The Function Of Pilgrimage

1. The Function of the Pilgrimage in Medieval Literature (illustrate with at least one text): Anonymous ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, Geoffrey Chaucer ‘The Canterbury Tales’, Anonymous ‘Everyman’

The English Medieval Literature is a source of much information about the common people. It reveals aspects about the social status of women, religion, beliefs and customs. Medieval England did not recognize the existence of any class between the aristocracy and the commons. However, there existed a large and increasingly important middle class who could afford a proper education. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in such a wealthy family, son of a wine merchant. His education offered him important positions near the Royal Court. Although he had a busy life at the Court, he was much concerned with literature, reading Italian and French works of poetry. He also wrote a significant number of poems in the vernacular English, inspired by the Italian literature. The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer’s chief literary interest until his death. As a commoner himself, he had a sympathy for the lower classes which he describes in this literary work. His original plan was to write about 120 stories, two for each pilgrim to tell on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. He wrote The Canterbury Tales in English, for common people. He wasn’t obedient neither to the Court, whose official language was French, not to the Church, whose official language was Latin. With an intense realism of his characters, Geoffrey documents various social tensions of his the Medieval England. Surviving tales have an unknown order, but some scholars choose the order on a combination of the links and the geographical landmarks that pilgrims pass on their way to Canterbury. The premise for storytelling is a pilgrimage to the shrine of the famous English saint, Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in his church. Medieval pilgrims were notorious story-tellers. We are invited by the narrator to take part in a travel through the English medieval society and listen to their stories. They are common people described with much detail in the General Prologue. The group ride together and entertain each other with stories. A knight, a miller, a wife, nuns, a parson, a monk, a pardoner (responsible with indulgence sales) and other pilgrims from various social classes are brought together by the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage offer them a common purpose. Some stories have a noble air, like the Knight’s tale placed in Athens, with legendary characters, such as Theseus, Emelye and Palamon. Other stories have much humor, such as the Miller’s tale about an adulteress wife. Women were stigmatized in those times, considered to be the cause of all sin and evil. Stories are often turned against a certain member of this group of pilgrims, often against women. But in this pilgrimage there are women who want to defend their status through another story. The Wife of Bath describes a knight, the materialization of masculine virtue, as a most ill-behaved and ill-mannered man. The story contest turns into a fight. Tales become highly offensive, directed to one another. However, in the spirit of the pilgrimage fellowship, they forgive each other and laugh together. The pilgrimage creates strong friendship bonds and a way of knowing each other. Religion, especially Christianity, was a daily subject for the Medieval People of England. Pilgrimages were ways of atoning sins, but Chaucer’s pilgrims which lacks mercy, humility, modesty and any other sign of Christian piety. The Wife of Bath performs theological disputes whether it is right or wrong to be married several times, since she had five husbands. She comes with biblical arguments, showing how 1 much concerned with religion were commoners. Through pilgrimage, travelers discover their inner struggles, view of world, religious opinions, secrets or marital problems. Each story has a prologue where a member of the group reveals his own self. The pilgrimage develops conflicts through storytelling and reveals secrets which are never told elsewhere. Some stories are verosimil, describing real-life situations. Other stories are fantastic, depicting fantastic creatures, magicians associated with science, magic powers

and popular beliefs. Pilgrimage is a place for all sorts of stories, Greek and Roman legends, tragic tales or merry tales, moral tales and chivalry tales. The pilgrimage is a place where everyone can show themselves as the really are, with honesty. The Pardoner reveals his fraudulent activity with false relics. The Wife of Bath shows her experience with men, the Prioress unravels her hate for Jews and the Cook rides blind drunk at the back of the company. It is nothing pious to be found at this group of pilgrims. They drink, laugh and tell a great deal of picaresque stories about adulteress women. The pilgrimage reveals the character of each member with their innermost traits, as a place where everyone confesses himself with honesty. In Canterbury Tales pilgrimage is a premise for story telling, a way of communication, a place where secrets are told and where debates take place. The anonymus morality play Everyman also uses the theme of pilgrimage, but in a more abstract way. Its characters are allegorical, like Everyman, Mercy, Discretion, Good Deeds or Mischief. The play presents in an allegorical way the forces which can help to save Everyman from the eternal damnation. Everyman will have to make a journey from life to death. In this journey towards death he will have to gather friends like Friendship, Good Deeds, Kindred and Cousin. All forsake Everyman in his quest towards his grave, except Good Deeds who will follow him in his pilgrimage. The pilgrimage itself is an important type in medieval literature, providing base for many medieval writing, such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The metaphor is life as a journey towards God. In Everyman the emphasis is quite firmly laid on the fact that it is a journey that you make alone. To atone for his sins, Everyman will have to take this journey, even if he has to whip himself as a sign of atonement. Priesthood is also an important stop on his journey, where he will receive forgiveness. The moral play puts stress on the importance of priesthood. When Everyman is ready to go, Good Deeds stops him, telling him he needs three more people to accompany him: Discretion, Strength and Beauty. Everyman gathers his friends and is finally happy now that he has everything he needs to go on his pilgrimage to the afterlife. But all his fellow pilgrims will forsake him when he reaches his grave. Only Good Deeds will be happy to follow him beyond death. Pilgrimage in Everyman is an allegory of the life which moves inevitably and irreversibly towards death. It serves as a way to convey the Catholic doctrine of life, death, virtue and sin, priesthood, the futility of worldly goods and fame. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, although it does not expresses directly the idea of a pilgrimage, it describes a travel in the search of the Green Chapel. Sir Gawain is a young knight who steps forward and accepts the Green Knight’s challenge. After beheading the Green Knight in a beheading game, he will have to search for him to receive back the blow of an axe. His journey will not test only Gawain’s bravery, but also his honesty and integrity. The passing of the seasons are poetically described and symbolizes the change in Gawain’s heart. Just as the external world shifts over the course of the year, so does Gawain’s inner climate. He transforms from a joyous youth to a mournful figure as the world passes from winter to summer and back again. Gawain is called to demonstrate his steadfastness in a world designed to change by cycles of life and death. On the Day of All Saints, Gawain will start his pilgrimage, searching for the Green Chapel. He encounter various enemies - wolves and dragons, bulls and bears, boars and giants - but always prevails over his enemies. On the Christmas Eve, the desperate Gawain prays to Virgin Mary that he might find a place to attend Christmas Mass. Gawain looks up and sees a beautiful castle. The host is Sir Bertilak, which had been disguised into the Green Knight. The second part of his quest will be a loyalty and honesty test and will take place in this castle. His honesty is tested by the host’s wife. Sir Gawain promises to give to his host everything he will receive from the two women of the2 castle, the host’s wife and Morgan le Feye. His partial honesty shows that he is not a perfect knight. He gives two kisses to his host, but he hides the sash which he received from the host’s wife. His journey to the Green Chapel is a road towards maturity. He atones his mistake of hiding the sash by receiving a little cut on his neck. After completing the quest, Sir Gawain returns as an experienced knight.

For Sir Gawain pilgrimage is a way to achieve perfection. The travel is his road to maturity and symbolize his inner development. He defeat beasts and, with the help of Holy Mary, he finds the Green Knight. He is tempted by Bertilak’s mistress and he rejects her in a chivalry way. The last part of his journey is an atonement for his mistake of hiding the sash. The only injury he gets is a small cut on his neck. He returns victorious in Camelot to tell his tale. In all three literary works, pilgrimage has a common purpose: inner development. Canterbury Tale’s pilgrims develops communication and exchange knowledge, Everyman purifies his soul as he prepares for the afterlife, while Sir Gawain becomes a better knight. They all go through changes, in a way or another. The main functions of pilgrimage in the English Medieval Literature is to show the irreversible passage of time, the development of a character, storytelling and communication.

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