Post by evolett on Mar 22, 2018 14:01:43 GMT
stdaga , that's a great collection of peachy quotes and a lot of thought put into the peach investigation! However, I doubt the peach has anything to do with secret parenthood or Robert's bastards. The peach is only mentioned in association with characters linked to fire or to the season of summer in general.
It is best understood in terms of the seasons and so represents:
Point 1 is quite clear in the text. Robert mentions the peach in connection with "the taste of summer" and the enjoyment of life. He certainly enjoyed life - whoring, hunting, drinking and spending, while neglecting his duties as king. He was jovial, the people loved him. He also presided over the longest summer in living memory. Robert is intimately associated with summer. So is Renly. He is one of Catelyn's knights of summer. As evidenced by his luxuriously outfitted war-tent, Renly also enjoys the fruits of prosperity. Like Robert, he is a likeable character, well loved by the people. Both Robert and Renly are summer characters who stand in contrast to their stern and sombre brother Stannis. To put it simply, Stannis never understood the significance of Renly's peach because what it represents was alien to his personality. Ever mindful of his duty, he had no time for the frivolous sweetness of life. Stannis is akin to a dismal grey winter day. He was never happy about being named Lord of Dragonstone and his link to fire comes only through Melisandre.
Robert and Renly are so alike because they also symbolize the horned lord of summer archetype. George has given us Garth the Green as a model for this deity. But the author has split Garth's features between the two brothers. Robert embodies the faunal, animalistic aspect of the horned lord: strength (also war), sexual virility and fecundity, and the hunt. As evidenced by his relationship with the Knight of Flowers, his marriage to Margaery and his alliance with the Tyrells, Renly on the other hand represents the floral or vegetational aspect (Highgarden being the breadbasket of the realm as well as being founded by a son of Garth). He is surrounded by green imagery - his armour, the tunics he wears, his tent, everything green. The two brothers jointly represent the prosperity of faunal and floral life on the planet. This leaves Garth's dark aspect for Stannis and dark he is. Besides his grim personality, he has themes of starvation in his arc, he allows himself to be influenced by Mel's sorcery, is willing to sacrifice his nephew Edric and allows the red priestess to birth a murderous shadow from his life-fires.
Daenerys' link to summer is obvious - her Old Valyrian dragon heritage, Old Valyria as the Land of the Long Summer, the fiery dragons etc. As one who plots to install a Targaryen on the throne, Varys is also connected to the hot season.
The Dornishman's Wife: Dorne is a dry arid region, always hot and sunny and represents a summer extreme in Westeros.
Sansa: can be understood in relation to her initial love of the sunny south, of King’s Landing and the affluence it represents, her initial desire to wed Joffery and her admiration for the Queen; with their golden imagery, the sun is a symbol of the Lannisters.
Bran: Bran is more complicated. As suggested by his self-chosen title, “Prince of the Green,” and by the name of his direwolf, Summer, Bran is not a true representative of Winter. With the exception of Arya, Catelyn and the rest of her children are linked to the summer theme.
Point 2 - the extended lease on life. Here we have Renly again, who "rises from the dead" to lead an army to victory. The extended lease on life is also represented by the peach Daenerys receives after crossing the Red Waste, an arduous journey that claimed the lives of many members of her Khalasaar and would have claimed all the rest had they not discovered the City of Bones.
Point 3 - life cheating death. The presence of a peach tree in a City of Bones is akin to a living fruit in the land of death. Symbolism: a peach tree may grow in a natural oasis but should not be found in a place of death. This alludes to the asynchronous seasons, to summers that last far to long, way beyond the natural seasonal cycle. As such, life cheats death of its rightful place but as we know, winter will have its due, and when it follows such an extended summer, it will be long, harsh and deathly.
As readers we give the Others and the long winter a lot of attention but the other extreme, the long or extended summer, is equally important and the peach highlights this. Ice and Fire, an extreme of winter and an extreme of summer ...
I've posted an article to my blog with lots more on this. It's rather long but you'll find a link to the Baratheon section in the contents.
It is best understood in terms of the seasons and so represents:
- the bounty of summer and the sweetness of life (in spring/summer)
- an extended lease on life (related to immortality)
- life cheating death of its rightful place in the seasonal cycle
Point 1 is quite clear in the text. Robert mentions the peach in connection with "the taste of summer" and the enjoyment of life. He certainly enjoyed life - whoring, hunting, drinking and spending, while neglecting his duties as king. He was jovial, the people loved him. He also presided over the longest summer in living memory. Robert is intimately associated with summer. So is Renly. He is one of Catelyn's knights of summer. As evidenced by his luxuriously outfitted war-tent, Renly also enjoys the fruits of prosperity. Like Robert, he is a likeable character, well loved by the people. Both Robert and Renly are summer characters who stand in contrast to their stern and sombre brother Stannis. To put it simply, Stannis never understood the significance of Renly's peach because what it represents was alien to his personality. Ever mindful of his duty, he had no time for the frivolous sweetness of life. Stannis is akin to a dismal grey winter day. He was never happy about being named Lord of Dragonstone and his link to fire comes only through Melisandre.
Robert and Renly are so alike because they also symbolize the horned lord of summer archetype. George has given us Garth the Green as a model for this deity. But the author has split Garth's features between the two brothers. Robert embodies the faunal, animalistic aspect of the horned lord: strength (also war), sexual virility and fecundity, and the hunt. As evidenced by his relationship with the Knight of Flowers, his marriage to Margaery and his alliance with the Tyrells, Renly on the other hand represents the floral or vegetational aspect (Highgarden being the breadbasket of the realm as well as being founded by a son of Garth). He is surrounded by green imagery - his armour, the tunics he wears, his tent, everything green. The two brothers jointly represent the prosperity of faunal and floral life on the planet. This leaves Garth's dark aspect for Stannis and dark he is. Besides his grim personality, he has themes of starvation in his arc, he allows himself to be influenced by Mel's sorcery, is willing to sacrifice his nephew Edric and allows the red priestess to birth a murderous shadow from his life-fires.
Daenerys' link to summer is obvious - her Old Valyrian dragon heritage, Old Valyria as the Land of the Long Summer, the fiery dragons etc. As one who plots to install a Targaryen on the throne, Varys is also connected to the hot season.
The Dornishman's Wife: Dorne is a dry arid region, always hot and sunny and represents a summer extreme in Westeros.
Sansa: can be understood in relation to her initial love of the sunny south, of King’s Landing and the affluence it represents, her initial desire to wed Joffery and her admiration for the Queen; with their golden imagery, the sun is a symbol of the Lannisters.
Bran: Bran is more complicated. As suggested by his self-chosen title, “Prince of the Green,” and by the name of his direwolf, Summer, Bran is not a true representative of Winter. With the exception of Arya, Catelyn and the rest of her children are linked to the summer theme.
Point 2 - the extended lease on life. Here we have Renly again, who "rises from the dead" to lead an army to victory. The extended lease on life is also represented by the peach Daenerys receives after crossing the Red Waste, an arduous journey that claimed the lives of many members of her Khalasaar and would have claimed all the rest had they not discovered the City of Bones.
Point 3 - life cheating death. The presence of a peach tree in a City of Bones is akin to a living fruit in the land of death. Symbolism: a peach tree may grow in a natural oasis but should not be found in a place of death. This alludes to the asynchronous seasons, to summers that last far to long, way beyond the natural seasonal cycle. As such, life cheats death of its rightful place but as we know, winter will have its due, and when it follows such an extended summer, it will be long, harsh and deathly.
As readers we give the Others and the long winter a lot of attention but the other extreme, the long or extended summer, is equally important and the peach highlights this. Ice and Fire, an extreme of winter and an extreme of summer ...
I've posted an article to my blog with lots more on this. It's rather long but you'll find a link to the Baratheon section in the contents.