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2. The Romance in the Anglo-Norman Period

Essential Features of the Romance

The romance was the prevailing literary form in the medieval period. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse and sometimes in prose, which described the life and adventures of a noble hero. Its essential features are the following:

1. 
   

   It lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.) It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.

   
   


2. 
   

   It contains perilous adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.

   
   


3. 
   

   It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.

   
   


4. 
   

   The central character of the romance is the knight, a man of noble birth and skilled in the use of weapons, who is commonly described as riding forth to seek adventures, or taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle. He is devoted to the church and the king.

   
   

In romances we see an epitome of the English society inprospered for about 300 years (1200-1500). It was written for the upper class, so it had little to do with the common people.

Romance Cycles

A large number of romances fall into three cycles or three groups according to the subject matters: the matter of Britain, the matter of France, and the matter of Rome.

1. 
   

   The matter of France deals largely with the exploits of Charlemagne, usually known as Charles the Great, King of the Franks and Emperor of the West Empire. The famous romance of this group is La Chanson de Roland.

   
   


2. 
   

   The matter of Rome deals with tales from Greek and Roman sources. Alexander the Great (356- 323 B.C.), King of Macedonia and conqueror ofGreece, Egypt, India and Persian Empire is the favorite hero of this group. Besides this, Trojan War is also dealt with in this group.

   
   


3. 
   

   The matter of Britain mainly deals with the exploits of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. The most interesting of all Arthurian romances are those of the Gawain cycle. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the culmination of the Arthurian romances.

   
   

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

It is a verse-romance of 2,530 lines, derived from Celtic legends. Here is the story:On a New Year's Eve, King Arthur and his knights are holding a feast for the arrival of the New Year. A giant dressed in green enters the banquet hall on horseback with a battle-axe in his hand. This big man comes to challenge any knight in the hall to give him a blow with the battle- axe. The condition is that a return stroke be permitted a year later at the Green Chapel. No knight in the half dares to accept the challenge. Seeing this, the King feels ashamed and angry, and he stands up and wants to accept the challenge himself. Just then, the King's nephew Gawain stands up and he takes up the challenge. With one blow he sends the giant's head rolling through the floor of the hall. But the Green Knight, who is evidently a terrible magician, does not fall and die. He picks up his head and mounts his horse. He holds out his head and the ghastly lips warn Gawain to be faithful to his promise and to seekthrough the world till he finds the Green Chapel, where on the next New Year's Day, the Green Knight will meet him and return the blow.

A year has passed. Sir Gawain leaves his uncle to look for the Green Chapel and the Green Knight. He goes through a lot of hardships and adventures on the way. But he cannot find the chapel or the knight.

On the Christmas Day, he loses his way in a forest. Then he kneels down to pray to Mary for help. After the prayers, a great castle appears on the hill before him. He goes up to the castle and is warmly entertained by the host and hostess. Gawain is told that the Green Chapel is not far away. And he is asked to have a three-day rest in the castle.

Gawain stays there for three days. The host makes a compact with him. According to the compact, the host goesout hunting each day, and Gawain stays in the castle to entertain the beautiful hostess. In the evening they should exchange what they have got during the day.

On the first day, the host goes hunting, and Gawain stays in the castle. The beautiful hostess tries to tempt him to make love with her, but is refused by Gawain. Then she gives Gawain a kiss. When the host returns in the evening, he gives his guest the game he killed, and Gawain gives him the kiss he got from the lady. On the second day, Gawain also receives a kiss from the hostess, and he gives it back to the host when he comes back. On the third day, the lady not only gives Gawain a kiss but also offers him a ring. Gawain refuses to accept the ring. Then the hostess wants him to accept a magic green girdle and tells him that the girdle will protect him from any injury if he wears it.

Gawain accepts the girdle and promises to the lady not totell anybody about it. When the host comes back in the evening, Gawain only gives back the kiss he got from the hostess but he does not say anything about the girdle.

Three days later, the host takes Gawain to the Green Chapel. As soon as they get there, the host disappears and Gawain is left alone. He finds that the chapel is a terrible place. When he approaches it, he hears a terrifying sound. Obviously the green giant is sharpening his new axe. Then the Green Knight comes out from the chapel with an axe, and Gawain offers his neck for his blow. Twice he is not injured at all, and the third blow of the axe falling upon his shoulder gives him a slight wound.

Then the Green Knight tells Sir Gawain that he is none three days. He says to Gawain that the first two blows of other than the host of the Castle where Gawain stayed forthe axe did not injure Gawain because he was true to the compact and twice returned the kiss. The last blow wounded him because he concealed the green girdle. Full of shame, Gawain throws back the girdle and is ready to atone for his deception. But the Green Knight thinks that he has already atoned, so he lets Gawain keep the girdle as a gift from him.

When Gawain comes back to his kingdom, his story becomes widely known. In order to let his knights remember this shameful thing and draw a lesson from it, King Arthur gives a command to his knights that each of them wears a green girdle.

This romance is one of the most delightful old romances in any language. In form, it is an interesting combination of French and Saxon elements. It is written in an elaboratestanza combining metre and alliteration. At the end of each stanza there is a rhymed refrain.