Dantes Inferno, and the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -Similarities and Differences - Essay Example

Philosophy # 8th April, Quest Motif in the Dante’s Inferno, and the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Similarities and Differences in the two epic stories Dante’s inferno and the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are both epic stories. The quest motif runs throughout these two epic stories. This paper analyzes and discusses the quest motif in these two medieval stories. An analysis of the quest motif in these two stories will show that the quest motif is the main motif in the two stories. This paper also explains how these two epic stories are similar, and how they are different, in regard to the quest motif. For better analysis and discussion of the Quest motif in these two stories. It is better to look at the quest motif in each of the two stories, and then give a comparison of the two stories in regard to the theme of quest motif. The comparison of the theme of quest in the two epic stories will lay bare the similarities and the differences between the two stories, in regard to the motif of quest. To begin with, let us look at the motif of quest in the Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem, written by Dante Alighierie in his book called The Divine Comedy. In this poem, Dante narrates his epic adventure of to Hell. In this adventurous journey to Hell, Dante explains in vivid details his experiences to hell. A look at Dante’s explanation of his journey to hell will reveal the motif of quest in this epic story. Dante’s Infernal is actually an allegory of man’s spiritual journey (Dorothy, pg. 19). The epic story begins with the 35 years Old Dante finding himself lost in a thick forest, near a huge mountain. In the thick forest, Dante is assailed by vicious wild animals like the Lions and the Leopards. Dante is completely helpless in this forest and he is unable to save himself. Luckily, Virgil, the Roman Poet, arrives, and it is he who saved Dante from the ferocious wild beasts. Together with Virgil, Dante began his journey to the underworld, where he ended up visiting Purgatory and Hell. In his explanation of his experiences in Purgatory and Hell, Dante gives a graphic description of his experiences. Dante describes purgatory as a religion that is near Hell, where the souls of the spiritually lukewarm people reside; In Purgatory, the sufferings are mild in comparison to the sufferings that the damn souls undergo in Hell (Peter and Lino, pg.38). After passing through the Purgatory, Virgil guided Dante to Hell, where Dante saw the horrors of the damned Souls. Dante Describes Hell as a deep hole with nine concentric circles. Sinners are arranged in the circles of Hell, from top to bottom, according to the magnitude of one’s sins. The sinners who have committed grave sins like treachery and betrayal occupy the bottom circle of Hell, while the people who have died without the Sacrament of Baptism occupy the upper most circle of Hell. The first circle of Hell is called Limbo and it is the abode of the people who have died without the Sacrament of Baptism. Dante Describes in vivid details the horrors suffered by the souls in each of the nine circles of Hell, Dante also gives examples of the familiar people that he met in each of the nine circles of Hell. A look at the Dante’s description of his epic journey to Hell shows that the motif of quest is at the centre of his narration. This is because, first, Dante’s journey to Hell began with Dante finding himself lost in the forest, in the midst of ferocious world animals. The thick forest and the vicious world animals are used in this narration as a symbol of how difficult the journey to Hell; Dante bore all the challenges in quest for finding out the truth about hell. The beginning of the Dante’s infernal therefore clearly brings out the motif of quest in this narration. Secondly, Dante’s description of his actual journey to Hell shows that the whole experience was quite scary. This again brings out, quite clearly, the theme of quest in this epic narrative. The motif of quest therefore is the main theme around which the Dante’s infernal narrative is built. Having discussed and analyzed the motif of quest in Dante’s Infernal, let us now look at the motif of quest in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight story. The Sir Gawain and the Green Knight comedy is clearly explained by J.R.R. Tolkien in his book Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pear, and Sir Orfeo. The comedy begins with King Arthur sitting in his court together with his knights celebrating the Christmas feast. As they were feasting, a strange figure, a Green Knight riding on a green horse, enters into the King’s court. The Green Knight had an axe with a very long blade on one of his hands. The Green Knight then challenges any of the king Arthur’s knights, or the king himself, to challenge him in a peaceful beheading game. The beheading game would consist of one of the king’s knights striking the Green Knight with the axe that the Green Knight was holding. But this was to happen under one condition, that the knight who would strike the Green Knight would have to seek the Green Knight, in case the Green Knight would not die from the axe strike, within a period of one year and one day, to receive three axe strikes from the Green Knight, the Green Knight was to be sought from the Green Chapel in a desert. Sir Gawain volunteered to engage the Green Giant in the beheading game. After striking the Green Knight on the neck, Gawain cut off the end of the Green Giant completely. The Green Knight however did not fall down after Gawain cut off its head. To the surprise of all those who were in the king’s court, the Green Knight picked up his head, held it with his hand, and mounted into his horse headless. The Green Knight reminded Gawain to honour his promise of seeking him from the Green Chapel in a year and one day period. On the eve of the New Year, in the following year, Gawain set out to seek the Green Knight from the desert. The journey in the desert in search of the Green chapel was quite eventful and challenging. In the desert, Gawain was assailed by different dangerous wild animals; desert serpents also posed a great challenge to Gawain in the desert. God, however, protected Gawain against all the dangers of the desert. On the eve of Christmas, Gawain was completely exhausted and he started praying for a miracle so that he could get a shelter where he could hear mass. God answered his prayers and a beautiful castle appeared before him. Gawain then went straight to the castle. In the castle, Gawain was warmly welcomed by Bertilak and his wife. The following day, while Bertilak was going hunting, he asked Gawain to partake in a game with him for the three days that he would stay at his castle. The game would consist of Bertilak giving Gawain what he had acquired in the hunting in exchange of what Gawain would have acquired by staying at home. In the first day, the wife of Bertilak seduces Gawain, but Gawain declines her sexual advances, but he kisses her once. Bertilak on his side killed a deer on the first day, so, Bertilak offered Gawain venison in exchange of one kiss. The second day, Gawain kissed Bertilak’s wife twice, while Bertilak killed Boar. So Bertilak exchanged boar meat with Gawain for two kisses. On the third day, Bertilak killed a fox, while Gawain kissed Bertilak’s wife three times and also received a gift of charmed golden girdle that was meant to protect him from all dangers. When Bertilak returned home, he gave Gawain the fox’s meat, and Gawain kissed Bertilak three times, Gawain however did not give Bertilak the golden girdle. After the three days, Bertilak directed Gawain to the Green chapel, which was only three miles from the Bertilak’s castle. When he reached at the Green chapel, Gawain met the Green Knight sharpening his axe. Gawain then asked the Green Knight to strike him three times in accordance with the terms of their agreement. The first and the second swings did not cut Gawain, but the third swing cut Gawain on the neck slightly. At this point Bertilak reveals to Gawain the whole truth about what this whole incident meant. The Green monster revealed to Gawain that he is actually the Bertilak, who had welcomed him into the castle. The first and the second swings failed because Gawain had honestly exchanged what he had gained during the day with what Bertilak had hunted during the day. The third swing, however, failed because Gawain had failed to keep his promise. Bertilak then told Gawain that the whole plot was devised by King Arthur’s step sister, so as to test the honesty of Gawain. Gawain returned home wiser, but remorseful for his inability to tell the whole truth. In this story, the motif of quest is brought out clearly by Gawain’s adventure into the forest in search of the Green Knight. This journey was indeed risky and it required a lot of courage and determination (Lewis, pg. 12). Gawain’s courage and sense of adventure in this journey shows that Gawain indeed had great quest to achieve his goal. This fact therefore shows that the motif of quest is the main theme in this story; the whole story is centred on the motif of quest. The main similarity between the Dante’s Infernal and the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight epic stories is that, both of these stories are centred on the quest motif. Both of these epic stories describe adventures that required great courage and determination to achieve. Accomplishment of the adventurous journeys described in these two epic stories required a lot of quest. These two stories therefore are centred on the quest motif. The main difference in these two adventurous stories is that the two stories describe completely different realities. While the Dante Infernal is a description of the spiritual journey into hell, the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight story describes a physical journey into the desert in search of the Green chapel. The Dante’s Infernal therefore describes a spiritual reality while the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight story describes a physical reality. Works Cited Dante, A. The Divine Comedy. New York: Sterling, 2008. Print Dorothy L. S. The Divine Comedy 1: Hell (introduction). London: Penguin Books, 1949. Print. Lewis, J. S. "Gawain and the Green Knight".College English. October 1959. Print. Peter, B., and Lino, P. The Cambridge History of Italian Literature.2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print. Tolkien, R.R. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo. USA: Del Rey, 1979. Print Read More