Analysis
Gaheris is often little more than a supporting character to his brothers Gawain and Gareth, with the murder of Morgause an odd exception, leading modern authors such as T. H. White (who repeatedly describes Gaheris as "dull" or "dull-witted") to attribute the act of matricide to Agravaine instead. Again, White gives his own individual interpretation to the story, depicting Agravaine as having an unhealthy love/lust obsession for his own mother. Gaheris even marries the sister of Gareth's wife Lyonors, the haughty damsel Lynette. It is likely Gaheris and Gareth were the same character in origin, as their names in French sources, Guerrehes (Gaheris, usually) and Gaheriet (Gareth, usually), are easy to confuse and adventures ascribed to the brothers are often interchangeable. Furthermore, only one brother is ever named for Gwalchmai ap Gwyar, the character from Welsh mythology traditionally identified with Gawain. This character, Gwalchafed, is a likely source for Gaheris and Gareth if Gawain did indeed derive from Gwalchmai.
Read more about this topic: Gaheris
Famous quotes containing the word analysis:
“... the big courageous acts of life are those one never hears of and only suspects from having been through like experience. It takes real courage to do battle in the unspectacular task. We always listen for the applause of our co-workers. He is courageous who plods on, unlettered and unknown.... In the last analysis it is this courage, developing between man and his limitations, that brings success.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)
“Ask anyone committed to Marxist analysis how many angels on the head of a pin, and you will be asked in return to never mind the angels, tell me who controls the production of pins.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)
“Analysis as an instrument of enlightenment and civilization is good, in so far as it shatters absurd convictions, acts as a solvent upon natural prejudices, and undermines authority; good, in other words, in that it sets free, refines, humanizes, makes slaves ripe for freedom. But it is bad, very bad, in so far as it stands in the way of action, cannot shape the vital forces, maims life at its roots. Analysis can be a very unappetizing affair, as much so as death.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)