The Song of Roland: An Epic Poem Reflecting Medieval Themes
The Song of Roland is a classic poem by Turold that depicts the confrontation of the Roncevaux war. The poem is a medieval literary portrait that extols creative writing techniques (Smith). The poem is set in ancient times and consists of nine writings in French. The core theme of the poem is that bad deeds will never defeat good deeds. During a war, trust and integrity represent the good that prevails, and God is the most important being.Honor and Faith: Key Themes in The Song of Roland
Honor is another significant theme in The Song of Roland, as well as a virtue in the medieval era. Moreover, the account of just being a Christian is significant in the poem. The poet shows that through God's favor, Christians became successful even with the mistakes they make. The poet also illustrates how there is no honor in being a pagan, and the unbelievers are doomed to destruction. For instance, Roland fights with confidence when he initiated the horn-blowing event. Roland also gets indignity when horn blowing to ask the French army to defend him. Roland changes his thought after a guard is killed and the soldier's death would need vengeance (Cunningham).Justice and Goodness: Christian Perspectives in The Song of Roland
Goodness in the poem is presented as justice because the Christians fall on the side of Christ. In this instance, the Church is always correct, and truth always predominates. On the other hand, the pagans are wrong and unjust because they are not on the side of Christ. Apart from this, atheists from Babylon are seen as good and right because they have good qualities like a noble warrior. However, the pagans were considered inequitable and destructive. Moreover, the Christians were proud but were considered as bodies of justice, as well as good individuals (Dominik).Cultural Clash: Christians vs. Muslims in The Song of Roland
The poem exposes cultural features, which contribute to its development, whereby, it reflects the development of ethics and Christianity. The Christian Franks represent the good and the will of God. The Muslim Saracens represent the real evil. In the medieval world-view, the good will always overcome the truth, and this is a quality of a mighty God. The highest God takes credit in human affairs. In The Song of Roland, the characters have a democratic will. For instance, God could not hold aside and stop Ganelon's evil plan before it became harmful. God intervened and confirmed that good come out at the end. Another instance occurs when astonishingly breaks Pinabel in a fight. Thierry is weak but accomplishes to knock Pinabel because God makes him survive, as well as appear to be right (Cunningham).Duty and Responsibility: Themes of Obligation in The Song of Roland
Apart from this, the poet presents a cultural clash between the Christians and Muslims. The difference in cultural practices became a focal point in the poem. The French admire the Saracens for their abilities, the beauty of their equipment, and their willpower. However, the poet makes Charlemagne fight for the Christians, and this makes them want to convert all the non-believers to Christianity. Therefore, the poem presents how the Muslims were known during the medieval period (Cunningham).The Perception of Muslims and Vassalage in The Song of Roland
The poet presents the theme of duty and responsibility. The idea appears during the process of saving Charlemagne without considering any risk they are likely to experience. Roland seems to be eager to help, and even joins every mission, but agrees to protect Charlemagne. However, when a guard is killed, he refuses to blow the horn. Finally, Genalo also accepts his duties but he harbors resentment against Roland when he started experiencing danger (Cunningham). The presentation of Muslim appears to be full of evil because the poet makes them evil. They appear less noble, brilliant compared to the Christians. These Muslims are a good enemy to the Christians. The poet makes a resolution to change the image of a mistake to appear identical. In the Song of Roland, the Muslims worship Apollo, Mohammed, which mirrors the kind of Christian Trinity. Nevertheless, they symbolize the evil image. Thus, the middle ages viewed the Muslims as a kind of atheism though the Muslims are monotheistic (Cunningham). In addition to this, the Muslims celebrated the Apollo a Greek God. In the same way, the Saracen noblemen resemble the twelve Frankish noblemen. The conflicting fighters formed themselves into the same arrangements, but the Christians end up having a good fight. Apart from this, the poet at times makes the Muslims a valuable antagonist with the aim of making the battle more compelling and the Christian triumph stratifying. For instance, the poet provides a variety of Baligant, which makes him a strong opponent when fighting Charlemagne. Baligant praised God to make him worth fighting Charlemagne. Finally, the poet also enjoyed lacing his representation of the Saracens with a contact of the mysterious. For instance, the poet presents a kind of Baligant with several colorful details (Smith).Vassalage and Heroism: Feudal Society in The Song of Roland
The idea of vassalage is used in the poem to organize the larger-than-life heroism of the Christians. For example, the respect that a knight-errant owes his God is a replica of the conformity that a person owes the God and vice versa. Thus, the relationship between man and God was medieval and going to war was seen as something holy. This indicated that the feudal society appeared like a pyramid scheme where the country-dwellers presented the local seigneur loyalty, hard work, and fealty in return for fortification from God (Cunningham).The Tragic Heroism of Roland and the Structure of The Song of Roland
To some extent, the poet has incorporated the Roncesvals massacre the design of the long-established tragedy, and it appears to have worked in the poem. For instance, Roland seems to be in the position of the tragic hero in the poem. However, his pride makes him call Charlemagne's troops before it was too late. Roland dies of self-inflicted injuries and not from the Saracen well-aimed blow. However, the glory of his death is converted into a martyr's death because his importance appears to remain less during the fight. In addition to his denial to deal with the Saracens, he makes his faults inappropriate leading to his downfall. The passion he uses to fights for Christendom protects him. Here, the feeling is seen through the moaning, weeping, and the failing of his courageous characters. Their strong sentiments, stoic qualities, and not self-discipline make them exceptional (Cunningham).The Pyramid of the Middle Ages: God, King, and Vassals in The Song of Roland
Song of Roland also remains significant because it helps in the understanding of the pyramid of the Middle Ages. Apart from this, in the poem, there is a monument arrangement with God at the top. Charlemagne falls under God, and the other following levels of vassals under the king, who is understood as a direct symbol of Christ. In the hierarchy, God remains the authority of things below him, and they serve as a manifestation of divine will. Thus, the success of the vassals during the war depends on the loyalty to God was seen. Furthermore, Charlemagne's success also depends on his loyalty to their God (Smith).God's Guidance and Christian Symbolism in The Song of Roland
In this poem, God is kind, all-knowing, and with powerful ideas. God gives directions to his people. For instance, Ganelon is tried by combat with the hope that God will provide them with directions to overcome evil. When Jack experiences bad things it is said, the wrong things are because of God's plans. God is powerful is an opinion of the medieval time, and the characters in the poem assume that God will defend them. The assumption appears when the combat controlled Ganelon's trial because God was to aid the man in the right direction. However, the man still experienced evils in his activities, and the poem turned all these into God's plan. In addition to this, Roland and Charlemagne function as Christ images in the poem. In the first part of the poem, Roland is a sacrificial Christ who passes away freely. The disloyalty of Ganelon, which was a Judas image, found its decision in the Roland generous commitment (Smith).Stanzas and Structure: Poetic Elements in The Song of Roland
Apart from this, the poet has developed stanzas in the poem described as laisses, and the lines contain ten syllables. Furthermore, the lines are divided into a strong caesura, which falls after the fourth syllable. The last syllable that is stressed has a vowel sound, and the stanzas do not form a rhyming scheme. Thus, they produce a seasonal pattern and not a rhyming verse. The Song of Roland also uses a lot of repetition thesis-antithesis pairs and parallelism. Furthermore, the poem focuses on action instead of introspection because the characters presented through what they perform (Smith).In conclusion, The Song of Roland is an epic poem that presents how the medieval people recognized the Muslim in their region. During this time, the good overpowered the evil in the community. The poem centers on the final death of Charlemagne who was a relative Roland during the fight of Roncevaux. God in the poem is powerful, protects, as well as provides guidance to his followers. Christianity appears to be superior compared to the Muslims. God is all-knowing and very powerful, which explains why good overcomes evil. Finally, readers need to note that the epic poem is mainly about campaigners for Christ and has a theme of good overcoming evil.Works Cited
Dominik Mark. Stanford University, 2003, https://web.stanford.edu/group/journal/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Dominik_Hum_2003.pdf.Cunningham, Kyle Glen. "Historical Perspective and the Song of Roland." V, no. II,
Smith, Nicole. "The Song of Roland: An Analysis of Medieval Lord and Vassal Relationships." Article Myriad, 2016, http://www.articlemyriad.com/analysis-song-roland-relationships/.
