Asterix and the Goths

Plot:

The episode opens with the druid Getafix preparing to leave for the Forest of the Carnutes where the druids will be holding their annual conference to elect the druid of the year.

Concerned about the druids safety, Asterix and Obelix accompany him to the meeting place. Meanwhile, a group of Gothic barbarians plans to capture the best Gaulish druid. They plan to use the druid's magic to invade and conquer Gaul and Rome.

After Getafix wins the competition, boasting a magis potion that supplies super-human strength, he is accosted and kidnapped by the brutal Goths. As the two heroes go looking for their druid, they meet with a Roman patrol. On seeing Asterix holding a Gothic helmet, the decurion panics and gets the patrol beaten up.

Asterix and Obelix are now being hunted; their picture is sent out to every Roman camp in the area. The two decide to disguise themselves by donning Roman suits which they borrow from two legionaries. Two other legionaries, eager to be rewarded, take the still bound and gagged leginaries back to camp, only to realize that they have the wrong pair.

On reaching Germania, the heroes disguise themselves as Goths and follow marching Gothic soldiers, hoping to find Getafix. Meanwhile, at the Gothic Chief's residence, an interpreter(Rhetoric) who is fluent in modern languages is summoned to convey the chief's demands; the druid supposedly didn't understand Gothic. Getafix refuses to help, therefore Rhetoric, whose life is threatened, cleverly postpones his day of doom. A frightful Rhetoric tries to escape, but the ubiquitous Gothic patrols find him as well as Asterix and Obelix, who are searching for Getafix. They are thrown into the guardrooms but easily escape. A blunder by Rhetoric reveals his knowledge of Gaulish. Obelix squeezes out the whereabouts of Getafix from Rhetoric. Back at the Gothic camp, the duo surrender and are locked up in the dungeons. The druid(Getafix) reveals the interpreters ploy and they are all sentenced to death by extreme torture.

In the dungeon, the three Gauls decide that, before they escaped, they should discourage the Goths from invading Gaul by spreading discord in the Gothic camps. This they do by exploiting Rhetoric's greed for power. Using the power of the potion, Rhetoric dethrones the chief, sending him to the dungeon. Playing their game, the Gauls give an angry Metric the potion. A fierce fight ensues between usurper and usurped.

The Gauls cleverly entice the weak and oppressed to assume power through the strength the potion bestows. They recruit armies which fight against one another. Even when the potion wore off, this conflict would continue, preventing further attacks on Gaul. Their job well done, the Gauls return home to a sumpuous banquet.

Links:

Homepage

Asterix the Gaul

Asterix in Britain

Asterix and the Normans

Asterix and the Goths

Themes:

a)Theme of Invasion and its obscurity of meaning to some:

  • Five Goths invade Gaul, eager to take the best druid into their possesion.
  • The Goths want to use the druids magic to conquer both Gaul and Rome.
  • "A heavy responsibility weighs on those who guard the frontier against foreign invaders." , this referring to the single legoinary who gets a beating from the Gothic invaders who are leaving Gaul. Also, he is thrashed by Gaulish invaders of Germania as they exit. Clearly, invasion weighs heavily on him.
  • The meaning of invasion is unclear; the solo legionary is always disappointed because of the apparent complexity of invasion, as his superior vividly spells out to him.
  • Disguise helps the Gaulish invaders(Asterix and Obelix) enter Germania unnoticed.
  • By playing them against one another, the Gauls successfully avert further invasion from the Goths, who are busy fighting one another.
  • In the end, the legionary reports that Gauls were inveding Gaul. The meaning of invasion is clearly unclear to some.

b)The theme of Confusion and Greed:

  • The different Goths: Ostrogoths and Visigoths enhance the theme of confusion. They have different identities.
  • The maze depicted in the swear words highlights confusion.
  • A rapacious pair of legions stupidly take back to camp two "Goths", hoping for a reward. When their true identity is revealed, the Decurion promises them that their reward would be seats in the arena...with the lions.
  • The reward also causes a lot of confusion and melee. When the Romens hear that the "Gothic pair" were disguised as Romans, they go about "capturing one another".
  • Rhetoric and the tiny soldier insists that it was he who captured Asterix and Obelix, hoping for a reward. The chief is left flustered by all this.
  • The greedy Rhetoric uses his super- human strength to usurp the chief and sends him to the dungeon.
  • The poor sweeper, Electric, and the oppressed husband, Euphoric, use rhier new strength to summon armies. The result is endless fighting and permanent chaos.

Character Traits:

Obelix:

  • We see Obelix in his most stupid state in this episode. his obtuse nature is revealed again and again by the questions he asks Asterix and by the jokes that amuse him:
  • He does not understand Asterix's explanation of the location of the different tribes of the Gothe in Germania.
  • When Asterix asks him to look for clues, he asks " Clues to what?", even though it is clear that they are trying to trace Getafix's whereabouts.
  • Obelix asks Asterix how he knew that the runner was a Roman legoinary yet he was dressed as such.
  • When Asterix tells him that they do not have to pretend to be Romans because they were in Germania, he stupidly asks,"Why?"
  • He was very slow to catch the joke Asterix made when Metric freed himself. He joked, " He's got a free hand." And once he got it, he never stopped cracking it.

Other interesting things:

i) Names:

  • Notice how the name of the druid, Botanix, relates to his magic that sprouts beautiful plant life.
  • To enhance their disguise, Asterix tells Obelix that if they met any Romans, Obelix would be Legionary Obelus and Asterix Legionary Asterus. In addition, they had to say, "By Jupiter" and "Ave".
  • Rhetoric the interpreter is appropriately named; he is eloquent in many modern languages.
  • Humor comes out when a strong Electric envisions himself as a general, General Electric.( A huge company called General Electric actually exists.)
 

ii) Humor:

  • This episode, like all others, contains a preponderance of humorous occurences in the use of puns, stereotypical references, caricatures, use of names that resemble the character in his behavior, or just plain old typical humor.In this comic, what made me laugh included:
  • When the druid Valuaddetax used his magic to cause a legionary to bray instead of talk. His superior alludes to his likeness to an ass by saying, "It hasn't made that much differernce".
  • In the forest, Rhetorix remains mum, pretending not to know Gaulish. But he blunders when he replies, "Thanks" to Asterix's "Bless you" after he sneezes.He still tries to deny( mind you in Gaulish) that he doesn't speak Gaulish, that he has no gift for languages.
  • The "Metric System", a standard measurement system,is qouted as a war manoever derived from the Chief Metrix's attack strategy. Another allusion to the system occurs when he is attacked from his rearguard by Rhetoric's vanguard and comments, " This is bad for my system."

©Copywright Dennis Immonje 2002