I’m beginning to see a theme here…forgiveness seems to
be at the forefront of many of the last stories we’ve read in this class. I’m sure this one will have its critics too,
but I like to NOT try to find everything wrong with the story and focus on some
of the good. (What can I say? I’m an eternal
optimist.) So I’d like to share my on-going debate about whether or not our
hero/villain actually learns his lesson in the Christian realm of things. Because I really think that is the point of
these stories. Regardless of the level
of assholery in these characters, we can still see that they try to seek
forgiveness (With the exception of the knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale…I’m
still not completely convinced of that one.) Anyway, this story is refreshing,
because no one that is supposed to be (somewhat) likeable treats the main
female character like shit. That’s
really awesome.
It’s interesting because yes, Gowther was a horrible
person. Yes, he burned down a convent.
Yes, he killed people senselessly.
But I don’t feel as much malice toward him as I thought I would.
So here’s my theory: The stories we've been reading
have been part of some sort of progression in achieving forgiveness. The Wife
of Bath’s Tale basically teaches us what not to do. Emare gets a little better because we get the
sense that her father actually WANTS forgiveness, and he does at least a little
something on his own volition to do it. Sir
Gowther actually suffers to earn his forgiveness. I mean, eating from the mouth of dogs and
being a fool…in my book, that’s dedication to a cause. He also valiantly fights for a kingdom that
has basically treated him as a joke. So
I’m completely okay with Gowther because I feel like he really does earn his
forgiveness.
It’s really not like this, where Emare’s father is
like “Hey, these are my sins. Good?
Okay, done.”
I’m kind of tired of this “good person vs. bad
person” conversation, because that’s all we ever seem to talk about now. We can sit here and criticize these
characters and pick apart every bad thing they do, but in the end I think we
need to look at them as a whole. Have they
earned good-person status, despite their mistakes? In some cases, maybe not.
But in many cases, they have. Sometimes
we just need to take an alternate point of view.
