So Sir Gowther…is a demon. Or a half demon fiend
thing. My main question, when I got halfway through the reading was, “how much
of this is actually his fault?” My initial reaction to the first half of the
story was to think, “What the hell?? This guy is the worst person ever, he has
no redeeming qualities, and there is no way I could ever forgive him for what
he did”. But then I started to think…if he is the son of a fiend, is he aware
of what he is doing, because he’s not fully human is he? And if he is not fully
human, is he potentially forgivable for his deeds? I tend to think some things
are not forgivable, no matter how much repentance you do, but I know that not
everyone else thinks that way. After I had read the whole story I was obviously
very happy to see that he had severely changed his ways after learning about
his parenthood and deciding that that was not the path that he wanted to go
down, but what I do not understand is what gave him this moment of reckoning? Why
did he have such a great moment of clarity? I think that was what annoyed me
the most, because while I appreciate what he went through in terms of
repentance, it annoys me that I do not know what the catalyst was, and it is
important to me. It’s not something that I can just be like, “oh yeah that
makes total sense”, because it doesn’t.
to...
Sidenote: Can we also talk about the poor girl that
he ends up marrying? It was borderline comical but annoying how often they
called her dumb just because she couldn’t speak. Like ok, she’s mute, so what??
But that’s medieval writing for you. I have to say that I am very happy she got
a happy ending out of this story. She seemed like a genuinely good character
even though she had a minor plot line.
But the last thing I wanted to mention was how much I
appreciated this line in the story, “But even thought the Pope had shriven Gowther,
and God his sins forgiven, Still his heart was sore…” (II 697-699). I think
this line was what made me accept this story line at the end. I needed Gowther
to continue to feel the pain of what he did, because while he did an awful lot
of good things, I did not want his character to be like well, ok, I did that,
and now I am good to go for the rest of my life!
Actually, the word "dumb" originally meant unable to speak (mute); it's since come to mean unintelligent! (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dumb)
ReplyDeleteThis story was probably appealing to readers because everyone makes mistakes. If we see this story as a type of forgiveness lesson, should the message really be never forgive anyone. The whole devil son, killings etc were an exaggeration to make the story interesting... because I'm sure no one would want to read a story about a petty crime and how that person confessed and did things for forgiveness. I like that line too... and I think that's what really expresses the moral.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tiffany. Everybody that is always bad or evil doesn't always deserve to suffer and should be given a chance to be forgiven. See when Gowther realized that he was the son of the Devil, he made the choice to go on the right path and become good. So even though he did all these bad things he wants to become a good person. Everyone has a chance to make change to be on the right path and that's what this story shows us. No matter what you were born into, you have the choice to choose what you want to do with your life, You can choose to live right or evil.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Tiffany because no one is perfect. People tend to quickly judge others for their actions when they themselves have done things just as bad. I think having a character like Gowther makes people feel better because they think, we'll if he can be forgiven, then surely I can too if I really mean it! In regards to the mute maiden, I agree that she seems like a genuinely good character and she deserves to be happy, but who is to say she isn't? She married someone who also can't speak! That's a bond not many people share!
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