Otherworld Journeys: Death and Rebirth
There
once was a world like no other, and so it was called the
Otherworld. Over the
centuries, there have been countless
stories written about a hero's journey to the Otherworld, and
Arthurian
literature is no exception. Three well-known Arthurian examples
are Sir
Gawain's journey to the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, King
Arthur's journey to Avalon in Tennyson's Idylls of the King,
and Sir
Galahad's journey to the Grail Castle in Malory's Le Morte
D'Arthur. Yet
these three works do not merely describe
the hero's physical journey to the Otherworld; they also describe
his
psychological journey. By using the typical features of an
Otherworld journey
–such as a setting associated with death, a hero associated
with light,
and a journey associated with water – these works ultimately
relate the hero's
journey to the Otherworld to a journey towards death and, finally,
rebirth.
An Otherworld journey can be
defined as a journey to a
supernatural world, often a world of the dead. The
Otherworld is most commonly
associated with Celtic legend, though it appears in folklore from
around the
world.
According
to the Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols, the
Otherworld is
simply the "world to which the soul departs without the body" and
may be associated
with "Heaven or Paradise," "Hell," "Limbo," "Purgatory," or even
"Fairyland"
(1220). The details
of this world vary
from culture to culture, sometimes even from tale to tale, yet its
association
with death is constant. Some
of the most
common descriptions of the Otherworld include a faraway island in
the west
(Patch "Elements" 628), an underground kingdom (612), and an
everlasting garden
(619) – descriptions that can all be associated with death. After all, the west is
associated with the
setting sun, the underground has an obvious connection with a
grave, and even
the garden has parallels to a heavenly paradise. In short, a
setting associated
with death is a typical feature of the Otherworld journey.
The
hero's association with light or fertility is a second important
feature of the
Otherworld journey. This
association
becomes important because it sets up the hero as a sort of
antithesis to the
Otherworld, a symbol of life in a world of the dead (Jobes 1624). An example of this
antithesis comes from the
Egyptian myth of Ra, a solar god who was said to sail the sun
through the
underworld each night (Taylor 1).
Another example comes from the Greek myth of Persephone, a
fertility
goddess whose yearly passage into the Underworld was believed to
cause the
seasons (Chevalier 749). In
these two
examples, we can see the importance of light and fertility as a
feature of the
Otherworld visitor; it is only by being associated with life that
a visitor can
safely pass through the world of the dead.
Finally,
the "perilous passage" represents the third important feature of
an Otherworld
journey. According to
Esther C. Dunn, a
perilous passage is "a stock incident of Otherworld journeys" and
includes any
number of dangerous crossings, such as the drawbridge in
Chrétien's Contes
del Graal, the cliff bridge in the Celtic myth the Wooing
of Emer,
and the sword bridge in Chrétien's Chevalier de la Charrete
(401-402). Even the
Classical myth of
Orpheus crossing the Styx may be considered a type of perilous
passage. Curiously,
all of these examples involve a
passage over water, and indeed, water does play an important role
in the
Otherworld journey. On
a practical
level, since most descriptions of the Otherworld involve a world
"cut off from
the every-day world by some sort of water barrier" (Patch,
"Elements" 604), a
hero must cross over water in order to reach the
Otherworld. Yet there
is also a symbolic significance.
Water is, after all, a symbol of both life and death and helps one
to
understand how a journey to the Otherworld also can be a symbol of
death and
rebirth.
Gawain's Journey to the Green
Chapel
Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight describes Sir Gawain's journey
to the Green
Chapel, yet it also describes his journey towards death. In the story, the Green
Chapel is the place
where Gawain has agreed to meet the Green Knight and receive an
axe-blow that
he is certain will kill him.
Therefore,
the imagery of death associated with the setting actually mirrors
Gawain's own
psychological state as he prepares himself for death. One of the most
prominent reminders of death
is the winter imagery. Gawain
sets out
to find the Green Chapel after feasting with Arthur on
"Al-hal-day" (All
Saint't Day), so it is November when he begins his journey. Descriptions of the
landscape emphasize the
coldness and barrenness of the season.
It is a world of "slete" and snow that "fres er hit falle"
and of "mony
bryddes unblythe upon care twyges, / that pitosly ther piped for
pyne of the
colde" (Sir 44). Another
reminder
of death can be seen in the imagery of wild beasts. During Gawain's journey,
he meets with foes
including "wormes" (dragons), "wolves," "wodwos" (wild men),
"bulles," "beres,"
"bores," and "etaynes" (giants), thus lending an atmosphere of
savagery to the
winter landscape. Finally,
even the
Green Chapel is associated with death.
It is described as a "berwe" (mound), that "hade a hole on
the ende and
on ayther syde, / and overgrowen with gresse in glodes aywhere"
(100). While this
description is very similar to
that of a Celtic 'Sidhe,' a hill or mound that serves as an
entrance to the
Otherworld ("Death" 14), it also reminds one of a grave overgrown
with
grass. In fact,
burial mounds of this
sort were frequently seen in the English countryside. Thus the grave-like
chapel and the dangers of
winter and wild beasts actually become external symbols of
Gawain's fears,
emphasizing the true deadliness of his Otherworld journey.
If the setting of Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight represents Gawain's fear of death, then
Gawain's
association with light becomes a symbol of his virtuousness, of
the qualities
that, nevertheless, compel him on this journey.
As has already been noted, the Otherworld visitor is often
associated
with light, and Gawain is associated with light through his
shining golden
armor "that al glytered and glent as glem of the sunne" (Sir 39). Furthermore, Celtic
scholar Roger S. Loomis
notes that Gawain's shield "of schyr gowles / with the pentangel
depaynt of
pure golde hewes" (40) is remarkably like the shield of the Celtic
hero Cúchulainn.
In the myth The Cattle-Raid of Cooley, Cúchulainn's shield
is described
as "dark red, dark crimson with five wheels of gold," making it
similar both in
the red background and in the golden design associated with the
number
five. Since
Cúchulainn is considered a
solar hero, Gawain's shield thus serves as a second sign of
Gawain's
association with light (Loomis 168).
Yet
Gawain's shield also offers us some insight into his character. After all, the pentangle
design symbolizes,
among other things, the five courtly virtues – "fraunchyse"
(liberality),
"felawschyp" (friendship), "clannes" (purity), "cortaysye"
(courtesy), and "pité"
(piety) (Sir 41). Like
his armor
or his shield, it seems that these virtues are things Gawain must
put on
in order to be a good knight.
The fact
that the light imagery is associated with these external objects,
not with
Gawain himself, perhaps hints at Gawain's flaw.
He is not perfect himself; he merely puts on an act of
perfection.
Finally,
Gawain's perilous passage offers us some further insights into his
psychological state. On
the day he goes
to meet the Green Knight, he must pass through a storm of snow and
mist: "The
heven was uphalt, bot ugly ther-under / mist muged on the mor,
malt on the
mountes, uch hille hade a hatte, a myst-hakel huge" (Sir 96). Since fairies are known
for their ability to
influence weather, a passage through snow and mist is actually a
common feature
of the Celtic Otherworld journeys like The Voyage of Cormac
and The
Conception of Cúchulainn (Puhvel 225-226). Yet
one should also note that a storm differs
somewhat from the traditional journey over water;
instead, it is a
journey through water. In terms of the story of Sir
Gawain and the
Green Knight, the fact that Gawain must struggle
physically through a storm
seems to reflect his own psychological struggle with death. In this perilous
passage, we see Gawain
literally armed against the storm with his golden armor and
shield. Symbolically,
however, we see how he is using
a show of virtues to try to combat his fear of dying.
When
Gawain arrives at the Green Chapel, he is not killed; instead the
Green Knight
teaches him a valuable lesson about virtue.
Thus Gawain's journey to the Green Chapel can also be seen
as the story
of Gawain's death and rebirth.
As stated
before, Gawain fully expects to die at the Green Chapel, and the
grave-like
imagery associated with the chapel furthers this link between the
chapel and
death. Yet the Green
Knight does not
kill Gawain there. Instead,
he reveals
the trick that has been played on Gawain, and this trick, in turn,
reveals
Gawain's weakness: "Bot here yow lakked a lyttel, sir, and lewté
yow wonted; /
not that was for no wylyde werke, ne wowing nauther, / bot for ye
lufed your
lyf" (Sir 107). In
other words,
Gawain's fault was motivated by his fear of death. Gawain's reaction to
this trick then becomes
a sort of rebirth. He
realizes his
weakness and vows to wear the lady's girdle as a "syngne of [his]
surfet" so
"when pryde schal me pryk for prowes of armes, / the loke to this
luf-lace
schal lethe my heart" (109-110).
He
returns to Arthur's court sporting the belt "as a bauderyk,
bounden bi hys
syde," and lives the rest of his life with the knowledge of this
weakness
(111). Thus,
Gawain is reborn a sadder, but wiser, knight returning from his
journey.
Arthur's Journey to Avalon
Tennyson's
Idylls of the King likewise uses elements of the Otherworld
to
transforms Arthur's journey into a story of death and rebirth. The landscape, even
before the journey, is
filled with imagery of death.
Winter is
once again the season. Indeed,
it is the
winter solstice, "that day when the great light of heaven / burn'd
at his
lowest in the rolling year."
Furthermore, Arthur is fighting "on the waste sand by the
waste sea"
where "a death-white mist" "slept over sand and sea" (Tennyson
274). Since this
is the landscape in which Arthur will fight Mordred, it is
important that the
landscape reflects the promise of death.
Yet unlike Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the
landscape does
not merely symbolize the hero's death.
It symbolizes the death of his knights, his Round Table,
his dream of
Camelot. When the
mist clears and Arthur
sees his dying knights, he says,
"Now I
see the true old times are dead... Now the whole Round Table is
dissolved / which
was an image of the mighty world" (283).
Tennyson clearly believed sin was responsible for the fall
of
Camelot. In an
earlier idyll, Arthur
even blames the destruction of Camelot on Guinevere, for her
"shameful sin with
Lancelot" which led to so many other sins in Camelot (265). This death-filled
landscape, therefore, might
easily be seen as a symbol of the sin that has infected Arthur's
kingdom.
Arthur,
therefore, is portrayed as the antithesis of sin, and the light
imagery
associated with him becomes a symbol of his perfection. Arthur is
continually
described as "stainless," "blameless," and "faultless," and even
the first
physical description of Arthur depicts him as "fair / beyond the
race of
Britons and of men" (14), thus linking his perfection with imagery
of
light. In "Passing of
the King," the
dying Arthur maintains this connection with light:
All
his face was white
And
colorless, and like the wither'd moon
Smote
by the fresh beam of the springing east;
And
all his greaves and cuisses dash'd with drops
Of
onset; and the light and lustrous curls –
That
made his forehead like a rising sun
High
from the dais-throne were parch'd with dust. (282)
Note
also how Tennyson mixes the
light and death imagery in this passage, showing how Arthur's
perfection is
dying with him in this sin-corrupted world.
Arthur's
only chance for survival lies in his journey to Avalon and his
perilous passage
over the sea. Tennyson
describes Avalon
as an "island valley" which "lies deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with
orchard lawns
/ and bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea" (283-284). One of the most
important features of Avalon
is that it lies across the sea, thus Arthur must travel there by
boat. A boat
is often used "as the vessel of an Otherworld journey," yet there
seems to be
something special about Arthur's boat (Patch, "Adaptation" 117). Tennyson describes it as
"a dusky barge, /
dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern" "dense with stately
forms, /
black-stoled, black-hooded" (282).
Obviously, the darkness of this boat is meant to conjure up
associations
with death, and one can easily see the parallels between this boat
and a
funerary boat like Elaine's in an earlier idyll. Arthur's journey
to Avalon
would, therefore, be a symbol of his death.
Yet one can also make parallels between this dark boat and
the "bright"
boat that first bore Arthur from the sea (15), for as
Sir Bedivere observes, "From the great deep to the great deep he
goes"
(284). Therefore,
another way to
interpret Arthur's journey to Avalon is as a return to a perfect
world, to a
world free of sin.
Arthur's
journey to Avalon can ultimately be seen as a story of death and
rebirth. Tennyson's
final line hints at the theme of
rebirth, for as Arthur sails away, Bedivere watches "the speck
that bare the
King... vanish into light, / and the new sun rose bringing in the
new year"
(285). Arthur is
mortally wounded when
goes to Avalon, yet he expects going there "will heal me of my
grievous wounds"
(284). One can see
Arthur's healing as a
sort of rebirth. There
is even an old
Breton belief that Arthur is taken to Avalon to "[grow] stronger
until the day
that England need him most to restore justice and peace to his
people"
(Snodgrass 45). Arthur,
therefore,
becomes a sort of savior figure for his country, who will not only
be reborn
himself, but who also has the power to restore his land to
fruitfulness.
Galahad's Journey to the
Grail
Castle
Malory's
Le Morte D'Arthur describes Sir Galahad's journey to the
Grail Castle
and also show how his journey encompasses both death and rebirth.
Like all
Otherworld journey, the setting of Galahad's journey includes lots
of imagery
of death. In particular, it depicts imagery of a wasteland. It was believed that a
king was so connected
to his country that "a healthy, moral, and even just king [could
ensure] a
fertile kingdom, whereas an evil king or even one who was merely
disfigured or
unwhole" could actually destroy his country (Taylor 21-22). Therefore, this
wasteland imagery can be
linked to the Maimed King, a wounded king who resides in the Grail
Castle:
And whan Kynge
Hurlain [saw Kynge Labor, he dressed this suerd] and smote hym
upon the helme
so harde that he clave hym and hys horse to the erthe with the
firste stroke of
hys swerde. And it
was in the realme of
Logris, and so befelle there grete pestilence, and grete harme to
both
reallyms; for there encressed nother corne, ne grasse, nother
well-nye no
fruyte, ne in the watir was founde no fyssh.
Therefore men calle hit –the
londys of the two marchys –the Waste Londe, for that
dolerous stroke. (Malory
561)
Since
the lance in this story is
the Holy Lance with which "the Roman soldier Longinus pierced the
side of
Christ on the cross" (Lacy 287), the Maimed King's wound has a
strong
association with sin. Therefore,
as with
Tennyson's Camelot, the wasteland imagery in Malory becomes a
symbol for the
sin corrupting the kingdom.
Like
Tennyson's Arthur, Sir Galahad is the antithesis of sin, yet
unlike Arthur, his
associations with light are almost all internal. There is very little
physical description of
Sir Galahad. He is
initially described
as "passyng fayre" which seems to hint at an association with
light, but there
is little else to draw on (Malory 497).
Instead, most of Galahad's descriptions are internal. Galahad's purity is
repeatedly mentioned as the source of his greatness. As a hermit explains,
"Sir Galahad ys a mayde
and synned never; and that ys the cause he enchyve where he
goth" (516). Since
Galahad has all the internal qualities
necessary to find the grail, then perhaps the grail itself may
be seen as a
symbol for Sir Galahad. It is here then that we find Galahad's
association with
light. When the
grail first appears in
Arthur's court, there "entyrde a sonnebeame, more clerer by
seven tymes than
ever they saw day," thus establishing a connection between the
grail and light
imagery. Furthermore,
when Lancelot
glimpses the grail, he sees "a grete clerenesse, that the house
was as bright
as all the torcheis of the worlde had bene there" (576).
Therefore, it is
through his association with purity that Galahad becomes
symbolically
associated with both the grail and light imagery.
Finally,
during his journey, Sir Galahad undertakes a number of perilous
passages. Perhaps the
most significant is Galahad's
journey on the rudderless boat.
A
rudderless boat is actually a common feature of the Otherworld
journey and is
supposed to be a symbol of one's faith in God (Patch,
"Adaptations" 116-117). Thus,
the boat in Malory's story bears this inscription:
THOU
MAN WHYCH SHALT ENTIR INTO THIS SHIPPE,
BEWARE
THAT THOU BE IN
STEDEFASTE
BELEVE, FOR I AM FAYTHE (559)
Since it
is this boat takes Galahad to the castle where the grail is
kept, one can
easily see it as an example of how Galahad's faith in God leads
him to find the
grail.
As
with Gawain and Arthur, Galahad's journey to the Grail Castle can
likewise be
seen as a story of death and rebirth.
However, instead of describing the hero's death and
rebirth, Malory
instead shows how Galahad's death leads to a rebirth for others. Throughout the story of
the grail quest, we
see examples of characters sacrificing themselves for others,
often as a sort
of allusion to Christ's sacrifice.
Galahad himself has many Christ-like features. He is introduced at
Arthur's court wearing "a
cote of rede sendell" trimmed with white "ermyne" fur, and red and
white
are the color symbolically associated with Christ (499). Also Galahad's "name is
taken from "Galaad,"
or Gilead, in the Vulgate Bible (Genesis 31:48). This, in terms of
medieval interpretation, makes
him a type of Christ" (Lacy 307). Throughout his quest, Galahad
performs many
miraculous feats. Like
Christ in the
Harrowing of Hell, he purges seven wicked knights from the Castle
of Maidens
and "bought all the soules oute of the thralle" (Malory 516). He also he heals the
Maimed King with the
blood from the Holy Spear:
And Sir Galahad
wente anone to the speare which lay upon the table and towched the
bloode with
hys fyngirs, and cam aftir to the Maymed Kynge and anoynted his
legges and hys
body. And therewith
he clothed hym
anone, and sterte uppon hys feete oute of hys bedde as an hole
man, and thanked
God that He had heled hym. (584)
Yet
what truly makes Galahad into a
Christ figure is his death. Galahad
is
too pure for this corrupted world, so when his quest is completed,
his soul is
"[born] up to heven" by
"a grete multitude of angels" (586).
In a sense, Galahad has died achieving the grail, and so
his death
becomes analogous to Christ's final sacrifice.
Conclusion
Sir
Gawain's journey to the Green Chapel, King Arthur's journey to
Avalon, and Sir
Galahad's journey to the Grail Castle all represent journeys
towards death and
rebirth.
Thus
the Otherworld journey, by
depicting a journey to the land of the dead and back again,
becomes a fitting
framework for these stories.
Indeed, the
Otherworld motif helps us to understand these Arthurian journeys
by
establishing certain conventions about the setting, hero, and
plot. We know, for
example, that the setting of an
Otherworld journey is associated with death while the hero is
associated with
light. Thus we can
use this antithesis
to explore the story from a symbolic level.
If the imagery of death represents something wrong in the
hero's world,
then the hero's light imagery becomes of symbol of the
virtuousness that will
allow him to challenge this wrong. The convention of a perilous
passage can
similarly be explored symbolically; it represents how the hero
will challenge
this wrong. By
understanding these
conventions, we can then use them to compare the journeys of
Gawain, Arthur, and
Galahad and to discover, not only similarities, but also important
differences
between them.
Though
the journeys of Gawain, Arthur, and Galahad all describe a journey
towards
death and rebirth, each story reveals a different interpretation
of this theme.
Sir Gawain's journey represents a near-death experience; it
teaches Gawain his
own fault and allows him to be reborn with the knowledge of his
own
imperfection. King
Arthur's journey, on
the other hand, becomes a story of resurrection, as Arthur himself
becomes a
mythical figure whose return to life will only come when his
country really
needs him. Finally,
Sir Galahad's
journey represents a sacrificial death, for he dies after
performing many
miraculous feats to restore the kingdom of the Grail Castle. Therefore, though the
Otherworld journey
unites these tales through a common framework, each tale
ultimately describes a
very different type of journey.
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