Comparison Of Honor Essay Research Paper A

Comparison Of Honor Essay, Research Paper

A Comparison of Honor

The Middle Ages were a time when honor was considered the most important things one could possess in their lives. Honor was the cornerstone for everything that was good about medieval society and people would do anything to protect what honor they had. The three poems The Franklin’s Tale, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Sir Orfeo all have honor as a central theme in the stories they tell us. Honor is portrayed in different ways as it is shown in each of these poems. The theme of honor is shown to be held higher than anything else in The Franklin’s Tale, while in Sir Orfeo his love for his wife seems to push honor aside. The honor that is seen in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the honor for one’s own beliefs and standards but hope, in the end, overcomes honor.

One major theme of honor in these poems is when honor is put over everything including love or even one’s own life. Honor over everything can be interpreted as trying to maintain an honorable public image and keeping a good name for one’s self. This can be seen by what other things honor goes ahead of. For starters, honor would go ahead of love that may be in the form of marriage or not. If, in fact, love is in the form of marriage than the word of honor that someone gives to his or her spouse could be put in back of the public honor. These people would rather dishonor their pledge to their spouse than be seen by the public as someone with a bad name or a dishonorable individual. This is seen in the pledge between Arveragus and Dorigen. He was very forceful in his opinion saying “I would rather be stabbed, because of the love I have for you, than have you fail to keep your word of honor” (750). Arveragus did this to protect both his public image and to protect Dorigen’s public image also. It seems that for these people the public image was much more important than the private life. Arveragus is willing to give up his wife and all his happiness for the rest of his life just so both of their reputations aren’t blemished with the label of being dishonorable. Arveragus and Dorigen being very high up on the social class system, had to keep their social image free from any dishonorable events in order to keep there good name. If the word got out that Dorigen made this deal her good name would be ruined and she would most likely fall from her high social position. Arveragus almost seemed more concern with their public image saying “I forbid you, on pain of death, ever, while life or breath lasts, to tell anyone of this misadventure”(753). This shows that, above all, what the public thought of their image was most important. Arveragus, being a knight, could not have a wife that made pledges to other men, especially ones that involved her being with that other man. A knight was supposed to have control over everything in his life including his wife. In theory, a knight’s wife would almost be a servant of the husband and a wife should never be as promiscuous as Dorigen was in making the pledge to Aurelius.

On the other side of this issue is the poem of Sir Orfeo. In this story love, unlike that in The Franklin’s Tale, was put above everything including honor. Orfeo can not live without his wife so he decides to go into the woods where he will die. “For now that I have lost my queen, / Into the wilderness I will flee, / and there live for evermore”(209). This act shows that he is so upset about his wife that he will give up the life of a king and take that of a beggar. Orfeo shows how much he really cared for his wife by taking a solitary life of a beggar. During the Middle Ages status was very important and many people would have done something like Arveragus did to protect their honor. Giving up the position of being a king is a very public occurrence and shows that Orfeo didn’t care about his public image or his good name, all he cared about was being with his wife. Before Orfeo’s wife was taken by the fairy king, he had himself and his whole army out to protect his queen. Orfeo was going to do everything it took, this includes dying, to ensure that the love of his life would be there with him forever.

Honor and love are very important in each of the three poems. The ways that love is treated in each of the poems is different. In The Franklin’s Tale love is second to honor, nothing could make these people give up their good name in the public eye. In Sir Orfeo, love is all that matters and honor doesn’t seem to even be a big part in the poem except for at the end when Orfeo tests his steward. “King Orfeo now had proved and knew/ his steward was both loyal and true, / and loved him as duly should”(553). This shows that although the king did put love before honor, he still felt that honor was very important. Orfeo felt that it was important enough to tell people that the king was dead just to see their reactions. In this story it seems as if being honored is more important than having people think that you re an honorable man. Orfeo didn’t care what people thought as he left for the forest but on his return the first this he does is not greet his friends, which he hasn’t seen in many years, but test there loyalty and honor for him.

A third type of honor is seen in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This is the honor of yourself and what one believes in. Gawain believed very much in the church and the pride of being a kni