Christian Symbolism: the Influence of Religion on Arthurian Literature

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

Christian Symbolism: The Influence of Religion on Arthurian Literature

Introduction

It is well known that the church was struggling for its surviving throughout the early period of Christianity. Besides, the church was liberal of its new changes holding on to the older and pagan conventions. Even nowadays, there are a lot of popular holidays that are also famous for being christianized adaptations of ancient pagan carnivals. However, the church gained more power soon, and, consequently, it had no more will to put up with its members who held on to pagan traditions. As a result, the church started vigorous persecuting anyone who acted as ‘witches’ or ‘heretics.’

This longing to pagan customs created some problems for Arthurian literature that was mostly based on older Celtic traditions. In addition to this, there were many other events that took place in Europe. They also encouraged the Arthurian literature tradition also to utilize a religious facet. The movement caused a religious dedication in Europe, which made some authors to change the format of the traditional myths with religious connotations. For instance, in his poem 'Perceval', Chrétien de Troyes made an allusion to the story of the Holy Grail and the Grail itself. However, it was Robert de Boron who renovated the Grail into a holy object that was highly allied with Christ. In the above-mentioned tale, the Grail is represented as the cup that Jesus used to drink during Last Supper.

Other sacred issues are rather noticeable in the Arthurian literature as well. The medieval vision of women was in their being either virtuous and pure like Virgin Mary or sinful temptresses like Eve. Guinevere, the King Arthur's wife, was typically painted as a sinful temptress due to her treacherous love that she felt to Lancelot. Moreover, some editions of the legend tell about her freely marriage to Mordred when he takes over Arthur's kingdom. The...