Oliver The Song Of Roland Essay

In reading the famous medieval story called The Song of Roland, we are met with a very compelling main character, Oliver. Unlike the noble knight Roland, who is our hero of sorts in the story, Oliver has a more subdued role. He still fights alongside Roland and even takes out some of the pagan knights himself, but he does not seem to be regarded as an important figure as his friend is. Oliver happens to be Roland’s companion in the story. Companionship in this time period is a quite important matter in a young boy’s life. In medieval times, during a boy’s childhood (especially one of noble birth), his parents feel that he must be sent away to “become a man”. They want the boy to be kept far away from his mother because females in their

For one thing, we see that Oliver is very courageous and wise, he seems at times to be smarter than Roland even. Roland is very impulsive and arrogant, he makes decisions based on emotion rather than thought. This can be seen in an exchange between the 2 of them in the beginning of the story, when emperor Charles is asking his knights who shall go fight for him; “my lord barons, who can we send to the Saracen who holds Saragossa?’ Roland replies: ‘I am prepared to go!’ ‘you certainly will not,’ said Count Oliver, ‘your temperament is most hostile and fierce, I am afraid you might pick a quarrel. If the king wishes, I am prepared to go”(lines 252-258). Oliver and Roland have a strong enough relationship that Oliver is able to be entirely honest with Roland and voice his opinions when he feels Roland is being unreasonable and unsafe. It is noticeable though, that Oliver always comes secondary to Roland because of Roland’s position and Oliver just being “the companion”. He is always mentioned in the story after someone mentions Roland. Roland is the nephew of emperor Charles, he has status and power, it is his birthright. He has the potential to be someone of high importance when he grows older. Oliver does not have this sort of status. He is merely there as a friend to Roland. It is almost sad because Oliver seems to be a better candidate for the role that Roland