“The Dream of the Rood” uses stoicism to promise a reward for suffering where Christ and the cross are linked, but parallel to the dreamer in the sense that he joins the comitatus of Christ. through the cross, thereby obtaining redemption, eternal life and habitation in heaven. Christ himself, however, does not play the same role as in the biblical texts, here he is courageous and stoic, like a great warrior. “The Dream of the Rood” introduces us to the warrior that is Jesus. This Jesus is not the most passive character that modern religion embraces, but behaves like an Anglo-Saxon warrior as he boldly runs to the cross for his personal honor. While his ascension is described in the Bible as "he sent forth his spirit" (49) rather than "gave up his spirit," here we see Jesus not as a passive participant, but as a warrior fully accepting and defying death. the lines describe Christ as a warrior. Rather than a mistreated but unbroken martyr, condemned to suffer for the sins of humanity, Christ is a “young man” (39), “strong and courageous” (40) “courageous in the eyes of many” (41). . He approaches his death as if it were a glorious battle, and the Cross stands at his side, resolute, even if it must kill its lord “without daring to act against the word of the Lord” (35). Christ is not initially depicted as a lord himself, but submits to the Father. The poem seems to suggest that it is only after Christ's heroic battle and death that he is rewarded by his lord, the Father, and becomes lord himself. Christ, for his faithful service to his lord father, is rewarded with a seat at his father's right hand after his death. The Cross is rewarded by its lord, Christ. The Cross, for carrying the weight of its lord and letting him kill despite his ability to...... middle of paper ......ss. One of the ways the characters are all paralleled is through stigmata. Christ and the cross physically share the same stigmata, having gone through the same ordeal together, both being “driven with nails” (46), having “open marks of wickedness” (47), being thoroughly moistened with blood” (48). . ). The dreamer has no such stigmata, but the parallel is made when the dreamer first sees the cross adorned with gold and precious stones and the dreamer realizes that he has "so many sins" ( 99) and then wants to “venture after this tree of victory”. » (127). The dreamer, although he bears no physical stigmata, shares the wounds and bloodstains of the cross and Christ by being tainted by Adam's original sin. The contrast between the resplendent cross and the sin-stained dreamer highlights Christ's gift to humanity: the possibility of cleansing ourselves of these stains caused by sin..