The History of the Franks Literary Elements

Non-Fiction, Historical Book, Biography.

The setting of the book is 6th century C.E Western Europe and the book has been written in the context of the spread of Christianity.

The narrator of the book is Gregory of Tours and the book has been narrated from his point of view I.e. from first person's point of view.

Religious, Optimistic, Didactic, Solemn.

The king Clovis can be regarded as the protagonist of the book owing to his services for Christianity.

The major conflict in the book is between the sons of kings and the followers of Christianity and religious figures.

The climax in the story comes when king Clovis converts to Christianity and conquers a vast land.

The fights among the sons of king Clovis foreshadows the quarrels among next generations.

The understatement in the book is the way Christianity spread throughout the European countries and the fights which ran through generations. The author has also understated the ecclesiastical problems.

There are allusions to Bible, the life of peasants, biblical verses, noble people, Christianity, Visigoths, Lombards and Huns tribes, myths, kings, miracle stories, saints, martyrs, debates of church, nature, life, death, Conquests, crusades, spread of Christianity, Merocingian dynasty, treaties, bishops, assassination of kings and the life of the author.

There are images of the author's life and the teachings of Christianity. The author has demonstrated how Christianity flourished in the Europe and the saints and martyrs played their role in its spread. There are also images of the conquest of Merocingian dynasty and the conversion of king to Christianity by his wife. The author has portrayed the assassination of kings and the quarrels between the kings of different generations.

It has been demonstrated that king Clovis' sons Then Lothar, Theodric, Chlodomer and Childebert began to fight for Kingdom after their father. The same fights continued in the next generations and the kings were being assassinated by their opponents.

The paradox in the story is that for the spread of Christianity, the kings were fighting among themselves for Kingdom. The brothers were assassinating each other ruthlessly.

There is a parallelism between different generations of kings murdering each other for the Kingdom.

An example of metonymy is Clovis who represents for all the leaders who played their part in spreading Christianity. An example of synecdoche is the assassination which ran through different generations and it represents the greed for kingship.

The Kingdom and Christianity have been personified in the book.