LE3 .A278 2022

2022

Whetter, Kevin

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

English

English & Theatre Studies

This thesis is a comparative study of myriad Pre-Modern texts, observing attitudes to heroism, Fortune, and flyting in select classical, Old Norse, and general medieval epic-heroic narratives. Each chapter observes contemporary misconceptions regarding heroism, heroic patterns, the fate of heroes, as well as different manipulations of the traditional heroic topoi. Against these misconceptions, I will argue that honour, glory, and prowess (regardless of contemporary conceptions about morality) are the genuine markers of heroic characterizations in epic-heroic literature. Although heroes ultimately die, and although many modern scholars consider such deaths to be indicative of the heroes’ moral failures, the hero’s Fate has nothing to do with condemnation. Rather, it is the heroes' choices and actions in response to what Fortune presents to them that demonstrate their heroic prowess. Moreover, while flyting reflects heroic prowess through verbal sparring, it also serves as a demonstration of heroism and a way of extending heroic prowess beyond a mere exhibition. The importance of these considerations is to show that modern attitudes to epic-heroic literature and epic heroes are either needlessly moralistic or based on misleading assumptions about the nature of this type of literature and its heroes. In contrast, I define heroism on the basis of the hero’s winning of glory and honour through prowess; keeping oaths; and following through with honourable actions despite the potential threat posed by the odds, or the severity of the foe, or even by Fate.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3791