Davyon Duhart
Albright
Senior English
8 October 2017
Envy in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Societies
Medieval and Anglo-Saxon societies were both formed in different time periods but they seemed to have a lot more in common than one would expect. Humans in both of these eras had similar values and principles and they also seemed to have the same kinds of problems. One overarching human problem that was displayed in both societies was envy. In both Beowulf and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the overarching problem of envy was prominent in both Anglo-Saxon and Medieval societies. In Beowulf, envy was seen a lot in one of the characters – Grendel. Grendel is a monster and he is basically the embodiment of envy in the story because of his history with the people of Danes and his hatred for Heorot. His background is also important because it plays a big role in his character. In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, one of the stories, The Miller’s Tale, talks about envy. It talks about a man that envies his significant other because she is much Younger than him and she has affairs with other men. Both Anglo-Saxon and Medieval societies seem to be very based on Christian beliefs and the Bible seems to be a strong nonfiction basis for both stories. They both talk about the seven deadly sins which are a big part of the Bible.
First of all, Beowulf is a story about a hero named Beowulf that defeats many different kinds of monsters including one named Grendel that would terrorize people of his land. Grendel was a descendant of Cain, the first human born according to the Bible. Cain had killed his brother Abel because Cain envied him. This background could show how important envy is in the character of Grendel. “Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain's clan, whom the creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord had exacted a price: Cain got no good from committing that murder because the Almighty made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants too who strove with God time and again until He gave them their reward” (Lines 102-114). This part of the poem explains a bit on the background of Grendel and it also gives insight as to how he was seen by the people. It describes him as a “grim demon” and said that he was “banished” and “condemned as outcasts”. This could explain why the monsters behave in such a horrible manner. Grendel is an outcast and he is envious that he cannot be happy and joyous like the people, this is why he reacts so violently. The Anglo-Saxon society tried to fix this problem by defeating these envious monsters. Beowulf, the strongest warrior, had ended up defeating Grendel and the people rejoiced because their problem was gone.
Next, in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale displays actions of envy in the Medieval society. The Miller’s Tale is about a carpenter, John, who marries a younger female that a lot of others are attracted to. In the story, the female attracts a young male named Nicholas and they have an affair. She also attracts another man named Absolon. Her husband envies her because she is young and Absolon envies her because she will not give herself to him that easily. There is a problem here because she is having an affair while she is still married. She kind of tried to solve the problem by being with all of them at the same time but that created a worse problem because she was cheating on her husband with two other men. The consequence was that at the end her husband ended up looking like a fool. In one part of the story, it talks about Nicholas’s jealousy with the female’s husband, “Nicholas shal shapen him a wyle This sely jalous housbond to bigyle; And if so be the game went aright, She sholde slepen in his arm al night” (Lines 300-303). This quote talks about the fact that Nicholas will not be satisfied unless he gets the girl to have sex with him in her husband’s bed. He is basically jealous that the husband gets to have her whenever in his own bed.
On a similar note, the Bible is a nonfiction text that applies to both Beowulf and the Canterbury Tales. Besides the fact that both texts use biblical allusions to make stronger points, both texts also talk about one of the seven deadly sins which are referenced in the Bible. The sin they talk about is envy. Both of these societies were heavily influenced by the Bible and that can be seen through the endless allusions. Beowulf references the story of Cain and Abel whilst talking about the deadly sins. The Canterbury Tales also reference the sins, as seen in The Miller’s Tale: lust, envy, pride, and greed. The Bible is a major holy scripture in both societies and in Beowulf, they wanted to embrace the good and get rid of the bad, like Grendel. The monsters symbolized the sins, basically. The Canterbury Tales were more realistic depictions of what would happen if one were to indulge in such sins, hence the carpenter was seen as a fool after he had been sinning.
In conclusion, both texts were quite similar in the way that they both tried to show how majorly problems could affect their society. It was shown on a much larger scale in Beowulf because it had represented the problems as actual beings. The strong beliefs in the Bible had influenced the stories because those were the main problems that were shown throughout both texts. The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval societies were both similar in the way that they tried to overcome the overarching human problem of envy.
Works Cited
Ackroyd, Peter, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Nick Bantock. The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin Classics, 2009. Print. Accessed 1 October 2017.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume A The Middle Ages. 8th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. 239-55. Print. Accessed 1 October 2017.