In examining Cohen’s fifth thesis my mind jumps to the extremes of possibility, danger, curiosity but most importantly remembrance and forethought. Once the emotions are quelled my most immediate thought is to the limitations that we face in this life. The fifth thesis is as defined by Cohen “The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible: The monster prevents mobility (intellectual, geographic, or sexual), delimiting the social spaces through which private bodies may move. To step outside this official geography is to risk attack” (Cohen 10). As humanity progresses we often are left with two questions for every answer. This innate drive tempered by the very real and fragile existence is to be human. While this theme is repeated throughout …show more content…
This is largely attributable to the fact that The Odyssey was composed approximately eight hundred years prior to Jesus’ death and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was composed another thirteen hundred years thereafter. In the case of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight we see many of the earlier cultural overtones of the noble warrior and the divine nature of nobility now mixing with the encroaching ideals of Christianity. One of the most important of those ideals is the afterlife and that is going to be a focal point, because of its direct negation of the fifth thesis. It does not, however; negate the thesis in its entirety, because we still see elements that are off limits under the influence of Christianity. Whereas death is now less of an issue because he was with “and [had] been on God's side .. [Otherwise] He had met with many mishaps and mortal harms” (Harrison). One could imagine any sort of wild and otherwise adverse explorative missions as being benign or even heroic with the promise of salvation or the furtherance of the “kingdom of god.” I cannot presume to know what was implied by his sacrifice or the sacrifice of others in his position, but it is not hard to imagine that where Odysseus faced a rather perilous outcome in some scenarios – even the worst of outcomes were tempered by the underlying promise of salvation for Sir Gawain. This meant that an otherwise insane journey to have your …show more content…
Not only does this story predate Jesus, it also predates the negative connotations surrounding extramarital affairs and the like. It is thusly, it is a perplexing situation where Odysseus could have very well taken The Green Knights wife without consequence and where he would have likely deemed a journey where death surely met him as a fool’s errand. In this same respect, in Sir Gawain’s case his journeying as Odysseus did is unlikely as the bible precludes the possibility of there being but one immortal being. “Unto thee it was shown, that thou [sic] mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else” (Aitken). In either case we see that ventures as we saw with the either of the two are so unlikely that they border on impossible. The vast differences that separate the two make each instance mutually exclusive. The monsters in either scenario, be it Hades or The Green Knight represent figures that do not exist for the other, but each are still embodiments of the fifth