Treachery vs. Chivalry Theme Analysis

The Song of Roland opens with treachery, as Spain’s King Marsile debates with his barons about entrapping Charlemayn by pretending to convert to Christianity and outwardly submitting to the Emperor’s rule (“They’ll trap [Charlemayn] somehow, for it is fated so”). But Marsile and his Muslim subjects are regarded as treacherous by virtue of their pagan status as non-Christians; their plot is not the key betrayal of the story. Of greater interest to the poet is the surprising treachery of Ganelon, who is married to Charlemayn’s sister and is Charlemayn’s nephew Roland’s stepfather. Ganelon, so closely bound to the Emperor, is assumed to be trustworthy. The poem is not straightforward about Ganelon’s motivations, which are merely hinted at over the course of the poem. However, by emphasizing the corrupt aspects of Ganelon’s temperament, the poet argues that treachery, as an expression of a self-serving, disloyal character, is the opposite of chivalry and must be punished accordingly.

Throughout the poem, treachery is linked to a jealous, disloyal, and self-serving character—the opposite of those chivalrous characteristics displayed by others, like Roland. When Ganelon arrives in pagan Saragossa, Spain—dispatched there by Charlemayn on an errand he resents—he wastes no time in beginning to plot with Blancandrin, King Marsile’s wise counselor, to persuade Marsile to join with Ganelon in committing treachery against the French. He does so by spinning a story about Roland, claiming that Roland once returned from battle with a choice prize for his uncle Charlemayn: “Roland in hand a golden apple nursed / And showed his uncle, saying, ‘Take it, fair sir; / The crowns I give you of all the kings on earth.’ / One day his pride will undo him for sure, / […] If one should slay him some peace might be preserved.” It’s not clear whether the story about the apple is based in reality—yet, either way, it appears that Ganelon is prompted to seek revenge out of envy of his stepson’s bond with and loyalty to Charlemayn. Ganelon doesn’t hesitate to use this excuse to incite others to attack his stepson. Ganelon also has no qualms about plotting with a foreign army to undo Roland, even at cost to Ganelon’s own people. Drawing on his knowledge of Charlemayn’s military strategy, he tells King Marsile that Roland will be placed in the rear guard of Charlemayn’s retreating army, giving the Spanish army a clear opportunity to attack and kill Roland (and inevitably other Frenchmen, too). Ganelon even goes this far: “Upon the relics of his good sword Murgleys / He sware the treason and sware his faith away.” Swords were sometimes embossed with religious relics during the medieval period when the poem takes place, so Ganelon’s oath upon his sword neatly symbolizes a twofold betrayal: of his emperor and his faith (which, after all, would be seen as a single strand of loyalty, in the medieval context).

Even if the poet does not clearly state the grievances that led Ganelon to commit treason, he finally makes it unambiguously clear that Ganelon is not to be trusted—that his character is corrupt in comparison with the noble Charlemayn and Roland. When, beset by the Spanish army, Roland finally blows his horn for assistance, Ganelon actively tries to dissuade the alarmed Charlemayn from action: “‘There is no battle […] / You’re growing old, your hair is sere and white, / When you speak thus, you’re talking like a child. / Full well you know Roland’s o’erweening pride.’” He assures Charlemayn that Roland is frightened by no more than “one small hare” and is merely making a dramatic scene in order to show off before other knights. This is a shocking response, not only because it’s a bald lie that further endangers Roland, but because it’s a blatant insult of Emperor Charlemayn—not praising his age and wisdom as everyone else in the poem does, but implying that he’s becoming senile. This suggests that treachery isn’t just an isolated act, according to the poet—it is itself an indication of a rotten character that even rejects the loyalties of a chivalric culture.

At the end of the poem, after Roland has died and Spain has conclusively submitted to Charlemayn, the Emperor finally takes the time to deal with Ganelon (whose treachery was revealed when Roland’s peril came to light). Though Charlemayn is once again portrayed as noble in his willingness to hear arguments for and against Ganelon, he ultimately sentences not only Ganelon himself, but his supporters and descendants, to a traitor’s death. This order shows what an offense treachery was thought to be during this time: as a disruptor of the chivalric order, the one who commits it deserves to have his name and posterity erased. As an officer remarks before the executions take place, “Treason destroys itself and others too.”