have the change of a man who risks death by fighting, and running after
Guinevere and her capture’s on foot, and then sacrifices his own beliefs to be
next to his love. He starts out as a man possessed to save Guinevere. To a man
who is controlled, willfully, by Guinevere. Take the example of the fight
between Meleagant and the stopping of the first fight:
..The last words she uttered, ‘To show you my gratitude, I will Lancelot to
halt,’ had scarcely left he lips when he would not lay a hand on his
opponent or make a move, even if Meleagant were to kill him (de Troyes
162). He would not defend himself for the sake of breaking this devotion to his
love! A previous line in the text points out why Lancelot would do such an
action during a battle, A lover is obedient; when he is completely in love, he
performs his beloved’s pleasure eagerly and promptly. Thus Lancelot, who loved
more than Pyramus- if love more than any man could- was compelled to comply (de
Troyes 162). Such a power dominates his every thinking moment, even during the
fight for his life and the life of those captured. This development of the
warrior is one, close to the transformation of the King Beowulf to his people,
but more complex. Whereas our hero Beowulf still sacrifices himself for his own
honor and to help his people. The actions of Lancelot start as a man of
individual status to one who is immersed in his devotion to the one he loves.
We are to understand that these attributes and actions our warriors have,
are those which each society saw as grand and wonderful that all should strive
for in their society. The strong sense of the homeland to Odysseus is what the
Greeks were to strive for in the building of their empire around the main
homeland of Athens. We see the attributes of Beowulf as important to the dark
ages and the invasions of the Franks where our most important task seen for the
warrior in the culture was to defend your hoard from all intrusion, evil or
human. That the sacrifice for the hoard was the most honorable thing you would
ever be able to achieve in your lifetime to the hoard. Last we have Lancelot,
who shows the attributes most liked during this society is that of courtly love,
honor, and the devotion one gives to their soul mate, with the relinquishing of
his views for that of his lady’s wishes. ?he performs his beloved’s pleasure
eagerly and promptly? (de Troyes 162). The actions are fulfilled with eagerness
and promptly for the love of the person. Although each one has been similar in
the way they are triumphant in there quest, and the men continue to look tough
through all actions, the quality they start to show, subtly, is that of
compassion and willingness to help all people, even if it circumvents their own
desire temporarily.
The progression of society from the time of less diversified ancient
Greek culture, to the explosion of diversity in tribes and people, creating
identities and forming the groundwork for nation states, the warriors desires
and attributes also rose from a single idea or goal, to that of complex
characters and values. Where the complexity involved the ideas of laws
pertaining to all. These laws, unwritten, developed through Beowulf, and latter
in The Knight in the Cart, as that of honor. Overall, the development of
characters became a way of projecting the proper ideals on the society to uphold.
This became the link between the warriors and the civilizations they represented.
Works Cited
Boyle, Doebler, Lopez-Lazaro and Wright. Hum 301. Tempe AZ. Alternative copy
shop, 1996
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Classics,
1990.
Unknown. Beowulf. Trans. Michael Alexander. New York: Penguin Books, 1973.
Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Classics,
1990.
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