Christianity In The Middle Ages
The rise of Christian faith in Europe brought with it a revolution in the ideals of society very different than those prominent in earlier western civilizations. Among these new ideals is the concept of forgiveness being the proper course of action against an offense, as opposed to taking revenge. Blood feuds and the concept of vengeance were considered to be just responses in many earlier societies, and were a part of the heroic ideal present in the literature of the time. Through analysis of prominent works it is possible to see the changes to societal thought that transpired with the increasingly dominant Christian worldview of the Middle Ages and later which altered the very idea of what a man should strive to be. When discussing the heroic
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The other, as his eyes drank in the plundered record of his fierce grief, kindles to fury, and cries terrible in anger: “Mayest thou, thou clad in the spoils of my dearest, escape mine hands? Pallas it is, Pallas who now strikes the sacrifice, and exacts vengeance in thy guilty blood.” So saying, he fiercely plunges the steel full in his breast (Virgil, …show more content…
This mockery is avenged when Beowulf is victorious in the battle. After mortally wounding Grendel and sending him off to die, Beowulf has proven to the Danes that he is worthy of his title as a great hero, and affirms the bravery and great strength that the audience of this work thought part of being idealized as a hero (Kaske). Many years after the Greek and Roman epics were written Christianity began to spread more and more across Europe, becoming the overwhelmingly dominant religion of the area by the Middle Ages. This faith taught ideals very different than those previously seen, with an emphasis on forgiveness being the proper way to respond to an offense. The idea of honoring vengeance against someone who has done wrong against you was now no longer a just action as it had been among earlier ideologies. It was replaced with the concept of “turning the other cheek” as can be seen in Matthew chapter 5 of the Christian
The other, as his eyes drank in the plundered record of his fierce grief, kindles to fury, and cries terrible in anger: “Mayest thou, thou clad in the spoils of my dearest, escape mine hands? Pallas it is, Pallas who now strikes the sacrifice, and exacts vengeance in thy guilty blood.” So saying, he fiercely plunges the steel full in his breast (Virgil, …show more content…
This mockery is avenged when Beowulf is victorious in the battle. After mortally wounding Grendel and sending him off to die, Beowulf has proven to the Danes that he is worthy of his title as a great hero, and affirms the bravery and great strength that the audience of this work thought part of being idealized as a hero (Kaske). Many years after the Greek and Roman epics were written Christianity began to spread more and more across Europe, becoming the overwhelmingly dominant religion of the area by the Middle Ages. This faith taught ideals very different than those previously seen, with an emphasis on forgiveness being the proper way to respond to an offense. The idea of honoring vengeance against someone who has done wrong against you was now no longer a just action as it had been among earlier ideologies. It was replaced with the concept of “turning the other cheek” as can be seen in Matthew chapter 5 of the Christian