Redcrosse Knight

Nurgul Zhanabayeva Alva Robinson Survey of English Literature 9 November, 2012 A Comparison between Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight At all generation both history and people wanted championes, who would be ready to chip in their lives for the sake of a nation. As the history changed for the better or for the worst, at that place were written a lot of literature works about the heroes of a time, who had habituated their courageous whole kit and boodle to people. Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight are the congresswomans of such complete heroes in 2 different periods, The Middle Age and The Early redbrick Period.The story of Beowulf shows the spread of Christianity in the early Danish paganistic society that cute rarefied deeds and bravery above all else. Beowulfs valour is shown in three separate conflicts, those with Grendel, Grendels m other, and the sea monster. The Faerie queer is written during the period Christianity had been spread among people protagonist Redcrosse knight represents a virtue of Holiness, and he is the merely Christian agitateing against slimy. Beowulf and Redcrosse are example heroes, embodying traits typical of heroes courage, and good deeds. The Faerie Queen, written during the Early Modern Period, narrates a big change in Christian religious thoughts and practices. Redcrosse Knight offers his supporter to Gloriana, Queen of Fairyland. Una, representing truth, tells that the dragon of underworld has captured her parents and that she needs help in getting them free. Redcrosse decides to get her parents released . This demonstrates a hero, he testament undergo many frightening trials and fight fierce monsters and this in itself is a character of a heroic knight. Not only does his armour protect his body and those who were with him, but as vigorous macrocosm a Christian.He has the protection of Christ. For the Christian in order to be holy, he must feel a true faith. Much of Beowulf is devoted to expressing and demonstrat ing the hero, in whom strength, courage, loyalty to a nation, hospitality, generosity, political skill and good record among all people is valued. These are of great importance to such warrior societies as a way of understanding their relationships to the world and the danger waiting outside their borders. Redcrosse Knight, on the other hand, is a chivalrous hero. He must castigate villains who represent the untrue RomanChurch. The qualities of loyalty, humility, sacrifice for the good of others, and discernment for those who are slight fortunate are described in the text as well as the negative consequences from greed and pride. He meets several grievousdoers, the dragon from hell, the evil sorcerer Archimago, Sansfoy and Sansloy, who has no faith, the liar and representative of the Roman Church, Duessa/Fidessa, and many others. These evildoers fight Redcrosse Knight through deceit, lust, and untruth. Therefore he must be arm with faith in Christ to win the evils of the spirit ual realm.As we can expose, evenly Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight have a vast amount of bravery. They both wipe out enemies that attack or capture innocent people. They both constantly petition to Christ for help to win evil they meet and to have sympathy for those who suffer. These qualities, idealized by thanes and knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honour, and gallantry toward women are conspicuous in both Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight. One difference is that women in the Old English Period are not as important as those in Middle age period. We see this in both poems. In Beowulf we only hear about Wealhtheow, Hrothgars queen, and Grendels mother.However in The Faerie Queene, we see many women characters, Gloriana, Una, Duessa/Fidessa, Lucifera (Hell), Caelia (Heavenly), Fidelia (Faith), Sperenza (Hope), and Charissa (Charity). In some way or another, Redcrosse and Beowulf have connections to these women, both good or bad. Additionally both heroes have a confluence with a c haracter from hell. Beowulf dives into the lake, which is a personification of hell, where Grendels mother is waiting to attack. He cannot cut her with his sword, so he tosses it away and finds a larger sword killing Grendels mother by cutting her idea off.He sees Grendels dead body nearby and cuts off his head as a trophy and returns to Denmark . This expresses an important virtue, loyalty. Redcrosse Knight fights Lucifera (Queen of Hell) and other evildoers. He has been attenuated by his visit to the House of Pride. Although he had the instinctive good wiz to flee from that castle, his conscience is still at work. This failure brings him near to stopping point in the dungeon of Orgoglio, a giant that represents godless pride. Arthur, that represents magnificence, comes along and helps Redcrosse drum up from his lowest state.Redcrosse also defeats the dragon. Here he is compared to Christ descended to hell to win Satan. Redcrosse enters the mouth of the dragon and finally kil ls it by the help of The tree diagram of Life and The Well of Life, which are the grace of God given to human beings and which helps Christian in danger. No matter how well equipped or prepared the Christian is, he cant win the evil without the help of God. A message is given here, a true Christian with all his humility counts on God. Another similarity of both these warriors is rewards for being heroes, however in very different ways.After Beowulf kills Grendel, he is considered the greatest hero in Danish history. Hrothgar says that Beowulf will never lack for riches, the horses and men of the Geats were all richly adorned, and a party was held to celebrate Beowulfs victory. Redcrosse Knight, on the other hand, will receive his reward in heaven. If he continues to live guileless and fight against evildoers he will receive eternal life. The battle will not end until the end of the world, when Christ will tell which pietism is false and which is true. Meanwhile, a Christian belie ves that honour is gained by good deeds and glory lies in afterlife.In both poems, Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight developed from heroic warriors, who have such qualities as courage, generosity, sacrifice for the good of others, into wise leaders. Beowulf rises from a doughty warrior to a reliable king and Redcrosse Knight finally becomes St. George, the patron canonize of England. Both showed the necessary characteristics to become very successful nobles. Though these two outlooks are passably oppositional, each character acts as society dictates. Beowulf acted as a hero-warrior and Redcrosse as a chivalric-warrior. However, their Christian values are somewhat similar.The images of warrior presented in both poems are significant roles that are important to Christian life Faith and Holiness. References Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis Representation of Reality in Western Literature, Translated by Willard Trask, Princeton Princeton University Press, 1971. Hadfield Andrew, The Faerie Queen, Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2001. Heaney, Seamus, Beowulf A New Verse Translation, New York ed. , 2001. Niles, John. D, Beowulf The Poem and Its Tradition, Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1983.