Good Essay About The Song Of Roland

The Song of Roland shows us examples of model knights and their codes of conduct during the reign of Charlemagne. Among all the characters of the poem, Thierry, Olivier and Ronald are notable for their personal qualities such as courage, loyalty and wisdom.
Analyzing their actions and personalities we can see that the main purpose of knights was to defend Christian religion and serve faithfully to the lord. Ronald says “Here our post for our king we hold / For his lord the vassal bears heat and cold / Toil and peril endures for him/Risks in his service both life and limb.” (691-694). They are true to their words and incredibly brave, as we can see here: “To the death in battle they will not quail.” (50). Knights are not afraid to die as they have sense of duty and are willing to devote their lives to the defense of Motherland. They are fighting till the last breath.
Moreover, knights are “.. daring and .. wise” (47). Olivier is good friend of Ronald and is full of wisdom. He comprehends well the situation, evaluates correctly qualities of their enemies. His is rational and helps Ronald during the Battle of Roncesvalles. He was not willing to act inconsiderately to gain glory and tried to convince Ronald to call for help. That is why we can consider Olivier as a great example of knight’s intelligence.
All in all, knights have very strong personalities and the driving power of their deeds is their loyalty to the lord, religion and motherland. For this reason they appear as good, self-dedicated leaders and fearless warriors.

Work cited

The Song of Roland, translated by John O’Hagan. Vol. XLIX, Part 2. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14; Bartleby.com, 2001. < www.bartleby.com/49/2/.>