EN142: Myths & Legends of Ireland & Britain
Fall 2011

Second Essay

The second essay is due at the beginning of class on Friday, December 9. It should be approximately 5-6 pages long. There are three options for this essay:

Option One: Welsh Legends

Analyze one of the “Four Branches of the Mabinogi” (“Pwyll Lord of Dyved”; “Branwen Daughter of Llyr”; “Manawydan Son of Llyr”; “Math Son of Mathonwy”). You could, for instance:

• study a tale to reveal a central theme or concept that organizes its disparate episodes.
• analyze one prominent character in one of the tales—such as Evnissyen, Gwydyon, or Manawydan.
• read very closely and offer a specific interpretation of a single prominent episode in one of the tales, such as the curse of Gwydyon and Gilvaethwy or the episode of Manawydan and the mice.
• compare and contrast one Welsh legend to one of the Irish legends we studied, in terms of their depictions of a particular theme, such as magic, the roles or powers of women, the Otherworld, heroism, nobility, or nature.

Option Two: Irish Saints

Closely analyze one or two of the Irish saints-lives we have studied. You could, for instance:

• compare St. Patrick’s own depiction of pagan Irish and their culture and the role of the missionary to the way they are depicted in Mirchú’s life of the saint.
• compare and contrast Mirchú’s Life of St. Patrick and Cogitosus’s Life of St. Brigid the Virgin, with attention to the differing purposes of the hagiographies or their differing conceptions of saintly action or of male and female saints and the miracles they perform.
• compare and contrast the depictions of pagan-Christian encounters in Mirchú’s Life of St. Patrick to those in “The Phantom Chariot of Cu Chulainn.”
• analyze the use or function of Irish legendary material in The Voyage of St. Brendan (as compared to “The Voyage of Bran”) or in “The Phantom Chariot of Cu Chulainn” (as compared to one of the Cu Chulainn tales that we studied.)

Option Three: Beowulf

Write an essay on Beowulf. Choose one of the following topics:

• Beowulf is the hero of Beowulf. What makes him heroic? Discuss the poem’s presentation of heroism. Be sure to let the poem define heroism for itself; don’t impose a preconceived idea of what is heroic onto this ancient text. Be especially attentive to how the story complicates or challenges its own ideas of heroism, and whether their might be different kinds of heroes or different types of heroism for different times and situations.
• Discuss the representation of women in Beowulf. Consider such characters as Hildeburh, Wealhtheow, and even Grendel’s mother, since the question is not so much what women are like as what femininity is perceived as being. You might also consider how female characters are used to define proper masculine behavior in Anglo-Saxon society. Pay special attention to ways in which conventional gender roles are challenged or re-affirmed.
• Throughout Beowulf, both the narrator and the characters alternately declare their belief in divine providence that guides events purposefully and benevolently and fate that determines human events arbitrarily and amorally. Which of these two views do you find to be dominant in the poem as a whole? How do you understand the posture of the Christian poet in relation to the pagan characters?
• W.P. Ker, an eminent critic, wrote long ago, "The fault of Beowulf is that there is nothing much in the story. The hero is occupied in killing monsters, like Hercules and Theseus. But there are other things in the lives of Hercules and Theseus besides the killing of the Hydra or of Procrustes. Beowulf has nothing else to do, when has killed Grendel and Grendel’s mother in Denmark: he goes home to his own land, until at last the rolling years bring the Fire-drake and his last adventure. It is too simple." J.R.R. Tolkien responded, "I would suggest… that the monsters are not an inexplicable blunder of taste; they are essential, fundamentally allied to the underlying ideas of the poem, which give it its lofty tone and high seriousness." Who is right? Study the role of one of the three monsters, or of all three. Explain the function of the monster or monsters in the plot and its or their significance to the poem’s themes.