Literature Assignment: Epic Heroes, Chaucer's Works, and Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of key literary works, focusing on the epic poem Beowulf and Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale. The analysis begins by examining Beowulf's character as an epic hero, highlighting his bravery and the significance of his battles against Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. The essay then delves into the characteristics of epic heroes, using Beowulf as a prime example, and explores themes of loyalty, courage, and superhuman strength. Furthermore, the essay examines the character of the Wife of Bath, discussing her portrayal as both feminist and anti-feminist, and analyzing Chaucer's views on women and marriage. The Knight from Canterbury Tales is also analyzed. The essay concludes by offering an in-depth look at the Wife of Bath's narrative style and her self-established role in the institution of marriage, as well as her unique perspectives on religion and societal expectations. The essay also includes references for each of the points made. This essay provides a detailed overview of the key characters, themes, and literary techniques employed in these significant works of literature.

Running head: LITERATURE
Literature
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Answer one
Beowulf is an epic hero. The fights in Beowulf increased the higher shade of epic
nature in the character of Beowulf. The grandeur of the epic was more clearly executed
during the fight. The fight was conducted in a heroic manner. Beowolf was brave in all the
three fights and the fight was conducted in land, in sea, in forest. It added up to the epic
nature. The first battle was a graphic one. It was between Beowulf and Grendel (Eugenio and
Damiana). It was the test of his physicality. Beowulf tore off the arms of Grendel and in this
battle where Beowulf fought for his fame and to prove his popularity. In the second fight he
defeated Grendel`s mother. The significance of this battle is the execution of the Grendel`s
mother`s feminine power that to some extent masculine in nature. Beowulf represented the
adult stage during this battle. He acted in a more defensive manner. This fight was conducted
in the lake which made him more heroic. In the third battle Beowulf fought with the dragon
that occurred after fifty years. It was towards the end of his life and it represents his doom.
The symbolic representation of this battle was the opposite traits of being a good king. It
represented guilt. Unfortunately this fight brought an end to the life of Beowulf (Kaplan and
Jeff).
Answer two
The characters of the epic heroes are larger than life. Beowulf comprises of all the
characters that an epic hero should consist. He includes characters like honor, brave, valiant,
he consist the superhuman strengths. Beowulf delivers his loyalty to his friend king Hrothgar
by keeping his words and helping his friend by indulging in three dangerous battles. In all the
battles he displayed his bravery and he fought with his bare hands and in one of the battle he
was left alone by other men but he fought till the end of his life. Beowulf displayed his heroic
strengths in many instances in the epic piece. His major heroic characteristics in the novel are

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the epic is the inhuman strength, the loyalty, the courage and the faith and the gratitude
(Merchant and Paul).
Answer three
The representation of the Wife in the Wife of Bath has been tagged as being
`feminist` as well as `anti-feminist`. The tale actually opines the character of women.
Chaucer was in favor of ideas like an old woman needs to be transformed into a young on in
order to be entirely attain satisfaction. The girl who was raped and who spoke about the
wrong women was removed from the text. However, only the Queen in the text has been
treated as a good example of a wise and a powerful female in spite of the fact that she has
solicited the powers that she attained from her husband. The wife in the tale has been
portrayed as an individual who is against the misogynist views of women but she has been
portrayed as a violent and a overbearing woman who is in favor of trade sex for having
material advantage. The wife is the creation of Chaucer but she has been created from a
literary tradition which has evidences of the sexually experienced older woman. The
representation of woman in the tales of Chaucer is lustful and morally corrupt as the
protagonist is exaggerates her sexual urge in the novel (Phillips, Helen and Nick Havely).
Answer four
Among all the characters in Chaucer`s Canterbury Tales the most idealized character
is the character of the Knight. He is undoubtedly the most idealized character as he has been
portrayed as the courtly lover and he holds the highest rank among all the pilgrims. He has
narrated a romance of courtly romance which was not vulgar compared to any other pilgrim’s
tales. The knight has been described as the loved chivalrie. Compared to other characters the
knight is more idealized as he holds the highest rank and is more sober. The other characters

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end up in being naïve and lustful in the tale but the knight has remained idealized from the
starting to the end of the tale (Loomis and Roger).
Answer five
In the `wife of bath` the protagonist begins to narrate her story by establishing herself
as an institution of marriage because of her dense experience with the institution. She was
indulged in multiple marriages. She had five husbands. She was critized by many people for
having so many marriages. She had her own idea of religion and her view of scriptures and
the plans of God were different. She had no problem in defending herself when she was
encountered with heated conversation with the other pilgrims who had a traditional thought
of belief. She was seen as a wicked and a fallen woman. She however herself confirms to a
number of certain misogynist stereotypical thoughts (Chaucer and Geoffrey).

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References
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The wife of Bath's prologue and tale. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Eugenio, Damiana L. "Philippine folk literature: The epics." Cross-Currents 6.1 (2017).
Kaplan, Jeff. "Dancing with the Dragon: Orality and (body) language (s) in a live
performance of Beowulf." Nordic Theatre Studies 28.2 (2017).
Loomis, Roger Sherman. A mirror of Chaucer's world. Princeton University Press, 2017.
Merchant, Paul. The epic. Vol. 16. Routledge, 2017.
Phillips, Helen, and Nick Havely, eds. Chaucer's Dream Poetry. Routledge, 2016.