Middle Ages Study Guide

Samantha St. Claire

Prof. Flack

Eng 6

30 September 2012

Middle Ages Study Guide

For each work we read this semester:

1. Summarize the work to ensure you clearly understand the plot. This can be in the

form of complete sentences or bullet point/note taking format.

A.    Beowulf

·         The great hero Beowulf kills the monster Grendel, who has been terrorizing King Hrothgar’s kingdom for years. He arouses the anger of Grendel’s mother, who seeks to kill him but he kills her. Fifty years later, when Beowulf is king of his own land, a dragon is awakened due to a thief who has stolen one of his prizes. Beowulf dies in his fight with the dragon, with all his friends abandoning him, except for Wiglaf.

B.     Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

·         At a Christmas party in King Arthur’s court, a Green Knight interrupts the gaiety with a game: deal him a blow in return for a blow within a year’s time. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge, but after he slices off the Knight’s head the Knight simply picks up his severed head and rides off into the night, reminding Gawain that he must seek him within a year’s time. While searching for him, Gawain ends up in King Bertilak’s court (who is the Green Knight) and agrees to another game: whatever one get during the day, he will give it to the other. The King’s queen tries to have an affair with Gawain, and even though he doesn’t succumb, he accepts her gift: a green girdle which will supposedly protect him from harm. He keeps his gift a secret from the King. Once he meets the Green Knight and discovers that he put his own queen up to the task of tempting him, he’s overwhelmed by his sin of keeping the girdle from the King. He returns home in shame.

C.     Lanval

·         Sir Lanval is King Arthur’s most honorable, generous knight, but is very poor due to Arthur and his fellow knights’ jealousy of him. He meets a faerie who becomes his lover, who says that she’ll leave forever if he tells anyone about her. But when Queen Guinevere tries to lure him into having an affair with her, he tells her of the beauty of his faerie, who disappears. The Queen then falsely charges Lanval with coming onto her, and the jury decides that if he can prove his faerie is more beautiful than the queen, he can live. The faerie turns up to Lanval’s claim, and they ride off into the sunset.  

D.    General Prologue

·         A bunch of pilgrims set off for Canterbury to see the grave site of St. Thomas. During the long journey, multiple characters tell tales and give speeches about themselves.

E.     Miller’s Tale

·         Nicholas, an astronomer, seeks an affair with Alison, the young wife of the old and silly John the carpenter. Nicholas convinces John that a worldwide flood will happen in order to get a night alone with Alison. Absolon the perish clerk is also seeking an affair with Alison, but all he gets is to unknowingly kiss her behind. Seeking revenge, he comes back with an iron hot caulter, and unknowingly burns Nicholas’s behind, who calls for water which causes John to think the flood is coming and to cut the ropes of the barrels he’s safely in and break his arm.

F.      Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale

·         She tells of all her five marriages and that in order for a marriage to be happy, the wife must have all the control. She tells a tale to illustrate her fact. A knight rapes a woman, and the queen says that if he can find out what a woman truly desires, then he will live. The knight asks every woman he sees and gets a different answer every time. Eventually he meets an old woman who tells him that women desire to have their own way in everything, and says he must give her what she wants if he survives. The court accepts his answer, but he is now forced to give the old woman what she wanted, which was to marry him! She turns into a beautiful woman, and asks him if he wants her to beautiful and unfaithful, or old and true. He’s learned his lesson, so he gives her the control and tells her to choose. This is the right answer, so she becomes beautiful and loyal.

G.    Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale

·         This pardoner admits that he’s a hypocrite and seeks to suck as much money as he can from those he preaches to, but that doesn’t stop him from giving a sermon. He tells a tale of three young men who desire to kill Death after he killed one of their friends. They meet a really old man who tells them that Death is under a certain tree. But instead of death, they find gold. They plot to kill each other out of greed, but they all end up killing each other. So they really did find death.

H.    Margery Kemp

·         Margery Kempt was a wife and mother of 14 children. She experienced many visions, eventually abstained from relations with her husband, and dedicated her whole life to Jesus and praying for the lost. She was so obsessed with his Personhood that she’d wail and sob over his crucifixion and see his face in every male’s face. Later on, God “marries” her.

I.       Everyman

·         The character Everyman is unprepared to die, but is faced is Death anyway. Death gives him a chance to have someone vouch for him on Judgment Day, but he doesn’t have enough good deeds and his friends, family, wealth, and five senses won’t/can’t come with him. Eventually he realizes that all he needs to do to get into heaven is to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

2. Characters: List all of the major characters (and important minor characters) and write down everything you know about them, from appearance to notable traits and attitudes toward other characters, the world, etc.

A. Beowulf: Beowulf (great hero, loyal, proud), King Hrothgar (good and generous king), Grendel (descendent of Cain, monster), Grendel’s mother (stronger than her son), Wiglaf (only friend who stayed with Beowulf to fight the dragon)

B. Sir Gawain: Sir Gawain (nephew of King Arthur’s, full of virtue and follows a strict, self-made code of honor), Green Knight/ King Bertilak (enjoys messing with people through his games), his queen (beautiful, temptress, obedient to her husband’s schemes), King Arthur (first to accept Green Knight’s challenge, ruler of Camelot)

C. Lanval: Lanval (one of King Arthur’s knights, honorable and generous, his fellow knights and king are jealous of him but he is still loyal), Faerie queen (instead of the knight pursuing the Lady, she pursues him; supernatural being), Guinevere (King Arthur’s wife, wants Lanval to have affair with her, falsely accuses him of coming onto her)

D. General Prologue: Pilgrims, pardoner, Wife of Bath, drunken miller, Knight

E. Wife of Bath prologue and tale: Wife of Bath (married five times, has strong opinions about what makes a happy marriage; only cares about having fun), the Knight (rapes woman and has to find answer to riddle), Queen (gives him a chance to escape punishment by answering riddle), old woman (really old and ugly; gives him the answer and then marries him and then turns into a beautiful woman)

F. Miller’s Tale: John the carpenter (old, unintelligent, silly, loves his wife), Alison his wife (young, beautiful, caged, more intelligent than husband), Nicholas (astrologer; handsome; John’s boarder who wants Alison), Absolon the perish clerk (in love with Alison; prude; musician)

G. Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale: Pardoner (honest hypocrite), three young men (naïve and greedy), really old man (wants to die), Death (what greed leads to)

H. Margerie Kemp: Margerie Kemp (wife; mother; hysterical; spiritual; emotional; has money), husband (reasonable), Jesus (speaks to Margerie; is seen as being very physical and attractive), God

I. Everyman: Everyman (represents all of us who are not ready for death; desperate), Good Deeds (repentance is seen as being sufficient amount of Good Deeds), Fellowship (can’t/won’t follow him to death), Family, Wealth, Five Senses, God (angry at human kind and how ungrateful they are to Him), Death (unmoving, unexpected, obedient to God), Doctor (professional voice that gives credence to tale)

3. Analyze: Make a list of themes, motifs, dominant/memorable symbols, morals, etc.

(you may use the lists we created together as a class...feel free to add any other

ideas that we did not cover). This is your opportunity to start thinking about why the

work was written the way it was and what it means. You should also attempt to

differentiate between charactersʼ attitudes and those of the author. Try to come to a

conclusion as to what the author may have been trying to impart on readers/listeners.

Beowulf: honor; death; vengeance; glory; fate; balance; good vs. evil; loyalty; greed; pride. Lanval: chivalry; courtly love; role reversal (man vs. woman); motif (a reoccurring thing in same story); duty (to lord or to love). Sir Gawain: chivalry, courtly love, and self-preservation (conflict); temptations; trials; fate; forgiveness (of others and oneself); honor; morality; honesty; time/seasons; death (eternal life). General Prologue: hilarity; information; introduction; conflict between classes. Miller’s Tale: Fabliau; class issues; entrapment/oppression of women; age issues; astrology; man/woman relationships; temptation; religion (Absolon)/ hypocrisy; education issues; vengeance; sexual deviance; cuckoldry; jealousy. Wife of Bath: marriage; control; role of women within marriage; sexual license within marriage; time; rape; women as intercessors; quests; What women want; sovereignty of women; honor; (Moral: happy wife, happy life!). Pardoner’s tale: greed/avarice; hypocrisy; lies; cheats people out of money; proud; gluttony; exemplum (sermon meant to teach moral thru an example); avarice is the root of all evil; irony; St. Thomas Becket buried in Canterbury; sin – death; Chaucer’s critique of the Catholic practice of pardoner. Margery Kemp: physical aspects of Jesus; physical experience of faith; illiterate population; women’s greater access to faith; class issues (as the mayor’s daughter, everyone left her alone). Everyman: Morality play; spread issues of faith/morality to illiterate population; good deeds are the way to heaven; repentance; mortality/being prepared; quest; abandonment of worldly goods; time.   

4. Important Quotes: Make a list of at least 3 significant quotes from each work and

analyze their significance. Try to use your list of themes (etc.) from #3 to help you

choose significant quotes. For instance, if courtly love is a large theme, then be sure

you find a quote that supports that. You should address how the quote helps you

understand an important aspect of the work. For example, how does the quote help

you understand character, theme, moral, purpose, author intent, meaning, etc.?

Beowulf

As Beowulf prepared to fight Grendel unarmed, he said, “And may the Divine Lord in His wisdom grant the glory of victory to whichever side He sees fit” (685-687).

"Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark."(1384-1389)

Now war is looming
over our nation, so it will be known
to Franks and Frisians, far and wide,
that the king is gone. (2910-13)

Lanval

“Lanval,” she said, “sweet love, / because of you I have come from my land; / I came to seek you from far away” (110-112). “When the girl came through the gate / Lanval leapt, in one bound, / onto the palfrey, behind her” (636-640). These two verses and this image of the knight Lanval sitting on the horse behind his rescuer the faerie is the picture of the role-reversal going on in this tale. She sought his love and saved him in the end, instead of vice versa.

I have no desire to love you.
I've served the king a long time;
I don't want to betray my faith to him.
Never, for you or for your love,
will I do anything to harm my lord. (270-274)

This verse and the next describe his character. This was why the faerie came from “far away” to seek him.

For his valor, for his generosity,
his beauty and his bravery,
most men envied him;
some feigned the appearance of love
who, if something unpleasant happened to him,
would not have been at all disturbed. (21-26)

Sir Gawain

“A good man like Gawain, so greatly regarded,

the embodiment of courtliness to the bones of his being,

could never have lingered so long with a lady

without craving a kiss, as politeness requires,

or coaxing a kiss with his closing words.”

“Very well,” said Gawain, “Let it be as you wish.

I shall kiss at your command, as becomes a knight” (1297-1303). This is the start of the realization that chivalry is impossible to follow and contradicts itself. This eventually led to Gawain withholding the girdle from the King.

“It was loyalty that you lacked: / not because you’re wicked, or a womanizer, or worse, / but you loved your own life; so I blame you less” (2366-8). The Green Knight forgave Gawain his disloyalty because he didn’t have evil motives but simply the desire to live.

“I will drape across my chest till the day I die/ For man’s crimes can be covered but never made clean” (2510-2511). While the Green Knight forgives him, Gawain can’t and won’t forgive himself.

Chaucer’s “General Prologue”:

Me thinketh it accordant to resoun
To telle you al the condicioun
Of eech of hem, so as it seemed to me,
And whiche they were, and of what degree,
And eek in what array that they were inne:
And at a knight thane wol I first biginne. (37-42) The pilgrim gets ready to describe all his fellow pilgrims.

[The Miller] was short-sholdred, brood, a thikke knarre;
Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of harre,
Or breke it at a rennyng with his heed. (549-551)

This is the pilgrim’s impression of the Miller, who will soon give his tale. This description helps us to picture the story-teller in our mind.

 “In felaweshipe wel coude she laughe and carpe: / Of remedies of love she knew perchaunce, / For she coude of that art the olde daunce” (476-478). Chaucer himself gives credence to her knowledge, because, after all, she had experience!

“The Miller’s Prologue and Tale”

Oure Hoste sawgh that he was dronke of ale,

And saide, “Abide, Robin, leve brother,

Som bettre man shal telle us first another.

[…]

“By Goddes soule,” quod he, “that wol nat I,

For I wol speke or ells go my way.”

Oure Host answered, “Tel on, a devele way!

Thou art a fool; thy wit is overcome.” (20-27). This drunken miller has no regard for courtesy. After the Knight’s Tale, someone of a higher class should go next!

That bad men sholde wedde his similitude:

Men sholde wedden after hir estat,

For youthe and elde is often at debat.

But sith that he was fallen in the snare,

He moste endure, as other folk, his care. (120-124) This is the moral of the story: marry someone who is similar to you, with similar age, intelligence, etc.

“Now John,” quod Nicholas, “I wol nought lie.

I have yfounde in myn astrologye,

That […] This world […]

Shal al be dreint, so hidous is the showr.

Thus shal mankind drenche and lese hir lif.”

This carpenter answered, “Allas, my wif!

And shal she drenche? Allas, myn Alisoun!”

For sorwe of this he fil almost adown. (405-416) John is so unlearned that he believes this astrologer’s tall tale. This is an example of the unquestioned superstition going on during that time. This also shows how much John loved Alison and wanted to protect her. However, instead of protecting her he was caging her, which will never end with a happy relationship.

"Wife of Bath's Prologue/Tale"

“He spak to hem that wolde live parfitly (perfectly) / And lordlinges, by youre leve, that am nat I. / I wol bistowe the flour of al myn age / In th’actes and in fruit of mariage” (117-120). Even though she’s been married five times and has experienced a few bad husbands in her day, she not only enjoyed her marriages but is ready for husband #6!

“With empty hand men may no hawkes lure. / For winning (profit) wolde I al his lust endure” (421-422). Marriage is about the right amount of giving and taking.

He yaf me al the bridel in myn hand, 

To han the governance of hous and land, 

And of his tonge and his hand also; 

[…]

After that day we hadde nevere debat. 

God help me so, I was to him as kinde 

As any wif from Denmark unto Inde, 

And also trewe, and so was he to me. (819-831) In a nutshell, this would be her view that the only way to have a successful, happy marriage is when the wife has all the control.

"Pardoner's Prologue/Tale"

“Now sires,” quod he, “if that ye be so life

To find Deeth, turne up this crooked way,

For in that grove I lafte him, by my fay,

Under a tree, and ther he wol abide

[…]

See ye that ook? Right ther ye shal him finde.” (472-477) Even though the young men found gold instead under the oak tree, they found death in the end.

Thus ended been thise homicides two, / And eek the false empoisonere also, (605-6). The moral of the pardoner’s tale: avarice leads to death.

“Now goode men, God foryive you youre trespass,

And ware you fro the sinne of avarice:

Myn holy pardon may you alle warice –

So that ye offer nobles or sterlinges,

Or ells silver brooches, spoones, ringes.

Boweth your heed under this holy bulle!” (616-621). Here he finally gives his point for telling his scary tale: “Buy pardon from me!” He’s quite the hypocrite.

The Book of Margery Kemp

“And when they came up onto the Mount of Calvary, she fell down so that she might not stand or kneel but wallowed and twisted with her body, spreading her arms abroad, and cried with a loud voice as though her heart should have burst asunder, for in the city of her soul she saw verily and freshly how our Lord was crucified.” (p. 429-430)

“If she might have had her will, oftentimes she would have taken the children out from the mother’s arms and have kissed them in the place of Christ. And, if she saw a handsome man, she had great pain to look on him in case she might have seen him who was both God and man” (p. 431). She was so consumed with manhood of Christ, this was why she wailed and cried all the time because his Passion was so vivid to her.

"I take you, Margery for my wedded wife, for fairer, for fouler, for richer, for poorer, as long as you be buxom and obedient to do what I bid you do" (p.431).

The focus of these passages is on the physicality of Christ. She could so relate to him on a human level that to think of him dying on the cross was crippling to her, and looking at males was like looking into His face. This gave the idea of a marriage with God more plausible.  

Everyman

“Then went I to my Goods that I loved best, / In hope to have comfort; but there had I least, / For my Goods sharply did me tell / That he wouls bringeth many into hell”(473-475). Good deeds fool us into thinking that we’re good enough to get into heaven, even if we haven’t truly repented from our sin or trusted in Jesus (or in the case of the story, sought a pardon from a priest). This was supposed to scare the populace into preparing for death by racing to the priests to be cleansed.

Fellowship: “Now by God that all hath brought, / If Death were the messenger, / For no man that is living today / I will not go that loath journay - / Not for the father that begat me!” (265-269). Major point of the story that not only is death so terrifying it will break promises, but that in the end, our friends will not be there for us.

"Drowned in sin, they know me not for their God. / In worldly riches is all their mind: / They fear not of my righteousness the sharp rod; / my law that I showed when I for them died / they forget clean, and shedding of my blood red" (26-30). God’s holy anger towards his ungrateful creation.