delit1-2, Exercise 2: Epic against romance

Model answer (Nibelungenlied and Parzival; check the details):

Subject: the Nibelungenlied is a heroic epic of betrayal, vengeance and the destruction of a whole people. Parzival is a romance about one knight's education, failure and spiritual growth, centred on the Grail.

Values: the epic values loyalty (Hagen's to his lord, Kriemhild's to her dead husband) and honour even to destruction. The romance values compassion, learning to ask the right question, and a reconciliation of worldly and spiritual life.

Imagined audience: both were for listeners at court. The epic's audience is shown the cost of the code it admires. Parzival addresses its audience personally and playfully, expecting them to follow a long moral argument.

Result: the first looks back to an older heroic world, the second forward to a more inward and ethical one. Both are in a courtly setting and both were written down around 1200.