The Protagonist and Antagonist Self

Roland and The Story of the Grail both amplify the power of self throughout the lines and characters that are told in different styles and different formats. Self is a powerful protagonist or can be an evil antagonist in any story. Self is important to any story. In these stories, the Roland and The Story of the Grail, there is the need to show how self is a powerful protagonist but at the same time a really bad antagonist. First, before one can demonstrate that, self needs to be identified. Second, self will be identified as a protagonist in the Roland. From this, there will be identifications into the protagonist in The Story of the Grail and how it relates to the protagonist in the Roland. After this, there will be a few examples of self as an antagonist in both stories the Roland and The Story of the Grail.

The idea of self or the definition of self in the dictionary states: expressing reflexive action directed toward oneself or itself. This definition of self can mean a different variety of things. First, the word reflexive means action diverted to the subject. This means that self is when a person is doing something for oneself or for itself. Second, the action towards oneself or itself could be anything. For example, self could be jealousy. Jealousy is the action to the subject. This subject being self; the self is jealous. Thus, jealousy is the action that it has towards itself or for oneself. This simply means self is amplified by the action of itself or for oneself. In a sense, self can be identified as the protagonist or antagonist depending on the action it has towards itself or for oneself.

The protagonist self in the epic “Roland” are the courageous characters Charlemagne and Roland. I believe that the King Charlemagne has the most self and exemplifies the most growth of the characters in the epic. In laisses 13, Charlemagne’s protagonist self feels an urgency to win against the infidels. Wisely, he asks his knights for advice. “King Marsilion has sent me messengers, wants to give me a great mass of his wealth…but what lies in his heart?” His self, the action of its self or for oneself, is the religious battle with the Muslims, whom they think of as an inferior race “and the antagonist in the epic”. As stated in the first laisses, “Charles the King, our emperor, the Great…has conquered the high land down to the sea. No citadel left to break down…Except Saragossa, high on a mountain. King Marsilion holds it, who does not love God.”

Charlemagne’s self has characteristics that give him the traits and action of his sense of duty, sense of honor, loyalty, chivalry, sorrow, guilt, and sense of friendship. A good example of one of these traits is from his sense of loyalty towards his men, especially Roland. In Laisse 133, 134, 135 and in 136 have examples of Charlemagne’s self. In Laisse 136 Charlemagne feels responsible for Roland’s life. After Charlemagne hears the horn, and he turns around to go backs to Roland. Laisse 136… “If only we find Roland before he’s killed, we’ll stand with him and then we’ll do some fighting!”

Roland is the second main protagonist. He is different from Charlemagne as he is trying to fight an outer battle and an inner battle for his self. This inner battle is the battle of pride, honor, duty, courage, and commitment, with an emphasis on pride. A good show of Roland’s sense of pride for his defiance in front of the enemy is from Laisse 85 from his friend Oliver. He says, “Roland, Companion, sound your olifant now, Charles will hear it, marching through those passes. I promise you, the Franks will come at once.” Roland replies. “May it never please God that any man alive should come to say that pagans … made me sound this horn: no kin of mine will ever bear that shame.” He refuses to blow the horn in order to bring Charlemagne back to help. He refused in face while facing the masses of the enemy to sound for help. It was in desperation at the brink of death that he sounds the horn. His self changes as the action or the story unfolds. His pride dwindles, and he dies.

Ganelon and the Muslims are examples of the antagonist self in this epic. The antagonist self is someone that has traits such as jealousy, greed, the idea of fortune, hatred, thoughts of murder, ill will towards others, lack of honor, lack of chivalry, lack of duty, lack of friendship, and lack of virtue. The dealing between the Muslim King and Ganelon takes place in Laisse 42. Ganelon starts to sell his nephew out by saying, “while one man lives: Roland!” Muslims are seen as the pagans. They make a deal with Ganelon to kill Roland. Marsilion the King of the Muslims asks of Ganelon from Laisse 49, “Show us the way to put Roland to shame.” They set a trap. Ganelon betrays Roland. Betrayal is an action of self at oneself or itself. The Muslims are shown to have no honor, and have no virtue. Naimon announces Ganelon’s betrayal in Laisse 135 by saying, “It is a baron’s breath…. He betrayed him! And now asks you to fail him!” Ganelon is the traitor and dies for his betrayal. The ultimate antagonist self is one that lets their jealousy, hatred, lying, lack of duty, lack of friendship, and lack of virtue lead their actions towards the destruction of one self. As one can note from above, the epic “Roland” has its protagonist and antagonist selves.

The Story of the Grail also has two characters that show the self in a protagonist way. In this story, the plot line is more complicated and there is greater character development. It’s not a story driven by the action against the Muslims. This is a story of bad Knights, a journey, and a myth from the Celtics. This story is also about King Arthur. This story’s selves exhibit knight traits such has honor, duty, commitment, loyalty, courtly behaviors, and religious faith towards God. Both characters Perceval and King Arthur are the protagonist self. The antagonist selves are the knights that go against the honor code of knight traits. Lets look at King Arthur as a protagonist and what his importance to the story is, and how his self shows the traits of a good king.

King Arthur is the king of Britain as the legend goes. He is one example of a protagonist for The Story of the Grail. His action towards oneself and on itself is his honor toward his knights. From page 1337 King Arthur says,

“Good brother, welcome! Pray do not take it ill that I met your greeting with silence. Anger kept me from replying. My worst enemy, who hates and terrifies me most, has even here laid claim to my land, and is so mad as to threaten to take it, whether I will or no […] That knight would not have roused my anger, whatever he said, but he snatched the cup before me and raised it so widely that all the wine with which it was filled poured over the Queen. That was a vile and churlish deed.”

King Arthur’s commitment to his knights and his company of men show he is a good king. People love him. There are people who are jealous. There are knights that want to take his lands. He has fear as a leader. He is not a weak leader. He shows this through his actions and his words. He has deep regrets and takes no pleasure in killing. Killing for King Arthur in this story is the last resort. King Arthur’s self as a protagonist is he is the good king. He is the king anyone would want. He was admired for centuries, and stories were written about him across the channel. The Celtics and their legends are well known. Perceval is another protagonist in “The Story of the Grail.”

Perceval’s trait as a protagonist self is in the way he is naïve to his situation. He has no clue as how to become a knight, or what a knight is. Perceval’s mother states his ignorance on page 1333.

“You will go to court of the King and ask him to give you arms. There will be no refusal. I know he will give them to you. But when you try to use those arms, what will happen? How will you know how to do what you have never done before and never seen others doing? I fear you will do badly; you will be wholly unskilled, and it does not seem strange to me that one does not know what one has not learned.”

His other traits make him a flip flop as an antagonist as well as the protagonist. He serves two purposes. At the beginning he has no knowledge of the honor code of a knight, and has no honor code towards the advice of his mother towards women. He shows this on page 1335.

“The youth had strong arms and embraced her clumsily, knowing no better and stretched her out under him, and though she defended herself and struggled to escape as best she could, her effort was in vain.”

He grows throughout the story and learns the Chivalry code of honor, commitment, virtue, duty, and taking out knights who are the antagonist. There is also the question of faith as a part of the protagonist self in this story. The antagonist knights in this story are a bit darker then Perceval’s mistakes along the way.

Those knights that Perceval meets along the way as a knight are the antagonist self. They go against honor, commitment, virtue, duty, and their treatment of woman. There is also the use of woman as antagonist in some situations. Like when Perceval takes a woman that has a lover, and the lover blames the woman. The woman is seemed to be the antagonist self. She cheated and should have been able to stop Perceval. The lover comes back to the maiden. On page 1336 he states the following.

“Say rather that you took pleasure in it and refused him nothing! […] Surely, I know you too well and am not so blind or so squint eyed that I do not see your falsity. You have started on a wicked path; you have taken a painful road. […] The clothes which you are wearing shall not be changed, but you shall follow me on food and naked until I have his head. No other punishment will I choose.”

There is also the self of lying being an action for oneself or at itself. The action of lying, the action of being too forward is an attribute in the antagonist self. Perceval has some of these traits.

I believe the epic “Roland” and in The Story of the Grail contain examples of both the protagonist self and the antagonist self. These two stories amplify the self and the definition of selves. Throughout both, there are challenges and instances where the traits can be found in the characters in the two stories. While The Story of the Grail is a novel and Roland is a poem, they both deal with Chivalry and knights. They both deal with jealousy, hatred, anger, lying, faithfulness, honor, duty, and love of both antagonist and protagonist self. The self as defined is expressing reflexive action directed toward oneself or itself.

Tea Gatherings

Tea gatherings

When being invited to a Japanese Tea ceremony the room only holds four people. This ceremony being invited to is considered a great honor. A tea ceremony would involve food, and the drinking of tea and the washing of hands. The tea room is separate from the house, and the guest would do the following things.

They would first wash their hands in either cold or warm water. The warm water being during the winter. They would enter the garden, where the tea would be stationed. From this, they would put their knives and their fans in a cupboard outside the tea room. They would then be given the treatment of drinking tea and eating one meal. This ceremony was developed by the Japanese as a special gathering and a great way of having entertainment. Being invited to a tea ceremony was thought of high honor, and high esteem. The host would be absent from the ceremony, and point of this ceremony is not just for entertainment.

The host is being judged from how they present the tea, to the tea room, how the tea taste, and the food that is eaten. Because of this, there is higher quality of food, there is better tea, and ceremony in general is getting more aesthetic.

Britain and Tea

Britain and Tea

Tea was brought to England in the late seventeenth century. The drink became a national drink replacing the gin. Gin was bought for so cheep, but was a disgrace to the English people. People turned to black tea. The expensive tea was more preferred and was bought for its taste, and its essential virtue. The good tea cost at least 60S a pound. The cheapest sort one could legally buy cost 7s a pound. That is about the amount of money one made in a week worth of wages. Just across the Channel or the North Sea the cost was 2s a pound and the inferior for much less. The free traders made a profit of 350 per cent and they weren’t slow to begin this sort of game with other people. This resulted in publicized tea as nothing else could have done, and the illegal sale of the tea flourished and accounted for two-thirds of the tea drunk in England had been smuggled. (The great tea venture, 29-3

John Company and China

John Company and China

There was a monopoly of trade into China for tea. This monopoly was by the company John Company. There was one port that China had opened the door to trade, this port was Canton. The John Company was the Honorable East India company, which was granted a monopoly of Oriental trade in the 1600. It was during the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth consolidated and built up its position until it was the biggest organization of any foreign power. This was the greatest trade monopolies in the world.

The growing army of private traders persuaded Parliament that it should not be renewed for China after year 1833. The John Company lost its monopoly on China in 1813. (The great tea venture, 44)

Early Chinese Tea

Early Chinese Tea

Accounts of when the tea tree was found has two contradicting accounts. One says that it was found during the reign of Emperor Shin Nong, three thousand years before Christian era. Though people doubt the discovery of the tea has been around that long, or at least the western historians doubt that. They mostly believe that the plant was discovered in the fourth century A.D. This from a historical reference written down to the acknowledgement of drinking the drink.

Like the Japanese, the Chinese drank the drink for its healing properties, and for its popularity for its flavor. Soon the government put a tax on the drink, for it became so popular that the government tried to levy a heavy tax on the drink. (The history of the Indian Tea Industry, 4)

Chinese and Making Tea

Chinese and Making Tea

In the eighth century, there was a tea drinker by the name of Lu Yu that wrote a book on tea. There is the plucking and manufacture of tea, to the different kinds of tea leaves. He talks about when the tea was popular to be drunk. For instance, he says drinking was very popular in the T’ang dynasty. He says there is ordinary tea and ground tea.

There is cake tea which is put in a jar or bottle after being pounded and the boiling water is poured over it. Lu Yu talks about the beneficiaries of drinking tea.

He claims the tea is well suited for individuals of self restraint and good conduct. Tea is to avoid sleepiness. (The history of the Indian tea industry, 4-5)

Tea and Persia

Tea and Persia

Tea was regularly drunk throughout Central Asia as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century. Duke of Holstein to Persia, refers to tea drinking in some detail.

He says “that instead of drinking wine in taverns, they drink this drink which they call tzai, or tea. The people with a good reputation drink this drink. They buy their tea from Chattai, and explains what the herb looks like”. (The history of the Indian tea industry, 10)

He comments about the Indians, from India, “that they only put the tea into seething water, from Brass or earthen pots very homely made, which are put to no other use. They drink it really hot to the touch that they can’t hold their dishes, which are either Porcelain or Silver.” (The history of the Indian tea industry, 10)

Moving the Tea Plant to India

Moving the Tea Plant to India

The British was determined to move the tea plant to Calcutta in the eighteenth century. The East India Company had a monopoly on the trade of tea but had no interest in growing the plant. But the British wanted India to grow the plant. So they sailed seeds of plants to Calcutta.

In Assam, there was interest to grow the tea plant. The botanist Dr N. Wallich of the East Indian Company asked for Chinese tea plants and seeds from the Botanical Garden company in Calcutta. The plants died in transit. There was back and forth between getting the plant and not getting the plant.

During the Burmese war, they acquired a tea tree seed. They doubted the seeds acquired were the real plant; thus the tea plant was never planted. After which, Bentinck the new Governor, was told to try to grow tea in a new region. Coming to a conclusion, they ended up growing the tea plants in Rio de Janeiro, St Pauls, and St Helena and the tea plant have been found in Nepal. (The history of the Indian tea industry 36-38)

Art Work

Art Work

With the Japanese tea ceremony, there is different type of art genres that developed over the years. One of the types of art is calligraphy. Calligraphy was a popular type of art that the Japanese did during the ceremony. The calligraphy developed into love for this art made the script more popular then regular print.

Another genre that is popular with the Japanese is paintings. They liked paintings in their rooms and on their screens. These paintings were in Chinese style in the beginning. They liked paintings and this love for Chinese artwork.

The other type of artwork they liked to do is poetry. They were very fluent in writing poetry and why I can’t find much information on the poetry composed, I did find that they wrote poetry in Haiku style.

They wrote poetry for others to read and for the comfort of their home. This was the art style of their artwork in the Japanese Tea ceremony. (Tea in Japan 28-29)

The coming of Karamonos

The coming of Karamonos

The art that was coming into Japan was Chinese objects. These Chinese objects were called Karamonos. Karamonos were bowls, kettles, spoons, and equipment used for making the black tea in the shoin form of chanoyu. The way the Karamonos came to Japan was by the Chinese Zen Monks, and the Japanese Monks that were traveling between the two separate countries. This exchange was taking place during the Ming Chinese Dynasty and the reign of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. This happened during the early fifteenth century. There have been previous priest that traveled to and from the two countries bringing trade between the two countries.

Most of the Karamonos were made use for religious purposes and were used in Zen Buddhist temples. There were times of strain of the importation of goods, like during the Mongol rule. The trade was severely. Despite this lack of trade, there were some small boats that were able to get the Karamonos from China and bring them back to Japan.

This is how the transmission of shingi was brought to Japan. This transmission of shingi brought things like painting, scrolls of calligraphy, and tenmoku tea bowls. When they acquired these utensils, they became aesthetic appreciation. (Tea in Japan, 15)

Tea and Zen Buddhist in Japan

Tea and Zen Buddhist in Japan

Samurai and Zen Buddhist are very important when discussing Japanese tea ceremony and with the custom of tea becoming popular. The reason for importance to the Monks is they deemed that to achieve enlightenment one must meditate on a constant basis.

Buddhism originally came from India. The religion traveled from China and into Japan. The important of this religion transformed the Japanese people. They took Buddhism and made it into their own religion. For their interpretation of Buddhism, they believe there must be a direct transmission from mind to mind or by seated meditation to achieve enlightenment. This way of achieving enlightenment attracted the samurai class.

There was a practice with Buddhism that was brought over by two Chinese Priests. This practice was called Shingi. In this, the Shingi was established. The Shingi were rules that were established on a basis of form that dealt with the everyday activities of a priest. These rules preached what to do from the time they rose in the morning to the time they went to bed.

Shingi spread to the other temples in Japan in the mid- fourteenth century. There were rules that were developed for drinking tea by the Chinese coming over. They were called Sarei or would later be called Chanoyu or to the western world as the Japanese Tea Ceremony (Tea in Japan, 14).

Cultivation in Tea

Cultivation in Tea

Eisai planted the tea trees on Japanese soil. Eisai was a Buddhist disciple that came over to Japan from China. He planted trees at Fushun at the Senkoji Temple on Hirado Island, and the Field Tenaijini in Seburi Mountains.

The earliest accounts for cultivation of tea were at the Imperial palace in Mikawa at the Yakuoji Temple.

The best tasting tea was cultivated from Myoe of Kozaji Temple in Kyoto. This tea was called Honcha. Honcha gave label to the best tea and grew in reputation as being the best tea. This helped to develop terms for tea, such as hitch for non-tea and honcha for praised tea above all others. The Honcha tea became the most expensive tea but the best. (Tea in Japan, 11)

A Obukucha Ceremony

A Obukucha Ceremony

Obukucha is a ceremony that would have Buddhist Monks make an offering of tea to Buddha and to themselves in a religious ceremony. The offering is a concept merging from the combination Shinto and Buddhism religions together. In the indigenous religion before Buddhism, the Japanese offered tea to the Shinto kami gods.

In addition to Obukucha Ceremony, the mid-thirteenth century had a gathering called ochamori. With this gathering, the Buddhist in Japan has a mass known as shusei-e. Shusei-e is the day where tea is offered at the last day of Buddhist mass. They would include the town folk and the whole town would offer tea to Buddha and drink it to themselves at the same time

In the medieval times there was a popular ceremony among the Zen Buddhist Monks. This ceremony was called Obukucha. The Monks made the ceremony popular with the Japanese citizens; Obukucha involved the drinking of tea. He success of the ceremony eventually spread this ceremony from Buddhist temples to other parts of society. Any citizen could perform the Obukucha Ceremony.

(Tea in Japan, 9).

The decline of black tea after the death of Saga

The decline of black tea after the death of Saga

During Saga’s rein black tea and Matcha was popular. Drinking tea flourished during his rule, and for the Japanese tea had an entertainment value also. This entertainment translated into gatherings, and small tea drinking ceremonies.

With the death of Saga, black tea lost its popularity. Without the Emperor being around, the population showed their true liking for the ceremony: They did the ceremony to be popular with the Emperor’s court. The ceremony of tea drinking did not become as important as it will later on in Japanese history; though during this time, tea drinking accompanied written poetry in Taoist thought and aesthetics.

As time went on, the Taoist elements became very rare and when Saga died the tea was only kept alive in temples and shrines. It did not form into an aesthetic taste yet. (Tea in Japan, 7)