Quest
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- This article is about the word, for other meanings see Quest (disambiguation)
A quest is a journey towards a goal used in mythology and literature as a plot. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and the overcoming of many obstacles, typically including much travel, which also allows the storyteller to showcase exotic locations and cultures.
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[edit] Quest objects
The hero's normal aim is to obtain something, or someone, by the quest and with this object return home. The object can be something new, that fulfills a lack in his life, or something that was stolen away from him. It can also be a lack in the life of, or something stolen from, someone with authority to dispatch him.
Sometimes the hero has no desire to return. Sir Galahad's quest for the Holy Grail is to find it, not return with it. A return may, indeed, be impossible: Aeneas is questing for a homeland, having lost Troy at the beginning of Virgil's Aeneid; he does not return to Troy to refound it but settles in Italy, to become an ancestor of the Romans.
Even if he does return after the culmination of the quest, his initial response may be a rejection of that return, as Joseph Campbell describes thoroughly in his critical analyses of quest literature "The Hero With a Thousand Faces."
If dispatched, the claim may be false, with the dispatcher actually sending him on the difficult quest in hopes of his death in the attempt, or in order to remove him from the scene for a time, but the story often unfolds just as if the claim were sincere, except that the tale usually ends with the dispatcher being unmasked and punished. Stories with such false quest-objects include the legends of Jason and Perseus, the fairy tales The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird and Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What, and the story of Beren and Lúthien in J. R. R. Tolkien's Silmarillion.
[edit] Literary analysis
The quest, in the form of the Hero's Journey, is central to the Monomyth described by Joseph Campbell; the hero sets forth from the world of common day into a land where adventures, tests, and magical rewards are found.
Vladimir Propp identified a quest as the central function of a fairy tale in his analysis, The Morphology of the Folktale.
[edit] Historical Examples
An early quest story is the quest of Gilgamesh, who seeks a secret to eternal life after the tragic death of Enkidu.
Another ancient quest tale, Homer's Odyssey, tells of Odysseus, who is cursed to wander and suffer for many years before Athena persuades the Olympians to allow him to return home. Recovering the Golden Fleece is the object of the travels of Jason and the Argonauts in the Argonautica. Psyche, having lost Cupid, hunted through the world for him, and was set tasks by Venus, including a descent into the underworld.
Many fairy tales depict the hero or heroine setting out on a quest, such as East of the Sun, West of the Moon where the heroine seeks her husband, The Seven Ravens where the heroine seeks her transformed brothers, The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, or The Golden Bird where the prince sets out to find the golden bird for his father. Other characters may set out with no more definite aim that to seek their fortune, or even be cast out instead of voluntarily leaving, but learn of something that could aid them along the way and so have their journey transformed from aimless wandering into a quest. Other characters can also set forth on quests — the hero's two older brothers commonly do — but the hero is distinguished by his success.
Many medieval romances set the knight out on quests. The term "Knight-errant" sprang from this, as "errant" meant roving or wandering. Sir Thomas Malory included many in Le Morte d'Arthur. The most famous -- perhaps the most famous quest in western literature -- centres on the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. This story cycle recounts multiple quests, in multiple variants, telling stories both of the heroes who succeed, like Percival (in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival) or Sir Galahad (in the Queste del Saint Graal), and also the heroes who fail, like Sir Lancelot.
So consistently did knights quest that Miguel de Cervantes set his Don Quixote on mock quests in a parody of chivalric tales. His attempt to ridicule knight-errantry into non-existence was not successful; quests remain a vital part of fantasy literature to this day.
[edit] Modern Literature
A familiar modern literary quest is Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. The One Ring, its baleful power, the difficult method which is the only way to destroy it, and the spiritual and psychological torture it wreaks on its Bearer, is used by J. R. R. Tolkien to tell a meaningful tale of friendship and the inner struggle with temptation, against a background of epic and supernatural warfare.
Weak writers, however, may devise the arbitrary quests for items without any importance beyond being the object of the quest. These items are known as MacGuffins, which is sometimes merely used to compare quests and is not always a derogatory term. Writers may also motivate characters to pursue these objects by meanings of a prophecy that decrees it, rather than have them discover that it could assist them, for reasons that are given.
[edit] Role-playing Games
The quest is a basic plot in role-playing games.
A common quest in a role-playing game will announce that the heroes must assemble some artifact, which has been broken into several pieces, each of which has a challenge the heroes must overcome. The carefully designed quest may allow the heroes to shine and show the qualities that make them heroic.
In literature as well as video games, side-quests are often used to develop character depth and reveal the world setting. These miniature plots may or may not have to do with the story's focus (being hereafter called the main quest), such as a romantic interest or providing help to other characters. One example is in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, the major quest being the binding or destruction of the dark one, with major side quests being the securing of political power, romantic interests, and the growth of personal strength or power. Oftentimes, such as in The Wheel of Time, these major side quests are stepping stones to the completion of the final goal.
In the beginning of the game, the player may need to learn how to effectively play the game and the character may lack the abilities or equipment to embark on the main quest. The game may provide side-quests that are menial in nature and have little to no bearing on the main quest, and include such actions as finding a lost book, finding a lost child, or ridding a basement of rats. Luckily, the gamer quickly passes through this level. This may also be a tutorial teaching the basics of gameplay with relatively little danger to the character in contrast to what shall cross their paths when their adventure begins. In regards to the Monomyth, the player may is unlikely to have defeated the guardian at this stage.
Another form of sidequest is a distraction or minigame. This includes activities such as raising pets, roleplaying social activities, buying drinks at a bar, dancing and horseback archery.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folk Tale
