Medieval Characters, their role in stories compared to their roles in novels

Pauly Lantvit
English 131 G
Zehr
24 September, 2002
The Big Question
Medieval Literature is similar to the opera. Most teenagers won’t even consider broadening their horizons to new and different styles of art. But, once they open up and dig a little deeper, teenagers will acquire a respect and knowledge for medieval culture, philosophy, and might discover something about themselves that makes them a unique individual. Many characters in medieval society were sheep because they let themselves be defined solely by their role in society. But, others chose to break out of the ordinary and take the risk of being individuals in a highly contumacious and closed-minded culture. The following sections will examine how three characters from different literary pieces display their own signs of individuality. The seafarer, Beowulf, and the wife of Bath are very interesting characters because in addition to being individuals, they are very distinct from one another as far as the...