"Heroic struggle": A medieval and modern dilemma

In the medieval tale ofSir Gawain and The Green Knight there is a portrait of an archetypal hero who succumbs to the pressures of living up to his reputation by resorting to behavior which compromises the code of ethics of knighthood. The lives of contemporary men and women are much more complex by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health
Main Author: Paris, William A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [1988]
In: Journal of religion and health
Further subjects:B sThe Denial
B Daily Basis
B Archetypal Hero
B Heroic Struggle
B Modern Dilemma
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:In the medieval tale ofSir Gawain and The Green Knight there is a portrait of an archetypal hero who succumbs to the pressures of living up to his reputation by resorting to behavior which compromises the code of ethics of knighthood. The lives of contemporary men and women are much more complex by comparison, though not always quite so dramatic. The pressures we face on a daily basis are cumulatively greater. Choices we make may be determined by our need to filter the realities of our world through a "characterological lie" which we have fashioned in ourselves as a way of protecting a vulnerable psyche from the truths of existence. Events in this fourteenth-century narrative are reexamined in the light of Dr. Ernest Becker'sThe Denial of Death, which strongly implicates the confrontation between the individual and the environment.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF01532071