Redcrosse Knight

Nurgul Zhanabayeva Alva Robinson Survey of English Literature 9 November, 2012 A Comparison between Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight At all times both history and people wanted heroes, who would be ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a nation. As the history changed for the better or for the worst, there were written a lot of literature works about the heroes of a time, who had devoted their courageous deeds to people. Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight are the examples of such perfect heroes in two different periods, The Middle Age and The Early Modern Period.

The story of Beowulf shows the spread of Christianity in the early Danish paganistic society that valued heroic deeds and bravery above all else. Beowulf’s heroism is shown in three separate conflicts, those with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the sea monster. The Faerie Queen is written during the period Christianity had been spread among people; protagonist Redcrosse knight represents a virtue of Holiness, and he is the only Christian fighting against evil. 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 help to Gloriana, Queen of Fairyland. Una, representing truth, tells that the dragon of hell 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 will undergo many severe 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 also being a Christian.

He has the protection of Christ. For the Christian in order to be holy, he must have a true faith. Much of Beowulf is devoted to expressing and demonstrating the hero, in whom strength, courage, loyalty to a nation, hospitality, generosity, political skill and good reputation 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 defeat villains who represent the untrue Roman

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Church. The qualities of loyalty, humility, sacrifice for the good of others, and sympathy for those who are less fortunate are described in the text as well as the negative consequences from greed and pride. He meets several evildoers, 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 armed with faith in Christ to win the evils of the spiritual realm.

As we can see, equally Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight have a vast amount of bravery. They both defeat enemies that attack or capture innocent people. They both constantly pray 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 visible 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, Hrothgar’s queen, and Grendel’s 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, either good or bad. Additionally both heroes have a meeting with a character from hell. Beowulf dives into the lake, which is a personification of hell, where Grendel’s mother is waiting to attack. He cannot cut her with his sword, so he tosses it away and finds a larger sword killing Grendel’s mother by cutting her head off.

He sees Grendel’s 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 weakened by his visit to the House of Pride. Although he had the instinctive good sense to flee from that castle, his conscience is still at work. This failure brings him near to death in the dungeon of Orgoglio, a giant that represents godless pride. Arthur, that represents magnificence, comes along and helps Redcrosse rise 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 kills it by the help of The Tree of Life and The Well of Life, which are the grace of God given to mankind and which helps Christian in danger. No matter how well equipped or prepared the Christian is, he can’t 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 Beowulf’s victory. Redcrosse Knight, on the other hand, will receive his reward in heaven. If he continues to live sinless 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 religion is false and which is true. Meanwhile, a Christian believes 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 fearless warrior to a reliable king and Redcrosse Knight finally becomes St. George, the patron saint of England. Both showed the necessary characteristics to become very successful nobles. Though these two outlooks are somewhat 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 It’s Tradition, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.

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