The Comparison between Roland and Oliver’s first and second argument in the song of Roland
The Song of Roland was written at the end of the eleventh century. It is a French epic, and it is considered the most ancient in the medieval times. However, its author is unknown. The poem is referring to the times of the King Charlemagne, or Grand Charles, who reigned in France during this time. He was considered an elderly Christian leader, who ruled with warmth and compassion. In this epic, King Charles was in war for seven years with King Marsile, the king of Spain, and his people Saracens. The epic mostly describes the battle of Roncevaux, where Saracens attacked the rear guard of King Charlemagne. Among other characters described in the song, there were two
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These knights fought heroically in the valley of Roncevaux for their king Charles and their people. Even though, they were great friends, and would sacrifice themselves in place of the other, they both shared differences and similarities of their personalities, characters, and decision making capacities in this epic. Some of these differences and similarities of these heroic knights, are painted in the laisses 80-87 and 129-132 in the Song of Roland, where they argue whether or not, to sound the Oliphant, the symbol of help at that time.
In the lasisses 80-87 in The Song of Roland, Oliver was the first one to see the Saracens coming to attack the rear guard. He was not only brave and loyal knight, but also wise and practical. He realized that Saracens army outnumbered the Franks, and they did not have a chance to win the battle unless they would ask for help. The comparison between the number of the Saracens and the Franks was repeated several times by making it more intense and vivid every time was brought up. The author used similar words and numbers to describe the enemy force like: “great force” (81, 1030) “greater number” (82, 1040) “a hundred thousand shield” (82, 1041)