Discuss the Relationship Between Appearance and Reality and the Issues This Involves in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and ‘the Franklin’s Tale’.
Discuss the relationship between appearance and reality and the issues this involves in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and ‘The Franklin’s Tale’.
Judging a Book by its Cover
The appearance of a situation, person or place may sometimes be at total odds with its actual reality, and thus change previous conceptions held of a thing or person. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale, not only are there illusions throughout the tale’s themselves, but the reality of the story and its message on conclusion paint a very different picture to the initial idea the reader held at the onset. Sir Gawain and the Green knight is believed to be the creation of an anonymous West Midlands poet of the late 14th century. A contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, his prose also seems preoccupied with topics such as the human condition, morality within society, social structure and distinct social class systems. Like Chaucer, such questions concerning society were raised through the medium of entertainment, with both authors achieving eminence through their talent for the narrative. It was through their flair for the written word that they raised social issues of the day for inspection and contemplation. Tales were written not exclusively for nobility but for all medieval society, to both enjoy, but also to examine as a social critique of the structuralized hierarchy they belonged to. It is interesting to note, that although both anecdotes’ were written during the 14th century, many of the central topics raised are relevant to our own 21st century, granted we have since gained many issues along the way. Amusingly, had the authors’ been privileged a glimpse of modern day civilization and its fascination with fabrication, their inventive stories would indeed have ample sources to draw from.
At first glance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems to follow the conventional form of French inspired romances of the day. An Arthurian, historically inspired romance
Judging a Book by its Cover
The appearance of a situation, person or place may sometimes be at total odds with its actual reality, and thus change previous conceptions held of a thing or person. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale, not only are there illusions throughout the tale’s themselves, but the reality of the story and its message on conclusion paint a very different picture to the initial idea the reader held at the onset. Sir Gawain and the Green knight is believed to be the creation of an anonymous West Midlands poet of the late 14th century. A contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, his prose also seems preoccupied with topics such as the human condition, morality within society, social structure and distinct social class systems. Like Chaucer, such questions concerning society were raised through the medium of entertainment, with both authors achieving eminence through their talent for the narrative. It was through their flair for the written word that they raised social issues of the day for inspection and contemplation. Tales were written not exclusively for nobility but for all medieval society, to both enjoy, but also to examine as a social critique of the structuralized hierarchy they belonged to. It is interesting to note, that although both anecdotes’ were written during the 14th century, many of the central topics raised are relevant to our own 21st century, granted we have since gained many issues along the way. Amusingly, had the authors’ been privileged a glimpse of modern day civilization and its fascination with fabrication, their inventive stories would indeed have ample sources to draw from.
At first glance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems to follow the conventional form of French inspired romances of the day. An Arthurian, historically inspired romance
Bibliography: Primary Sources: The Riverside Chaucer; Third Edition, Ed. F.N. Robinson and Larry D. Benson. Oxford University Press, 1988 Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales; trans. and Ed. David Wright. Oxford World’s Classics, 1998 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Ed. W.R.J. Barron. Manchester University Press, Oxford, 2001 Secondary Sources: D. Aers, Chaucer: Love, Sex, Marriage’ in Chaucer, Langland and the creative imagination. (London, 1980) K. Hume, ‘Why Chaucer Calls the Franklin 's Tale a Breton Lai’, Philological Quarterly 51 (1972), pp. 365-79 Benson, Larry D. Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, 1965.