The Song of Roland - Essay Example

The Song of Ronald "The Song of Roland" is amongst the oldest surviving epic poetic works of French literature. It is believed that it was written between 1140 and 1170 during the middle ages, at this time in Europe there was a religious upheaval in which two dominant religious powers came into existence; Islam and Christianity. It was the time the first crusade occurred where Christians felt it was their duty to force Muslims to Christianity and had to do that through wars and conquest. The Song of Roland was written presumable to motivate and entice the fighters to go to war.

The poem main subject is to point out that Christians who hold their beliefs can do great things and even if they fall they will welcome to heaven by angels on their way there. The song tells of how Charlemagne a Christian king, wanted to conquer the Muslim king Marsile (Project Gutenberg) in Stanza I line [7] the poem states “Marsile its King, who feareth not Gods name” Meaning that they felt being Muslim equated to being evil that has to be uprooted. For seven years king Charlemagne had been at war with the Saracens and only King Marsile and queen Bramimonde of the city of Saragossa had not been defeated.

The poem gives a parallel of a battle between the good and the evil. In this the Saracens are presented as evil and the Franks present the pure good, their major motivation being doing the will of God. According to the poem the Saracean who are Muslims on dying their souls are bound for the eternal flame of hell. The fighters are greatly motivated by their religious beliefs .The fighters in this song have very strong Christian conviction believing that God’s will comes before any man and God is a kind God and all powerful.

For example in deciding the fate of the traitor Ganelon they go for a judicial fight with faith that God will intervene for the right man. Ironically that is what happened when Thierry a brave but less physically built than Ganelon manages to slay Ganelon in the fight.The fighters have strong sense of duty and loyalty both to God and their fellow fighters. Because of Roland’s sense of duty he fought to death at the pass of Roncevaux together with twenty thousand Christians against an army of four hundred thousand men.

This same loyalty mad King Charlemagne to avenge the death of Roland. This kind of duty and loyalty that arose spontaneously could be parallel to the love of God. In such a holly war fighters considered it being bound by duty and loyalty to each other as divine.Despite being very pious King Charlemagne decided to take Blancandrin’s advice even though he was a pagan. Because he gives advice for the good to King Charlemagne he is considered to be one of the wisest pagans; this is uncommon when implying to Sarcens in the entire poem.

When Queen Bramimonde is declared to have become a Christian, her baptism is greatly celebrated for a while. However this celebration does not last long as angel Gabriel informs the king he must go off to another war against pagans. The poem says that despite him being tired and weary he still obeys the will of God. That was how they valued their religious view and believed that by going to war they were fulfilling God’s holy will.In conclusion this classic poem tells of a heroic story of a French king in service of Christianity, a knight Roland who dies in service of his religion.

The poem depicts Saracens as evil and need conversion. Their Joy when Queen Bramimonde becomes a Christian is an indication of how religiously convicted they were. To them the conversion of pagans to Christianity was the ultimate goal. This is also elucidated when King Charlemagne has to go to war with pagans even though he was fatigued. All fighters in this poem display loyalty to God and their perception of him is that he is all powerful and all kind as shown when they trust that He will place Ganelon in the hands of Thierry which He did.

Works CitedProject Gutenberg. Song of Roland. Ed. C. K. [Charles Kenneth] Moncreiff. January 1996. Douglas B. Killings and R. J. Maley. 27 October 2011 .