The Role Of Honor In The Song Of Roland

In The Song of Roland, Roland is forced to choose between upholding his duty as a knight or call for reinforcements and cowardly flee from the battlefield. Oliver, time after time pleads to Roland begging him to blow his horn and alert Charlemagne to return. If backup came the French would have a fair fighting chance, yet Roland refuses to call for backup. After reading the passage, Roland may seem prideful and irrational, however, there is a proper reasoning behind his actions. To truly understand Roland’s decision, one must understand that in the Middle Ages, honor was most prevalent amongst knights and all fighting men. While many may argue that Roland refused to call back the French due to his pride, the truth is that honor so greatly
From a medieval perspective Roland seems rather courageous and brave. “That e’er by me fair France should be disfamed! / I’d rather die than thus be put to shame; / If the King loves us it’s for our valour’s sake” (Sayers, 94). Roland made his decision based off of what he believed his sole duty and purpose was in medieval society. As previously stated, knights had a responsibility to fight for their king and country and defend against all attacks. While Roland’s motives may confuse many today, one can compare his actions to a father losing his job. A family is dependent on the father’s income, thus losing his job will bring dishonor upon his family and will drag his household into poverty. This is why fathers, when they lose their jobs, are rather hesitant to tell their family for fear of not fulfilling the “fatherly responsibilities” they are expected to. Roland felt that same pressure in this passage when he claims that if the King loved them, it was for their valor only. In this passage Roland is so passionate about protecting his honor, because that was what defines him. Hence, another reason why Roland did not want to call for reinforcements from the king.
Furthermore, Roland wished for none to lose hope as can be seen as Oliver implores Roland to blow the horn for the third time. “Stout are the French, they will do battle bold” (Sayers, 93). Roland is a leader, and as a leader he also had a responsibility
Our government goes to great extremes to uphold this standard, just as knights in the Middle Ages thought it important to go to great extremes to protect their honor. Some equate America’s overprotective behaviour to a loss of our freedom, just as others equate the medieval’s zeal for honor to pride. While there are extremes that make these comparisons true, in general neither are true because their legitimacy depends on each society’s highest value. All decisions America makes as a country are biased by their attempt to uphold freedom in every situation, just as all decisions made in the Middle Ages were based on upholding