Oroonoko, the Royal Slave and Sir Gawain and Green Knight - Essay Example

British literature had a wide array of themes, many running parallel to each other, but situating them in different time periods. This paper comparesOroonoko, The Royal Slave, a seventeenth century literary piece written by Aphra Behn and Sir Gawain and Green Knight, a fourteenth century Arthurian Romance ascribed to Sir Gawain Poet. Both belong to the British English Literature and have many things in common. In their literary style, theme and characters, there are many parallels. They can also be compared with reference to the style and approach their authors have used to convince their readers of the characters. Situating them in their time periods also help understand them better. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The author is unknown, but seems very real through the work. Dating back earlier than the Chaucerian era, this Arthurian Romance can be identified as one of the earliest literary works in English belonging to the Romance tradition. Consisting of two old folk tales, the theme of the book centers on knighthood, chivalry, court manners and is a typical example of medieval writings and is written in the Northwest Midland dialect. Also, it is typical of the Norman-French period. The romance is about the adventures of a knight who belongs to King Arthur’s Round Table. It has both male and female characters, and centers around the challenge of the Green Knight and Sir Gawain’s adventures thereafter. Finally, the story reveals that there had been a woman who had the strings of the story in her control and had initiated it and shows how powerful woman could be. But it does not reveal the motive of her plans of using a Green Knight to pose challenge to her knights and to drive Sir Gawain into adventure. Oroonoko: Aphra Behn wrote Oroonoko in the Seventeenth century (17th C), nearly four centuries later to a new audience. The story has an African Prince as its protagonist and has adventures, love, women, and kingdoms weaved into the plot in the backdrop of the 17th C colonialism. A precursor of the modern novel, it has much traces of the Medieval Romance still in it. A mixture of male and female characters belonging to the black and white races, the plot presents conflicts between people, communities and individuals. A comparison: Oroonoko has many themes in common with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Though written centuries apart, they share the themes of courtly chivalry and romance. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is of a knight in Arthur’s kingdom, supposed to abide by chivalric codes and to perform duties to the King, the Lady and God. Though no spiritual requirements figure in the story, Sir Gawain goes on a quest crossing obstacles and many distractions to meet his challenge with the Green Knight. He travels a lot, and meets combats with men and beasts, seduction by women and finally reaches his destination. Though Oroonoko is not a typical medieval romance, it has many common themes and features that appear in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is set in the Medieval Feudal England with the Arthurian legendary characters, while Oroonoko is set in the Seventeenth Century British Colonies. Unlike the earlier work, Oroonoko, features characters belonging to both the Whites and the Blacks. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has a knight-hero, Sir Gawain as its adventurous hero, who claims royalty. Similarly, Oroonoko has a Prince as its hero, who is adventurous and heroic. Both the heroes are endowed with perfect physical features. Both Oroonoko and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight display the characteristics of Romance literature. Both have a hero who is great and noble and is shown to possess extraordinary heroism, and as adventurous. Typical of the Medieval Romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight depicts a story of adventure of a knight belonging to a King’s court. The work idealizes chivalry, the hero-knight and the adventure and noble deeds of a knight-hero. Similarly, Oroonoko, as its title indicates, has a Royal Slave, as its hero. The hero is an African Prince, belonging to the royal courts, though he turns to be a slave and meets a tragic death. Unlike Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Oroonoko makes its hero meet an inhuman death despite his heroism. However, in the death he stands tall, full of stoicism, smoking his pipe while people mutilate him to death. This can be compared with the beheading of the Green Knight and later the act of beheading of Sir Gawain, though the hero-knight survives with not much fatal wounds from the Green Knight’s sword. Sir Gawain displays utmost chivalry and loyalty in his adventurous journey to meet the Green Knight. He goes on this potential perilous journey due to the challenge posed by the Green Knight. Similarly, Oroonoko also is faithful to his words when he accepts the invitation from the White Captain in turn to find himself into slavery. He remains to conscious of his royalty and pride in his race and position, that he goes to extent of killing his wife and the to be born child. He cannot afford his child to be born a slave. Here Aphra Behn shows a truly heroic character with a principle of his own; Sir Gawain, also is expected to display the virtues of the courtly chivalry but is found to be falling short of it when he fails to speak the truth to Bertilak. In this case, though Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems to celebrate knighthood and chivalry, in fact criticizes the unreal imaginary knighthood of the fourteenth century. On the other hand, Oroonoko emerges as more heroic than Sir Gawain in remaining truthful to his ideals till the end. Usually, medieval romance has a love element, i.e. the love of the knight for a lady. Oroonoko falls in love with Imoinda, who his grandfather also loves. He combats brutal slave owners and colonists. As required in his period, unlike the feudal period, he organizes and leads slave revolts and rebellions in the colonies. Oroonoko depicts the adventurous spirit of the Prince and his attempts at getting at his lady love, Imoinda, despite the truth that she is a wife of Oroonoko’s grandfather. The lovers become man and wife, but under slavery in Surinam. Similarly, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the lady in the castle tries to seduce Sir Gawain and there are love exchanges between them. Love is a part of adventure. The settings are generally imaginary in medieval romances. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, being a medieval romance has typical imaginary settings like the Green Chapel and the Castle. However, Oroonoko is set in the real world. But, both the works add make believe characteristics to their settings, characters and plot to add real color to the otherwise exaggerated or imaginary elements. For example, the description of Oroonoko by Aphra Behn features more of European and Roman features than African, what the hero really is. The most famous Statuary coud not form the Figure of a Man more admirably turnd from head to foot...His Nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His Mouth, the finest shapd that could be seen...The whole Proportion and Air of his Face was so noble, and exactly formd, that, bating his Colour, there coud be nothing in Nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome" (13). There are supernatural elements like magic and sorcery in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but there is none such a thing in Oroonoko. However, the fantasy element in the earlier work, i.e. the beheading, which is typical of legends and myths, is transformed into grotesque mutilation of Oroonoko in the latter work. Though generally categorized as belonging to Memoir or Travel Literature, Oroonoko also has elements of Romance. Medieval Romances have a knight going on a quest, meeting adventures and love. It highlights the courtly qualities like chivalry, and gentleness and usually puts them to test. While Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is typical of these, Oroonoko also shows the travel that its hero undertakes as a Prince and then as a slave, his adventures to save his lady, and his people, displaying all virtues of a hero as admired by the white female narrator. Both the works have epic like heroic characters celebrating chivalry. Bibliography Behn, Aphra. “Oroonoko”. London: Penguin, 2003. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. 1999. December 03, 2009. http://alliteration.net/Pearl.htm Read More