[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.In Frye’s vision, then, the happy endings of fantasies may only be preludes to tragedies to follow, tempered solely by the hope that, after a long time, the cycle may continue turning and the narrative will pass through irony and satire to achieve the heartening rebirth of comedy.By this argument, then, all fantasies implicitly lead to tragedies.One hardly needs to mention that such intimations are central to the somber conclusion of The Lord of the Rings, as characters foresee the end of their magical realm and the ascendancy of the human race in the manner of the third phase of tragedy.In Martin’s epic, an ominous future for his fictional world is conveyed in a literal fashion by means of seasonal imagery that Frye would understand, as the land of Westeros is entering a long, cold winter of unknown duration, and the unchallenged reign of the humans is about to be disturbed by the reappearance of the feared, frigid Others from the North.Martin has also crafted a world in which the iconic animals of fantasy, dragons, are already extinct, although the surprising births of three dragons under the control of Daenerys Targaryen provide a modicum of hope that the species may be revived.Perhaps Martin envisions a conclusion in which, all family conflicts resolved, an admirable global civilization of knights and magic is permanently forged; but considering that his saga is modeled so explicitly on Earth’s medieval past, one might also anticipate that this fantasy world will eventually come to the end, to be succeeded, as in Tolkien, by a fallen world not unlike our own.If, then, there are inevitable intimations of such dark possibilities within A Song of Ice and Fire, one alternative would be to take the story backward, into preceding phases of the cycle of romance that are related to comedy.Or, if authors resolve to explore the prehistory of their fantasy worlds for other reasons, they may find themselves naturally impelled toward stories that resemble comedy more than romance.Thus, while one can never be sure precisely what led Martin to begin writing his prequels, it is not surprising to find that, in contrast to the main epic, the resulting stories initially seem to project the lighter tone of an enjoyable diversion, reflecting the spirit of the springtime mythos of comedy.The characters of Dunk and Egg, in fact, seem precisely crafted to serve as comic alternatives to the more serious-minded events of the main series.As a bastard who knows nothing about his parents, Dunk is entirely unconnected to the royal families in A Song of Ice and Fire and thus unencumbered by any inherited responsibilities.Though he impresses people with his great height, which is why he names himself “Ser Duncan the Tall,” Dunk does not always seem an especially talented fighter—in the third Dunk and Egg story, “The Mystery Knight,” he is easily defeated by a superior opponent.Neither does he appear to be unusually intelligent—whenever he makes a mistake, he mentally repeats what his knight used to tell him, “Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall,” and he describes Egg as “braver than I am, and more clever.” Thus, unlike the princes and warriors of the main series, he is never burdened by high expectations as he muddles his way through an adventure.Further, by employing the accoutrements of knighthood he inherited from the knight he served as a squire, Dunk can improvise his way into the company of nobles.Yet, as a traveling “hedge knight,” he can serve whatever cause or employer that seems best.Thus, he may become any sort of person he wants to be, reflecting Frye’s observation that “there can hardly be such a thing as inevitable comedy,” in contrast to the sense of inevitability that may, as noted, haunt the mythos of romance.As for Egg, he may be of noble birth, and destined to become King Aegon V, but he has literally escaped from all the normal responsibilities of a young prince.When Dunk first encounters him, the boy has been traveling incognito (his head shaved so as not to reveal his family’s distinctive golden and silvery hair), in an effort to avoid becoming his brother’s squire; Dunk takes him for a stable boy and, at the youth’s insistence, reluctantly employs him as his squire.Later, after his true identity is revealed, Egg insists upon remaining Dunk’s squire, and when Dunk refuses to serve at court, Egg is allowed to accompany him during his travels as a knight-for-hire, still disguised as a poor boy, which Dunk indicates will serve as the best sort of training for the youthful nobleman.His nickname, in fact, has at least three meanings: of course, “Egg” is a shortened form of “Aegon”; it is an appropriate name for a bald boy, as Dunk notes—“His head does look like an egg”; and the egg is regularly employed as a symbol of rebirth.In a sense, Egg is being reborn, as he sheds the clothing and duties of a prince to begin learning about life from the new perspective of a common man.Indeed, when Dunk first sees Egg, he is stark naked, emerging from a bath in a stream, much like a newborn child.It is also worth noting, in terms of seasonal imagery, that “The Hedge Knight” begins during the spring, as Dunk buries his former employer and is thus free to begin his own career as a knight, in keeping with Frye’s dictum that comedy involves a transition “from a society controlled by habit, ritual bondage, arbitrary law and the older characters to a society controlled by youth and pragmatic freedom” (unlike romance, which generally focuses on the defense of an established order, not its overthrow).The introductory references to a shining sun, though interrupted by “spring rains,” are pointedly dissimilar to the cold, dark night that begins A Game of Thrones, immediately suggesting a story with a lighter tone.The story further seems like a comedy, in its Fryean structure at least, as the lowly Dunk first bests the dissolute Prince Aerion by preventing him from harming a female puppeteer, and later defeats him in a joust, temporarily upending the social order by having a peasant triumph over a prince—a reflection of Frye’s point that comedy involves “a reversal of social standards [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]