Heaven
The Canterbury Tales
(General Prologue) –
notes
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1343–1400)
Basic information
full title: The Canterbury Tales (Tales of Caunterbury)
author: Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) – the preeminent poet in Middle English
genre: frame story, some parts of the tales are fabliaux
language: Middle English (it lasted from about 1100 AD to 1500 AD), vernacular (English was becoming

a written language, but French and Latin were still in use)

creation date: late 14th century (c. 1387–1400); the times of Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War;

unfinished at Chaucer’s death (MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD)

creation place: England

first published: sometime in the early 15th century, originally circulated in hand-copied manuscripts,

83 manuscripts survived, but the sequence of the tales in them differs; Willian Caxton brought a printing
press to England in 1476 and his edition of the Canterbury Tales appears to have been the first printed book
in England

style: iambic pentameter (=decasyllabic couplets) (^_|^_|^_|^_|^_) – it was to become the most common

meter for English poetry, the rhyme scheme features heroic couplets (a rhymed pair of iambic pentameter
lines) – Chaucer established the heroic couplet in English
Now have | I toold | you soo|thly, in | a clause,
Th’ estaat, | th’ array, | th’ nombre, | and eek | the cause

Author
Geoffrey Chaucer
✓ the preeminent poet in Middle English, has often been called
the Father of English Literature
✓ his works could have been written for a courtly audience during
the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV
✓ born in London, his parents were winemakers/merchants
(he was a commoner)
 ✓ became a courtier, diplomat, lawyer and comptroller
✓ the first writer to have been buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey
✓ fought in the war, was captured and ransomed by Edward III
✓ received a royal pension from Richard II, possibly for his writing
✓ his works are: The Book of the Duchess, The Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women,
Troilus and Criseyde, The Consolation of Philosophy (Boethius, translation), The Canterbury Tales

Key terms
frame story = frame narrative
a story in which another story is enclosed or embedded as a ‘tale within a tale’, or which contains several
such tales; prominent examples of frame narratives enclosing several tales are Decameron by Boccaccio
and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; some novels employ
a narrative structure in which the main action is relayed at second hand through an enclosing frame story
(Mary Shelley Frankenstein, Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights, The Arabic Nights)

fabliau
a coarsely humorous short story in verse, dealing in a bluntly realistic manner with stock (=stereotyped)
characters of the middle class involved in sexual intrigue or obscene pranks; they flourished in France
in the 12th and 13th centuries; they were imitated in English by Chaucer (in rhyming pentameters), notably
in his Miller’s Tale and Reeve’s Tale; many fabliaux involve satire against clergy; a standard plot
is cuckolding of a slow-witted husband by a crafty and lustful student

social classes
in the Middle Ages society consisted of three orders of people: the nobles, the clergy, the peasants;
it was believed that it had been very important to preserve this division and to remain in the social class
where you were born to maintain the general equilibrium; in The Canterbury Tales appear some characters
which do not belong to any of the categories above, and thus we observe the beginnings of the middle class
(the commoners) (and the nobles and the clergy are not happy about it)

Plot overview & Character list

The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April
rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. Around this time of year, the narrator says,
people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage. Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines
in distant holy lands, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket
in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need.
The narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in Southwark called
the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered. The travelers were a diverse group who,
like the narrator, were on their way to Canterbury. They happily agreed to let him join them. That night,
the group slept at the Tabard, and woke up early the next morning to set off on their journey. Before
continuing the tale, the narrator declares his intent to list and describe each of the members of the group.
The narrator begins his character portraits with the Knight. In the narrator’s eyes, the Knight is the noblest
of the pilgrims, embodying military prowess, loyalty, honor, generosity, and good manners. The Knight
conducts himself in a polite and mild fashion, never saying an unkind word about anyone. The Knight’s son,
who is about twenty years old, acts as his father’s squire, or apprentice. Though the Squire has fought
in battles with great strength and agility, like his father, he is also devoted to love. A strong, beautiful, curly-
haired young man dressed in clothes embroidered with dainty flowers, the Squire fights in the hope
of winning favor with his “lady.” His talents are those of the courtly lover—singing, playing the flute, drawing,
writing, and riding—and he loves so passionately that he gets little sleep at night. He is a dutiful son,
and fulfills his responsibilities toward his father, such as carving his meat. Accompanying the Knight
and Squire is the Knight’s Yeoman, or freeborn servant. The Yeoman wears green from head to toe
and carries an enormous bow and beautifully feathered arrows, as well as a sword and small shield.
His gear and attire suggest that he is a forester.
Next, the narrator describes the Prioress, named Madame Eglentyne. Although the Prioress is not part
of the royal court, she does her best to imitate its manners. She takes great care to eat her food daintily,
to reach for food on the table delicately, and to wipe her lip clean of grease before drinking from her cup.
She speaks French, but with a provincial English accent. She is compassionate toward animals, weeping
when she sees a mouse caught in a trap, and feeding her dogs roasted meat and milk. The narrator says
that her features are pretty, even her enormous forehead. On her arm she wears a set of prayer beads,
from which hangs a gold brooch that features the Latin words for “Love Conquers All.” Another nun
and three priests accompany her.
The Monk is the next pilgrim the narrator describes. Extremely handsome, he loves hunting and keeps many
horses. He is an outrider at his monastery (he looks after the monastery’s business with the external world),
and his horse’s bridle can be heard jingling in the wind as clear and loud as a church bell. The Monk is aware
that the rule of his monastic order discourages monks from engaging in activities like hunting,
but he dismisses such strictures as worthless. The narrator says that he agrees with the Monk: why should
the Monk drive himself crazy with study or manual labor? The fat, bald, and well-dressed Monk resembles
a prosperous lord.
The next member of the company is the Friar—a member of a religious order who lives entirely by begging.
This friar is jovial, pleasure-loving, well-spoken, and socially agreeable. He hears confessions, and assigns
very easy penance to people who donate money. For this reason, he is very popular with wealthy
landowners throughout the country. He justifies his leniency by arguing that donating money to friars
is a sign of true repentance, even if the penitent is incapable of shedding tears. He also makes himself
popular with innkeepers and barmaids, who can give him food and drink. He pays no attention to beggars
and lepers because they can’t help him or his fraternal order. Despite his vow of poverty, the donations
he extracts allow him to dress richly and live quite merrily.
Tastefully attired in nice boots and an imported fur hat, the Merchant speaks constantly of his profits.
The merchant is good at borrowing money, but clever enough to keep anyone from knowing
that he is in debt. The narrator does not know his name. After the Merchant comes the Clerk,
a thin and threadbare student of philosophy at Oxford, who devours books instead of food. The Man of Law,
an influential lawyer, follows next. He is a wise character, capable of preparing flawless legal documents.
The Man of Law is a very busy man, but he takes care to appear even busier than he actually is.
The white-bearded Franklin is a wealthy gentleman farmer, possessed of lands but not of noble birth.
His chief attribute is his preoccupation with food, which is so plenteous in his house that his house seemed
to snow meat and drink (344–345). The narrator next describes the five Guildsmen, all artisans.
They are dressed in the livery, or uniform, of their guild. The narrator compliments their shiny dress
and mentions that each was fit to be a city official. With them is their skillful Cook, whom Chaucer
would praise fully were it not for the ulcer on his shin. The hardy Shipman wears a dagger on a cord around
his neck. When he is on his ship, he steals wine from the merchant he is transporting while he sleeps.
The taffeta-clad Physician bases his practice of medicine and surgery on a thorough knowledge
of astronomy and the four humors. He has a good setup with his apothecaries, because they make
each other money. He is well acquainted with ancient and modern medical authorities, but reads little
Scripture. He is somewhat frugal, and the narrator jokes that the doctor’s favorite medicine is gold.
Next, the narrator describes the slightly deaf Wife of Bath. This keen seamstress is always
first to the offering at Mass, and if someone goes ahead of her she gets upset. She wears head coverings
to Mass that the narrator guesses must weigh ten pounds. She has had five husbands and has taken three
pilgrimages to Jerusalem. She has also been to Rome, Cologne, and other exotic pilgrimage sites. Her teeth
have gaps between them, and she sits comfortably astride her horse. The Wife is jolly and talkative,
and she gives good love advice because she has had lots of experience.
A gentle and poor village Parson is described next. Pure of conscience and true to the teachings of Christ,
the Parson enjoys preaching and instructing his parishioners, but he hates excommunicating
those who cannot pay their tithes. He walks with his staff to visit all his parishioners, no matter how far
away. He believes that a priest must be pure, because he serves as an example for his congregation,
his flock. The Parson is dedicated to his parish and does not seek a better appointment. He is even kind
to sinners, preferring to teach them by example rather than scorn. The parson is accompanied
by his brother, the Plowman, who works hard, loves God and his neighbor, labors for Christ’s sake (537),
and pays his tithes on time.
The red-haired Miller loves crude, bawdy jokes and drinking. He is immensely stout and strong, able to lift
doors off their hinges or knock them down by running at them with his head. He has a wart on his nose with
bright red hairs sticking out of it like bristles, black nostrils, and a mouth like a furnace. He wears a sword
and buckler, and loves to joke around and tell dirty stories. He steals from his customers, and plays
the bagpipes.
The Manciple stocks an Inn of Court (school of law) with provisions. Uneducated though he is, this manciple
is smarter than most of the lawyers he serves. The spindly, angry Reeve has hair so short that he reminds
the narrator of a priest. He manages his lord’s estate so well that he is able to hoard his own money
and property in a miserly fashion. The Reeve is also a good carpenter, and he always rides behind everybody
else.
The Summoner arraigns those accused of violating Church law. When drunk, he ostentatiously spouts
the few Latin phrases he knows. His face is bright red from an unspecified disease. He uses his power
corruptly for his own gain. He is extremely lecherous, and uses his position to dominate the young women
in his jurisdiction. In exchange for a quart of wine, he would let another man sleep with his girlfriend
for a year and then pardon the man completely.
The Pardoner, who had just been in the court of Rome, rides with the Summoner. He sings
with his companion, and has long, flowing, yellow hair. The narrator mentions that the Pardoner thinks
he rides very fashionably, with nothing covering his head. He has brought back many souvenirs from his trip
to Rome. The narrator compares the Pardoner’s high voice to that of a goat, and mentions that he thinks
the Pardoner might have been a homosexual. The narrator mocks the Pardoner for his disrespectful
manipulation of the poor for his own material gain. In charge of selling papal indulgences, he is despised
by the Church and most churchgoers for counterfeiting pardons and pocketing the money. The Pardoner
is a good preacher, storyteller, and singer, the narrator admits, although he argues it is only because
he cheats people of their money in that way.
The people in the Tabard Inn are to set off for their pilgrimage. Each of them is supposed to tell two stories
on their way to Canterbury and two on their way back. The teller of the best story will be treated with a free
meal in the Tabard Inn. So, the original plan of the book contained 4 stories from a character, summing
up to 116 stories. However, the work has never been finished and only 24 tales were completed.
The structure of presenting the characters in the Tabard Inn is based on social hierarchy from medieval
times. The narrator starts with the Knight, then goes on to the Squire and the clergy, ending
with the Summoner and the Pardoner (the ones rather condemned in the society). It is important to realize
that social hierarchy was crucial for the Middle Ages, and it is not even certain why the Canterbury Tales
was written, because there was no audience for a writing about different social classes mixing
up these times.

Themes
the pervasiveness of courtly love
✓ the phrase courtly love refers to a set of ideas about love popular in the medieval times (true love
only exists outside marriage, true love may be idealized and spiritual, true love do not have
to be physically consummated)
✓ one of the minor motifs was that love is a torment or a disease, and that when a man is in love
he cannot sleep or eat, and therefore he undergoes physical changes
✓ the description of the Squire: his role is exactly the same as his father’s (the Knight), but the Squire
is very different because he incorporates the ideas of courtly love: So hot he loved that, while night
told her tale, / He slept no more than does a nightingale; he may possibly be a parody
of the traditional courtly lover
✓ sometimes the cultural ideas of courtly love are integrated into characters’ dress: the Prioress
wears a Love Conquers All (Omnia Vincit Amor)
the importance of company
✓ the word company comes from two Latin words: com (with) and pane (bread), it literally means
a group of people with whom one eats or breaks bread; in more abstract sense, it is a term
designated to connote a group of people engaged in a particular business
✓ many of Chaucer’s characters end their stories by wishing the rest of the compaignye well (God save
al this faire compaignye – the Knight; God, that sitteth heighe in magestee, / Sabe al this compaignye,
grete and smale! – the Reeve)
✓ Chaucer may have used the word company deliberately, to point to the importance of good relations
in a society; if people do not get along well, the economy suffer, because they are incapable
of efficient work
✓ company was a leveling concept in the group of pilgrims – after all, despite coming from different
parts of society, they are all storytellers and are united by the food and drink the host provides;
most of them have working professions, too, whether that work be sewing and marriage (the Wife
of Bath), entertaining visitors with gourmet food (the Franklin), or tilling the earth (the Plowman)

Symbols
springtime
✓ the Canterbury Tales opens in April, at the height of spring, when people long in their hearts
to go on pilgrimages – the springtime symbolizes rebirth and fresh beginnings, and is thus
appropriate for the beginning of Chaucer’s text
✓ it also evokes erotic love (the Squire’s devotion to courtly love is compared to the freshness
in the month May)

clothing
✓ the description of garments. sometimes even at the same level as the description of the character’s
behavior, allows the reader to define each person – the clothes symbolize what lies beneath the
surface of each personality
✓ e.g. the Physician’s love of wealth reveals itself in the rich silk and fur of his gown; the Squire’s
youthful vanity is symbolized by the excessive floral brocade on his tunic; the Merchant’s forked
beard depicts his duplicity)

physiognomy
✓ physiognomy was a science that judged someone’s character basing on their anatomy
✓ in the Canterbury Tales the most exaggerated facial features are those of the peasants
(e.g. the Miller represents the stereotypical peasant physiognomy most clearly: round and ruddy,
with a wart on his nose, so he appears to be suited to rough, simple work; the Pardoner’s glaring
eyes and limp hair illustrate his fraudulence)
Motifs
romance
✓ a tale about knights and ladies incorporating love themes, extremely popular in fourteenth-century
literature; in England most of romances included King Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights
of the Round Table
✓ the Knight’s Tale contains romantic elements in an ancient classical setting, which is an unusual
time and place to set a romance
✓ the Wife of Bath’s Tale is framed by Arthurian romance, with an unnamed knight of the round table
as its unlikely hero
✓ the Miller’s Tale ridicules the traditional elements of romance by transforming the love between
a young wooer and a willing maiden into a boisterous and violent romp

fabliaux
✓ comical and often grotesque stories in which the characters most often succeed by means of their
sharp wits; frequently, the plot turns or climaxes around the most grotesque feature in the story,
usually a bodily noise or function
✓ the Miller’s Tale: Nicholas cleverly tricks the carpenter into spending the night in his barn
so that Nicholas can sleep with the carpenter’s wife; the finale occurs when Nicholas farts
in Absolon’s face, only to be burned with a hot poker on his rear end
✓ the Summoner’s Tale: a wealthy man bequeaths a corrupt friar an enormous fart, which the friar
divides twelve ways among his brethren
✓ the image in fabliaux is of flatulence, but the tale excels in discussing the division of the fart
in a highly intellectual manner
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –
notes
Basic information
full title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Sir Gawayn
and þe Grene Knyȝt)

author: unknown, presents themselves as a member of the Arthurian court – possibly a university-trained
clerk or an official of a provincial estate (Listen to my lay but a little while: / Straightway shall I speak it,
in city as I heard it, / With tongue)
genre: chivalric romance / verse romance
language: Middle English (different from Old English which is impossible to understand for a native

English speaker, while Middle English is partly comprehended for a native)

creation date: late 14th century (c. 1375 – 1400); the times of Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War

(MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD)

creation place: Northwest Midlands, between Cheshire and Staffordshire

first published: only one manuscript survived, it contains also three religious poems believed

to be by the same poet; no clue why Sir Gawain was included in an otherwise religious manuscript

style: alliterative revival (typical of 14th century) – the majority of the text written in alliterative verse,

each stanza, however, ends in a rhymed quatrain (the style coming from France, it is new in England):
As hit is stad and stoken
In stori stif and stronge,
With lel letteres loken,
In londe so hatz ben longe.

Key terms
Middle English
a form of the English language spoken after the Norman conquest (1066) until the late 15th century; English
underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period: in vocabulary
(a lot of Norman words), grammar (reduction of most grammatical case distinctions), pronunciation
(long vowels and diphthongs) and orthography; the more standardized Old English language became
fragmented, localized and was being improvised; it was succeeded in England by Early Modern English;
the most read work of the period is Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
verse romance = chivalric romance
the main kind of romance found in medieval Europe from the 12th century onwards, describing (usually
in verse) the adventures of legendary knights, and celebrating an idealized code of civilized behavior
that combines loyalty, honor and courtly love; the most famous examples are the Arthurian romances
recounting the adventures of Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, and the other Round Table knights; these include
the Lancelot (late 12th century) of Chrétien de Troyes, the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(late 14th century), and Malory’s prose romance Le Morte Darthur (1485)

courtly love
a modern term for the literary cult of heterosexual love that emerged among the French aristocracy
from the late 11th century onwards, with a profound effect on subsequent Western attitudes to love; probably
influenced by Arabic love poetry, sexual desire was converted from a degrading necessity of physical life
into a spiritually ennobling emotion, almost a religious vocation; an elaborate code of behavior evolved
around the tormented male lover’s abject obedience to a disdainful, idealized lady, who was usually
his social superior; the most important literary treatments of courtly love appear in Chrétien de Troyes’s
romance Lancelot (late 12th century); Middle English literature shows less enthusiasm for, or understanding
of, courtly love

alliterative revival
a term covering the group of late 14th-century English poems written in alliterative meter similar
to that of Old English verse but less regular and sometimes – as in the anonymous Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight or Pearl ) – using rhyme and elaborate stanza structure; this group may represent
more a continuation that a revival of the alliterative tradition

chivalry
the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral and social code; it was informal and varied
within Europe, and was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; the code of chivalry
was a moral system which combined a warrior ethos, knightly piety and courtly manners, all combining
to establish a notion of honor and nobility; although excellent, the chivalric knight remained an ideal to strive
for when it comes to knights, it couldn’t be achieved but they tried hard to come as close to that as possible

quest
a difficult journey toward a specific mission or goal, often symbolic or allegorical; tales of quests figure
prominently in the folklore of every nation and ethnic culture; the object of a quest requires great exertion
on the part of the hero, who must overcome many obstacles, typically including much travel; the object
of a quest may also have supernatural properties, often leading the protagonist into other worlds
and dimensions; the moral of a quest tale often centers on the changed character of the hero; Sir Gawain’s
quest is to find the Green Knight and repay him a visit – chivalry demanded him to keep his word
(he converts from a young knight into a mature, self-aware lord
Plot overview
During a New Year’s Eve feast at King Arthur’s court, a strange figure, referred to only as the Green Knight,
pays the court an unexpected visit. He challenges the group’s leader or any other brave representative
to a game. The Green Knight says that he will allow whomever accepts the challenge to strike
him with his own axe, on the condition that the challenger find him in exactly one year to receive a blow
in return.
Stunned, Arthur hesitates to respond, but when the Green Knight mocks Arthur’s silence, the king steps
forward to take the challenge. As soon as Arthur grips the Green Knight’s axe, Sir Gawain leaps up and asks
to take the challenge himself. He takes hold of the axe and, in one deadly blow, cuts off the knight’s head.
To the amazement of the court, the now-headless Green Knight picks up his severed head. Before riding
away, the head reiterates the terms of the pact, reminding the young Gawain to seek him in a year and a day
at the Green Chapel. After the Green Knight leaves, the company goes back to its festival, but Gawain
is uneasy.
Time passes, and autumn arrives. On the Day of All Saints, Gawain prepares to leave Camelot
and find the Green Knight. He puts on his best armor, mounts his horse, Gringolet, and starts off toward
North Wales, traveling through the wilderness of northwest Britain. Gawain encounters all sorts of beasts,
suffers from hunger and cold, and grows more desperate as the days pass. On Christmas Day, he prays
to find a place to hear Mass, then looks up to see a castle shimmering in the distance. The lord of the castle
welcomes Gawain warmly, introducing him to his lady and to the old woman who sits beside her. For sport,
the host (whose name is later revealed to be Bertilak) strikes a deal with Gawain: the host will
go out hunting with his men every day, and when he returns in the evening, he will exchange his winnings
for anything Gawain has managed to acquire by staying behind at the castle. Gawain happily agrees
to the pact, and goes to bed.
The first day, the lord hunts a herd of does, while Gawain sleeps late in his bedchambers. On the morning
of the first day, the lord’s wife sneaks into Gawain’s chambers and attempts to seduce him. Gawain puts
her off, but before she leaves she steals one kiss from him. That evening, when the host gives Gawain
the venison he has captured, Gawain kisses him, since he has won one kiss from the lady. The second day,
the lord hunts a wild boar. The lady again enters Gawain’s chambers, and this time she kisses Gawain twice.
That evening Gawain gives the host the two kisses in exchange for the boar’s head.
The third day, the lord hunts a fox, and the lady kisses Gawain three times. She also asks him for a love
token, such as a ring or a glove. Gawain refuses to give her anything and refuses to take anything from her,
until the lady mentions her girdle. The green silk girdle she wears around her waist is no ordinary piece
of cloth, the lady claims, but possesses the magical ability to protect the person who wears it from death.
Intrigued, Gawain accepts the cloth, but when it comes time to exchange his winnings with the host, Gawain
gives the three kisses but does not mention the lady’s green girdle. The host gives Gawain the fox skin
he won that day, and they all go to bed happy, but weighed down with the fact that Gawain must leave
for the Green Chapel the following morning to find the Green Knight.
New Year’s Day arrives, and Gawain dons his armor, including the girdle, then sets off with Gringolet to seek
the Green Knight. A guide accompanies him out of the estate grounds. When they reach the border
of the forest, the guide promises not to tell anyone if Gawain decides to give up the quest. Gawain refuses,
determined to meet his fate head-on. Eventually, he comes to a kind of crevice in a rock, visible through
the tall grasses. He hears the whirring of a grindstone, confirming his suspicion that this strange cavern
is in fact the Green Chapel. Gawain calls out, and the Green Knight emerges to greet him. Intent on fulfilling
the terms of the contract, Gawain presents his neck to the Green Knight, who proceeds to feign two blows.
On the third feint, the Green Knight nicks Gawain’s neck, barely drawing blood. Angered, Gawain shouts
that their contract has been met, but the Green Knight merely laughs.
The Green Knight reveals his name, Bertilak, and explains that he is the lord of the castle where Gawain
recently stayed. Because Gawain did not honestly exchange all of his winnings on the third day, Bertilak
drew blood on his third blow. Nevertheless, Gawain has proven himself a worthy knight, without equal
in all the land. When Gawain questions Bertilak further, Bertilak explains that the old woman at the castle
is really Morgan le Faye, Gawain’s aunt and King Arthur’s half-sister. She sent the Green Knight
on his original errand and used her magic to change Bertilak’s appearance. Relieved to be alive
but extremely guilty about his sinful failure to tell the whole truth, Gawain wears the girdle on his arm
as a reminder of his own failure. He returns to Arthur’s court, where all the knights join Gawain, wearing
girdles on their arms to show their support.

Character list
Sir Gawain
✓ King Arthur’s nephew and one of the most famous knights (high social position in Camelot)
✓ humble (describes himself as the least of Arthur’s knights)
✓ widely known (when he arrives at Bertilak’s castle, he is well-recognized)
✓ he values public reputation and his own opinion of himself (insists on wearing the green girdle
as a sign of shame at the story’s end)
✓ standing by his commitments (he doesn’t back out of the deal even when the Green Knight turns
out to be supernatural and can’t be defeated by beheading)
✓ he values his own life more than honesty (he decides not to tell the Host about the green girdle
he has received from his wife)
✓ repenting (he regrets his dishonesty and repents that while wearing the green girdle as a sign
of shame)
✓ a dynamic character (transition from a lighthearted child at the beginning to a somber, mature
and humble knight after his quest at the Green Chapel)
Green Knight
✓ a mysterious, supernatural creature, having green complexion and able to survive decapitation
✓ arrives at Arthur’s court on New Year’s Eve and challenges the knights
✓ contracts with Arthur’s court in many ways: he is wild, fertile, carries death; at the same time
he advocates the values of the law and justice
✓ he believes in the power of verbal contracts (he makes Gawain repeat the terms of their agreement
a couple of times before he agrees to be beheaded)
✓ he turns out to be the enchanted Bertilak of Hautdesert, the Host of the castle when Gawain spends
Christmas
✓ his green complexion makes the reader associate him with the nature

Bertilak of Hautdesert
✓ a good-natured lord of the castle when Gawain spends Christmas
✓ his beard resembles a beaver, his face a fire (association with the natural world)
✓ an aristocratic host, showing the courtly behavior (he welcomes Gawain with all the honors
and keeps his word when it comes to their deal)
✓ he values the power of verbal contracts (he trusts Gawain in their game of exchanging)
✓ a foil to King Arthur – boisterous, brave, powerful, generous (different type of a lord)
✓ he’s the same person as the Green Knight, enchanted by Morgan la Faye for her own designs

Bertilak’s wife
✓ attempts to seduce Gawain thrice during his stay at the castle
✓ a clever debater and an astute reader of Gawain’s responses (she argues her way through three
attempted seductions)
✓ turns out to be another pawn in Morgan la Faye’s plot

Morgan le Faye
✓ a powerful sorceress, the half-sister of King Arthur
✓ she’s the old woman at the castle of Bertilak (he’s her varlet)
✓ she controls the poem’s entire action from beginning to end
✓ an enemy of Camelot, aiming to cause as much trouble as possible

King Arthur
✓ the king of Camelot, his court is in its golden age
✓ young and beardless, seems to be a little childish and immature (alongside with other knights)
✓ refuses to eat at the feast until he hears a marvelous story (childish)
✓ steps forward to take on the challenge of the Green Knight (a good king)
✓ joins Gawain in wearing a green girdle on his arm (symbol of sins – loyalty, awareness
of his own fallibility)
Queen Guinevere
✓ Arthur’s wife
✓ remains silent during the feast, author focuses on her beauty
✓ has little in common with the one of later Arthurian legend

Gringolet
✓ Gawain’s horse

Themes
the nature of chivalry
✓ the proponents of chivalry seek to promote spiritual ideals in a spiritually fallen world
✓ the five virtues of knights: friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, piety (all represented
on Gawain’s symbolic shield)
✓ Gawain is literally tested in terms of chivalry, but what is really examined is whether the concept
of chivalry can operate in a fallen world
✓ excessive chivalry is criticized by the author when he describes King Arthur’s court (the knights
value one another by ability to fit in a certain code of courtly manners)
✓ the inhabitants of Bertilak’s castle – another type of chivalry is described (closer to the nature) –
no excessive manners, more firmly based in truth and reality
✓ chivalry should be the ideal to strive for, but a human has to be aware of his own weaknesses
and mortality; it is very noble to try to be chivalric but everyone fails and sins sometimes (Gawain
trembles during his journey to the Green Chapel, when he has to spend some nights in the forest;
he is seduced by Bertilak’s wife and isn’t able to reject it; finally he flinches at the Green Knight’s
axe)

the letter of the law

✓ in the poem the author uses the word covenant very frequently; it’s a special agreement deriving
from the biblical covenant between God and the Israel and, later, the new covenant given in the New
Testament
✓ throughout the most of the poem, the covenant between Gawain and the Green knight evokes
the literal kind of legal enforcement; the Green Knight seems concerned solely with the letter
of the law
✓ Gawain obeys to the rules till the end, even if it equals to his death; he sees this as his knightly duty
✓ at the poem’s end, the covenant takes on a new meaning: in a decidedly Christian gesture, the Green
Knight absolves Gawain because he has confessed his faults; he only nicks his neck to remind
Gawain of his dishonesty
✓ Gawain clings to the letter of law, he cannot accept his sin and decides to wear the green girdle
as the symbol of his weakness (King Arthur follows his example, facing his own fallibility as well)
Symbols
the Pentangle
✓ the Gawain-poet writes, that King Salomon originally designed the five-pointed star as his own
magic seal – it was a symbol of truth
✓ in the poem, the Pentangle symbolizes the virtues to which Gawain aspires:
• to be faultless in his five senses
• never to fail in his five fingers
• to be faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the cross
• to be strengthened by the five joys that Virgin Mary had in Jesus
• to possess brotherly love, generosity, courtesy, piety and chastity
✓ the side of the shield facing Gawain contains an image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that Gawain
never loses heart

the Green Girdle

✓ the meaning of the host’s wife’s girdle changes over the course of the narrative
✓ originally, it is said to prevent a person who is wearing it from death and harm (the Bertilak’s wife
claims so)
✓ eventually, it turns out it doesn’t have any magical properties and becomes the symbol of cowardice,
sin and excessive love of mortal life: these are the flaws which Gawain showed when he didn’t tell
Bertilak about receiving the Green Girdle
✓ it is also a symbol of support in sin, as King Arthur and his followers wear green silk baldrics to show
Gawain he is not alone in being a sinful knight and to present their awareness of not being flawless

Motifs
The Seasons
✓ beginnings of Parts 2 and 4 – changing of the seasons
✓ the season change corresponds to Gawain’s changing psychological state – from cheerfulness
(pleasant weather) to bleakness (the winter); that is why his challenge was due to happen on New
Year’s Eve, it was to be the climax of his story
✓ the five changing seasons also correspond to the five ages of man (infancy, youth, adulthood, middle
age and old age), as well as to the cycles of fertility and decay that govern all creatures in the natural
world
✓ emphasis on the cyclical nature of the seasons → contrast with the more linear narrative of history,
provides a different point of view
Games
✓ at the beginning, King Arthur pressures his knights to tell him a great story, and perceives the entry
of the Green Knight as a game of some sort
✓ the Green Knight’s game of beheading each other is in fact a test which examines the bravery
and trustworthiness of the knights
✓ in the Bertilak’s castle there is a game of exchanging and a wordgame played by Gawain
and Bertilak’s wife: the first one examines if Gawain is sincere and loyal, while the second one
is more like a social behavior
✓ the poem explores the relationship between games and tests, and it sees the first as forms
of socialization and the latter as a measure of individual’s inner worth; but they overlap one another
The Dream of the Rood – notes
Basic information
full title: The Dream of the Rood
author: unknown (possible authorship: the Anglo-Saxon poets Cædmon
and Cynewulf)

genre: dream vision

language: Old English
creation date: possibly 8th century (its runes were found

on the Ruthwell Cross – a free-standing Anglo-Saxon cross, possibly

a conversion tool; considered as one of the oldest works of Old English literature) (OLD ENGLISH PERIOD)

creation place: England

first published: manuscripts, one of them survived in the Vercelli Book, Italy, alongside with five other
religious poems and some homilies

setting time and place: Jesus’s times, possibly the Holy Land
style: poem divided into three parts (Introductory Section, Speech of the Cross, Closing Section),

alliterative line, enjambments, kennings:

It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree
born aloft, wound round by light,
brightest of beams. All was that beacon
sprinkled with gold. Gems stood (…)

Key terms
dream vision = dream allegory
a kind of narrative (usually, but not always in verse) in which the narrator falls asleep and dreams
the events of the tale; the story is often a kind of allegory, and commonly consists of a tour
of some marvelous realm, in which the dreamer is conducted and instructed by a guide (Divine Comedy –
Dante led through hell by Virgil); it was much favored by medieval poets, and e.g. Chaucer devoted much
of his early work to dream visions – in the medieval approach, the dreamer received some kind
of knowledge or truth while sleeping

prosopopoeia = personification
a figure of speech by which animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate things are referred to as if they were
human; the figure or trope, known in Greek as prosopopeia, is common in most ages of poetry,
and particularly in 18th century; it has a special function as the basis of allegory; in drama, the term
is sometimes applied to the impersonation of non-human things and ideas by human actors
Plot overview
The narrator begins by saying what he saw during the night as he dreamt; before him was the cross,
hovering in the air. It was covered in gems, gold, and treasure adorned. The speaker also states that through
the glint of gold, he sees a wretched hostility and blood on the right side. As time passes, once again
the dreamer states that the cross changes appearance from well-adorned to filled with blood. In the second
part, the dreamer changes and seems to be speaking, in the first person, from the perspective of the Rood
who gives his account of what happened.
After transforming from tree to cross, the Rood is put on a hill where Jesus is crucified onto its limbs
and where he fights for the salvation of mankind. The Rood relates how he fought with Jesus by not bending
down and not fighting the wicked. After these events, the Rood narrates how the dead body was detached
from him and buried. After this, the cross narrates how he ascended into the heavens, decorated
so that everyone could see him. In the last part of the poem, the narrator is once again in the present, having
relayed the details of his dream. He praises Jesus and has hope for eternal life.

Character list
the narrator
✓ possibly the author of the poem, appears in the first and the last section of it
✓ he beholds the Rood in his dream and is impressed by its appearance (he describes it as giant,
powerful, adorned with gold and gems – he feels weak and small next to it)
✓ after the Rood has finished his account, the narrator is moved by it and prays to meet the Rood
one more time – the story strengthens his faith
✓ he has many dead friends (Anglo-Saxon times), so the story brings him hope and internal calm,
he is consoled and finds internal peace
✓ an eager Christian, admires the Lord and prays for eternal life at the end of the poem

the Rood
✓ the personified Cross on which Jesus died, tells the story of crucifying him from its own point of view
✓ it is adorned with gems and gold, which impresses the narrator, but has also human-like wounds
on its right side (parallel to Jesus’s cuts done by the Roman soldiers)
✓ the story of the Rood starts by the description of it being a tree, then being cut and made into a cross
(it thought he was being prepared for some criminals)
✓ the Rood is intimidated by Jesus which is to be hanged on it, and that event unite the Rood and Jesus
✓ the Rood witnesses the death of Jesus and is left alone after he is taken to the grave, it feels sorrow
✓ there is some comparison between the Rood and Jesus: they are both mocked and humiliated,
then they both experience glory and ascension to Heaven
✓ the Rood is honored and becomes important in Heaven, it is made up for being loyal
✓ it shares the story and tells the others to share it further, praises the Lord and gives the vision
of Doomsday, when God will deem people
 ✓ its monologue had its aim: to strengthen faith in people and to convert the pagans (Anglo-Saxon
times, the Vikings living in Britain)

Jesus
✓ he is mentioned in the story of the Rood, and is a very positive person in the poem
✓ the Rood recalls his death, resurrection and ascension; also how Jesus fought sin and evil
✓ Jesus is shown as an aggressive, medieval Anglo-Saxon warrior, as he boldly confronts and defeats
sin – it is much different from the common Christian depiction of him
✓ the warrior-like picture had its aim: it could be easier for the Vikings to convert to Christianity,
if Jesus was shown as a warrior, which they were used to (cult of power, strength, battle and wars)
✓ in that perspective, Jesus in The Dream of the Rood is similar to the Old English Beowulf

Themes
Courage & Heroism
✓ psychological aspects admired by the pagan Vikings – they influenced the British culture then
✓ courage – the Room was commanded by Christ to stay firm for him
✓ heroism – the marks of conflict (wounds on the right side) on the Rood meaning it fought in some
battle, sacrificed itself; heroism is also seen in the death of Christ and defeating the sin
✓ these both themes are highlighted in the poem because Jesus was to be depicted as the King –
and back then, kings were recognized by their deeds and not by their ancestry
✓ the idea of Comitatus – loyalty of the warrior to his king to death – the Rood stays with Jesus
till the end and is rewarded for that

Paganism and Christianity

✓ the poem was created by Christian monks in the times when Christianity was firmly established
among Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
✓ despite its obvious Christian orientation, there are plenty of elements which derive from Anglo-
Saxon (=pagan) traditions: the form of the poem, the motif of personified tree, Jesus presented
as a warrior
✓ these things were introduced to make the poem (and the idea of Passion) more home-like
for the Anglo-Saxons (and the Vikings), because then it sounded more appealing to them and there
were not so many completely new elements in Christianity
✓ the poem serves as an example of smooth transition from paganism to Christianity in England
in 8th century – there are new, religious themes, but merged with plain old ones well-known
to the society
✓ the form of the poem is Anglo-Saxon – alliterative lines, kennings (voice-bearers) and frequent
enjambments; it is not until Geoffrey Chaucer when the new types of lines emerge
Symbols
tree
✓ in many cultures (including pagan Anglo-Saxon culture) tree is seen as the primary symbol
of worship (the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Life)
✓ the Rood in its story begins with describing his life as a tree, to underline that it is sacred
and the cross it has been converted into deserves respect and attention
✓ this connection between the tree and the cross may have been created to encourage people to adore
the Holy Cross and convert to Christianity more smoothly
Beowulf - notes
Basic information
full title: Beowulf
author: unknown
genre: heroic epic
language: Old English
creation date: it is believed to have been composed

between 700 and 750 AD (OLD ENGLISH PERIOD)

setting time and place: Scandinavia, sometime around the year 500 AD, in the territories of two tribal
groups, the Geats and the Scyldings, who really existed and really lived in those areas during the period
of the poem.

style: alliterative line, kennings and enjambments:

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.

There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,

a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.
This terror of the hall-troops had come far.

Key terms
scop = oral poet
a poet as represented in Old English poetry; the name is the Old English counterpart of the Old Norse skald,
with the important difference that skald was applied to historical persons, and scop is used, for the most
part, to designate oral poets within Old English literature

epic poem = heroic poem

a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes, in a grand ceremonious
style; the hero, usually protected by or even descended from gods, performs superhuman exploits in battle
or in marvelous voyages, often saving or founding a nation (Virgil’s Aeneid) or the human race itself
(Paradise Lost – John Milton); the primary or traditional epics are Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, deriving
from earlier oral tradition; an epic poem includes the invocation of a muse, the use of epithets, the listing
of heroes and combatants, and the beginning in medias res (in the middle of action); in Renaissance, epic
poetry was regarded as the highest form of poetry
alliteration
the repetition of the same sounds – usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables –
in any sequence of neighboring words: Landscape-lover, lord of language; now an optional and incidental
decorative effect in verse or prose, it was once a required element in the poetry of Germanic languages
(including Old English and Old Norse) and in Celtic verse; such poetry, in which alliteration
rather than rhyme is the chief principle of repetition, is known as alliterative verse: its rules allow a vowel
sound to alliterate with any other vowel

Old English
the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and Southern and eastern Scotland
in the early Middle Ages from the coming of Germanic invaders and settlers to Britain (5th cent. AD)
to the Norman conquest in 1066, when English was replaced by Anglo-Norman – it is regarded as marking
the end of the Old English era; Old English employed runic system of writing and very few documents
from that period survived, including Beowulf, The Dream of the Rood and Deor’s Lament; the common
features of poetry created in Old English are: alliteration, kennings and enjambments

kenning
a stock phrase of the kind used in Old Norse and Old English verse as a poetic circumlocution in place
of a more familiar word; examples are banhus (bonehouse) for body, and saewudu (sea-wood) for ship;
similar metaphoric compounds appear in colloquial speech, e.g. fire-water for whisky; a famous
Shakespearean example is the beast with two backs for copulation

formulaic language
characterized by the repetition of certain stock phrases, known as formulae; many orally composed poems,
especially epics, are formulaic in that they repeatedly use the same epithets and the same forms
of introduction to episodes and speeches; in another sense, a work may be called formulaic if it conforms
in a predictable way to the established patterns of a genre

epic digressions
passages that do or not further the action of the story because they are repetitions; since poets like Homer
and Virgil recited their epics to an audience, these repetitions were necessary to either remind the audience
about previous events or to comment on a complex scene

retardation
a description or other narrative device aiming to slow down the action, often giving details
about the surroundings or providing a backup story; it was common in epic poems (Iliad, Odyssey)
which were initially passed from mouth to mouth by oral poets and imaginative language helped listeners
feel the atmosphere of the action; in Beowulf there are stories told by scops, e.g. the Finnsburg episode

variation
the use of synonyms to denote the same thing in order to avoid repetition; this unnecessary use of synonyms
can unintentionally create a tonal shift such as humor or pretentiousness
Plot overview
King Hrothgar of Denmark, a descendant of the great king Shield Sheafson, enjoys a prosperous
and successful reign. He builds a great mead-hall, called Heorot, where his warriors can gather to drink,
receive gifts from their lord, and listen to stories sung by the scops, or bards. But the jubilant noise
from Heorot angers Grendel, a horrible demon who lives in the swamplands of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel
terrorizes the Danes every night, killing them and defeating their efforts to fight back. The Danes suffer
many years of fear, danger, and death at the hands of Grendel. Eventually, however, a young Geatish warrior
named Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s plight. Inspired by the challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small
company of men, determined to defeat Grendel.
Hrothgar, who had once done a great favor for Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow, accepts Beowulf’s offer to fight
Grendel and holds a feast in the hero’s honor. During the feast, an envious Dane named Unferth taunts
Beowulf and accuses him of being unworthy of his reputation. Beowulf responds with a boastful description
of some of his past accomplishments. His confidence cheers the Danish warriors, and the feast lasts merrily
into the night. At last, however, Grendel arrives. Beowulf fights him unarmed, proving himself stronger
than the demon, who is terrified. As Grendel struggles to escape, Beowulf tears the monster’s arm off.
Mortally wounded, Grendel slinks back into the swamp to die. The severed arm is hung high in the mead-
hall as a trophy of victory.
Overjoyed, Hrothgar showers Beowulf with gifts and treasure at a feast in his honor. Songs are sung
in praise of Beowulf, and the celebration lasts late into the night. But another threat is approaching.
Grendel’s mother, a swamp-hag who lives in a desolate lake, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son’s
death. She murders Aeschere, one of Hrothgar’s most trusted advisers, before slinking away. To avenge
Aeschere’s death, the company travels to the murky swamp, where Beowulf dives into the water and fights
Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair. He kills her with a sword forged for a giant, then, finding Grendel’s
corpse, decapitates it and brings the head as a prize to Hrothgar. The Danish countryside is now purged
of its treacherous monsters.
The Danes are again overjoyed, and Beowulf’s fame spreads across the kingdom. Beowulf departs
after a sorrowful goodbye to Hrothgar, who has treated him like a son. He returns to Geatland,
where he and his men are reunited with their king and queen, Hygelac and Hygd, to whom Beowulf recounts
his adventures in Denmark. Beowulf then hands over most of his treasure to Hygelac, who, in turn, rewards
him.
In time, Hygelac is killed in a war against the Shylfings, and, after Hygelac’s son dies, Beowulf ascends
to the throne of the Geats. He rules wisely for fifty years, bringing prosperity to Geatland. When Beowulf
is an old man, however, a thief disturbs a barrow, or mound, where a great dragon lies guarding a horde
of treasure. Enraged, the dragon emerges from the barrow and begins unleashing fiery destruction
upon the Geats. Sensing his own death approaching, Beowulf goes to fight the dragon. With the aid of Wiglaf,
he succeeds in killing the beast, but at a heavy cost. The dragon bites Beowulf in the neck, and its fiery
venom kills him moments after their encounter. The Geats fear that their enemies will attack
them now that Beowulf is dead. According to Beowulf’s wishes, they burn their departed king’s body
on a huge funeral pyre and then bury him with a massive treasure in a barrow overlooking the sea.

Character list
Beowulf
✓ the protagonist of the epic, a Geatish hero who fights the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother,
and a fire-breathing dragon
✓ a great warrior, characterized predominantly by his feats of strength and courage, including
his fabled swimming match against Breca
✓ his boasts and encounters reveal him to be the strongest, ablest warrior around
✓ in his youth, he personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture; in his old age, he proves
a wise and effective ruler
✓ he exemplifies the traits of the perfect hero (heroism – young and mature, loyalty, courtesy, pride,
courage)
✓ young heroism – unfettered warrior, defeating beasts; mature heroism – reliable king
✓ bravery – defeat of Grendel and Grendel’s mother
✓ transition between a young hero into a settled one (he enters a new phase of his life having purged
Denmark of its plagues)
✓ he has been serving as a warrior for Hrothgar for many years and receiving advice how to be a good
ruler – preparation for becoming a king
✓ the second part of the story shows Beowulf as a king, looking back on the middle period of his life
through retrospections (e.g. supporting Hygelac’s son for the throne of Denmark instead of rushing
for it himself – loyal & virtuous)
✓ he dies in the battle with the dragon – it might seem rash that he rushed for that and left his tribe
unexposed, but there is a huge dose of inevitability present in the poem; it is hard to blame Beowulf
for risking his life and dying, as he was destined to do so

Grendel
✓ a demon descended from Cain, Grendel preys on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Heorot
✓ his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain’s murder
of Abel, Grendel fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem
✓ his nature is ambiguous: animal attributes + grotesque, monstrous appearance & guided by vaguely
human emotions and impulses
✓ he is exiled to the swamplands, and longs to be reinstated (poet hints that behind his aggression
there is loneliness and jealousy)
✓ however, Grendel is said to never show remorse, and to be malignant by nature
King Hrothgar
✓ the aged king of the Danes; enjoys military success and prosperity until Grendel terrorizes his realm
✓ he accepts Beowulf’s help in the first part of the story
✓ a wise and aged ruler, represents a different kind of leadership from that exhibited by the youthful
warrior Beowulf → static character, a force of stability
✓ he is a father figure to Beowulf and a model for the kind of king that Beowulf becomes; he also aids
Beowulf’s development into maturity
✓ gives Beowulf some advice: that power has both privileges and dangers, that he shouldn’t give in to
pride and that blessings may turn into grief → reflective attitude

Unferth
✓ he challenges to Beowulf’s honor and that helps to reveal some of the subtleties of the heroic code
that the warriors must follow
✓ presented as a lesser man, a foil for the near-perfect Beowulf (=a character whose traits contrast
with those of another character)
✓ he is not the sort of a great warrior, and he criticizes on Beowulf most of the time – it shows
bitterness and disparage, as he holds the grudge for not being equal to Beowulf
✓ later, he gives his sword to Beowulf before the fight with Grendel’s mother (hospitality +
fear of fighting her on his own)

Wiglaf
✓ in the second part of the poem: one of Beowulf’s kinsmen and thanes; the only warrior brave enough
to help Beowulf fight the dragon
✓ he conforms perfectly to the heroic code – he is willing to die attempting to defeat the opponent +
to save his lord
✓ he seems to be the reflection of young Beowulf from the first part of the story (strong, fearless,
valiant, loyal)
✓ he represents the next generation of heroism and the future of the kingdom (the single glint
of optimism in the final part of the story)

Grendel’s mother
✓ an unnamed swamp-hag, mysterious humanoid creature, Grendel’s mother
✓ she lives in a mere (=lake) whose bottom has never been sounded by the sons of men
✓ she possesses fewer human qualities than Grendel, although her terrorization of Heorot is explained
by her desire for vengeance – a human motivation
✓ a possible interpretation: she might be the symbol of the human subconscious, the mysteries
that lie beyond human knowledge → she represents the dangers that await everyone who seeks
to confront the unknown, either in the world or in themselves
The Dragon
✓ a mighty and glamorous opponent, an appropriate match for Beowulf, and it kills him
✓ seen as a symbolic representation of death itself (well-suited to bring about Beowulf’s downfall)
✓ it uses its strength to accrue a huge mound of treasure, but in the end all the treasure causes
its death (as well as Beowulf’s)
✓ the moral might be: valuing treasure over Heaven brings suffering (the poem’s narrator is Christian)

Themes
the Importance of Establishing Identity
✓ the central concept of identity: ancestral heritage (everyone is some father’s son, family lineage) +
individual reputation (solidifying and augmenting identity)
✓ characters often refer to their kinships, take pride in ancestors who have acter valiantly,
try to live up to their standards
✓ the example of Shield Sheafson (the legendary originator of the Danish royal line): he was orphaned,
so great deeds were the only way to construct identity for himself and gain reputation
✓ almost no concept of the afterlife, so reputation and fame are the key to be remembered and praised
after one’s death (symbolic continuation of life after death)

Tensions between the Heroic Code and Other Value Systems

✓ the heroic code is vital in Beowulf’s world: individual actions in the poem are seen as either
conforming or violating it
✓ the traits valued in the Germanic heroic code:
• warriors – strength, courage, loyalty
• kings – hospitality, generosity, political skills
• women – ceremoniousness
• all people – good reputation
✓ situation in which the code offers no practical guidance: Hildeburh was Danish and got married
to the Frisian king – in the Danish-Frisian war both her brother and her husband got killed
and she was doubly grieved
✓ code in tension with Christianity: honor gained through deeds in life – honor gained in Heaven after
death / better to retaliate than to mourn – peaceful, forgiving attitude towards enemies
✓ the author tries to combine the Germanic heroic code and Christianity: he is a Christian but he does
not want to plough the bases of pagan culture

the Difference between a Good Warrior and a Good King

✓ over the course of the poem, Beowulf matures from a valiant combatant into a wise leader;
his transition demonstrates that a differing set of values accompanies each of his two roles
✓ the difference is seen in the outlooks of young Beowulf and King Hrothgar
 ✓ Beowulf: has nothing to lose, desires personal glory & the aged Hrothgar: have much to lose, seeks
protection for his people
✓ though these two outlooks are somewhat oppositional, each character acts as society dictates
and he should be given his particular role in society
✓ king’s responsibilities: rewarding the loyal service of his warriors with gifts and praise, providing
them with protection and the sanctuary of a lavish mead-hall, creating stability in a precarious
and chaotic world, diplomacy

Symbols
the Golden Torque
✓ the collar or necklace that Wealhtheow gives Beowulf is a symbol of the bond of loyalty between
her people and Beowulf—and, by extension, the Geats
✓ its status as a symbolic object is renewed when we learn that Hygelac died in battle wearing it,
furthering the ideas of kinship and continuity

the Banquet
✓ the great banquet at Heorot after the defeat of Grendel represents the restoration of order and
harmony to the Danish people
✓ the preparation involves the rebuilding of the damaged mead-hall, which, in conjunction
with the banquet itself, symbolizes the rebirth of the community
✓ the speeches and giving of gifts, essential components of this society’s interactions, contribute
as well to the sense of wholeness renewed

Motifs
Monsters
✓ monster – this word used to refer to birth defects, which were understood as an ominous sign from
God (transgression, bad things to come)
✓ the monsters in the poem shape its plot and represent an inhuman presence in society which must
be eradicated for its safety
✓ all monsters are outsiders, existing beyond the boundaries of human realms (Grendel
and his mother approach the society and they are killed by Beowulf to maintain protection and order)

the Oral Tradition

✓ it preserves the lessons and lineages of the past + helps to spread reputations (little interaction with
writing – only the spoken word enables people to learn about others and make their own stories)
✓ the importance of bards’ (scopes) tales – Heorot scop relating of the Finnsburg episode or Beowulf
telling of the Breca story
✓ the poem contributes to the broader tradition of oral celebration of cultural heroes (Iliad, Odyssey)