Hubris has always been a common motif in the history of humanity. The Bayeux Tapestry in general and more specifically its section dubbed English and French Fall in Battle is a manifestation of human hubris in action. The Bayeux Tapestry is on display at the Town Hall, Bayeux in Normandy, France (Woolf, 2018) . Whereas the artist who made the tapestry is unknown, the work of art traces back to the 11th century, soon after the Norman conquest of England. In the name of hubris, two men William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex considered themselves entitled to the English throne (Foys, 2015; Woolf, 2018) . The entire tapestry, when considered in totality, may justify the actions of William of Normandy. However, the specific segment dubbed English and French Fall in Battle depict the chaos that humans bring upon themselves due to their own hubris. In the tapestry dubbed English and French Fall in Battle, the artist presents a manifestation of chaos, pain, suffering, and death, in a world where there are no winners!
Color is an important aspect of the tapestry in focus and one that adds to the misery and chaos and loss associated with the scene. It is important to note that a tapestry is a work of embroidery where artists create through stitching. It thus takes a lot of effort to create strong colors, even as it augments propensity for errors. The artists thus went out of their way to present the powerful colors shown in the tapestry. The soldiers are in uniform but each of them seems to be wearing a different hue and shade of uniform (Getlein, 2016) . The value of the colors is also bright and eye-catching with even darker colors such as black seemingly standing out. Perhaps the idea was to humanize the soldiers by giving them personalities or unique identities. The artists did not want the soldiers to appear like mere tools but rather actual human beings. When they seem human, their fall makes a greater impression on the person perusing the work of art.
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The artist also makes good use of lines to augment the message of chaos and loss within the tapestry. Lines seem to divide the tapestry into three segments. The top segment is beautifully adorned with pictures of horses who seem to be at play (Getlein, 2016) . A line divides the top segment with the middle segment where the battle is going on. A lot of chaos is reflected in this section. Another line separates the chaotic center segment with the seemingly tranquil segment below. However, it is evident that death is the source of the said tranquility. Lines, therefore, augment the cascade of change from beautiful through chaos to death, all because of human hubris.
The combination of color and lines as outlined above creates a binary form of motion that further contributes to the chaos. The main motion is from alive, beautiful to dead, and destroyed. However, there is a second perspective of motion at the center of the tapestry where the active battle takes place. On one side is the cavalry charging up the hill while the infantry charges down the hill (Getlein, 2016) . Normally, two powerful forces charging one another might present scenes of courage, bravery, and skill in combat. However, the motion towards one another only results in death and destruction. There are no soldiers shown bravery engaging the enemy but rather only rushing to their deaths in a chaotic scene.
The futility of the battle due to the utter chaos it creates appears to be the rhythm of the tapestry. There is a clear pattern formed both on the surface of the tapestry and in the mind of the person looking at it. On the one hand are men who took time to prepare themselves, their weapons and even their horses. On the other hand, the artists them show the very same men inert and destroyed sprawling all over the ground, dead (Getlein, 2016) ! The rhythm of the panting sings a song of death and destruction. It takes decades to grow into a man, years to learn how to fight, hours to prepare for battle, only to fall in hordes. The rhythm in the painting begs the question ‘what a waste?’
A battle scene seldom presents a semblance of unity and balance due to the belligerence of the faction but to some extent, the artists attained unity and balance in the instant tapestry. In all fairness, a person who had a stake in the battle may look at the tapestry and auger on the preferred side. However, a modern person who does not really care about who wins the battle would look at the tapestry and see both sets of soldiers working in tandem to communicate the same message. This message is that no matter how justifiable any war is, battles are not beautiful or noble but rather chaotic scenes. Through unity and balance, two factions present the same message, which is that fighting only produces death and destruction. There might be a victory in other scenes but in the battle scene, only chaos, death, and destruction (Foys, 2015) .
Based on the totality of the above, it is possible, even probable that the battle depicted in the entire Bayeux Tapestry was worth it. However, in the specific segment dubbed English and French Fall in Battle, the only evidence presented is that of chaos, death, and destruction. Two sets of well-adorned and handsomely dressed men meet on the field of battle. The result is not a manifestation of courage or combat skill but rather death and destruction because of human hubris. As an augmentation of the hubris, other men rush to their imminent and inevitable death in the hands of each other despite the carnage that has already happened. Unfortunately, these men may not have anything against one another as being French and English respectively they might not even know one another. However, through human hubris, they rush together to their demise!
References
Foys, M. (2015). 15.11. 26, Pastan and White, with Gilbert, The Bayeux Tapestry and Its Contexts. The Medieval Review .
Getlein, M. (2016). Living with art . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Woolf, C. (2018). English and French rivalry highlighted by loan of historic Bayeux Tapestry. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-17/english-and-french-rivalry-highlighted-loan-historic-bayeux-tapestry
