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Literary analysis essay
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Literary analysis essay
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Myths, Legends, and King Arthur
Throughout the dawns of time, people have recorded lives and made histories about the past, the people and all of their dramatics. One such story is Le morte d'Arthur, or in English, the Death of Arthur. Despite its French title, the actual text was written in English. It is a twenty-one book series written by Sir Thomas Malory in 1469-1470 describing in detail the problematic lives of the Arthurian legends.
Sir Thomas Malory was believed to be born in 1408, but no one really knows for sure. (New Standard M-86) He was an English author, compiler, and translator who was most known by his works on the Arthurian legends, and also the first great author of the English prose and epics. (Encarta, Malory) He was also a knight from Warwickshire who ended up serving time in the military on French soil under Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. He was knighted for his efforts sometime before 1442 and served in Parliament in 1445. After that he spent many years in imprisonment for political and municipal charges. He spent most of his last twenty years in prison. (CRC)
It was during this time that he wrote his version of the Arthurian Legends, basing most of his work on French and English originals in prose and verse. His version of the story was originally called The Book of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. It wasn't until after his death, when a man named William Caxton published his book in 1485 did it become known as Le morte d'Arthur. (New Standard M-86 & L-277)
In order to explain the book, I must first explain the story of King Arthur. I'll take you to the beginning of the tale with Arthur's father Uther Pendragon. The story in itself actually begins with Merlin, whi...
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...inter William Caxton arranged Malory's work into a single narrative in 1485. (Encarta Arthurian Legends)
I chose this story in truth because I was running out of ideas, and happened across it when I was looking up landmarks in London in my Encyclopedia. I had found a section for English literature on the way and stopped to take a look at it. The authors of the volume were nice enough to put examples of the stories in time periods. I found the time period I needed and found Sir Thomas Malory's tales of legendary soap operas. I also liked the idea because it was one of my favorite stories when I was growing up. How it represents the society that created this version of woes, happiness and Arthur, and our present society, is we all have evils that we must contend with and no matter what age you live in there is always a soap opera life waiting around the corner.
Who was King Arthur? Most people would tell of a great King; a devoted circle of heroic knights; mighty castles and mightier deeds; a time of chivalry and courtly love; of Lancelot and Guinevere; of triumph and death. Historians and archaeologists, especially Leslie Alcock, point to shadowy evidence of a man who is not a king, but a commander of an army, who lived during the late fifth to early sixth century who may perhaps be the basis for Arthur. By looking at the context in which the stories of King Arthur survived, and the evidence pertaining to his castle Camelot and the Battle of Badon Hill, we can begin to see that Arthur is probably not a king as the legend holds.
Malory, Thomas. King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales by Sir Thomas Malory, ed. Eugene Vinaver (London: Oxford UP, 1975) 124-25.
One of the main topics discussed in lesson one is the fact that heroes over time and overseas all heroes have something in common; which is true in the case of King Arthur and Beowulf. It is obvious that they are similar in the fact that they are both heroes, but what makes them an idol of their time and in their culture are poles apart. There are many things that are different about Beowulf and King Arthur, but the ones that stand out the most are what kind of hero they are and what actions they did to make them heroic. Both heroes possess qualities that others do not have, but it is what they do with those abilities that prompts someone to write a story about them and idolize them in time.
Morte d'Arthur". He wished to inspire people to return to the basic ideals of the chivalric
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are filled with many entertaining tales from a variety of characters of different social classes and background. The first two tales told, by the knight and the miller, articulate very different perspectives of medieval life. Primarily, The tales of both the knight and the miller bring strikingly different views on the idea of female agency, and as we will discover, Chaucer himself leaves hints that he supports the more involved, independent Alison, over the paper-thin character of Emily.
The Court of King Arthur in the Tales of Lanval and Sir Gawain the Green Knight
External evidence indicates the epic poem was written no earlier than 1060 and no later than the second half of the twelfth century with the generally accepted time begin 1098-1100 which coincides with the time of the First Crusade (Bur...
The story of king Arthur has multiple adaptations, and there many different forms of King Arthur. Back in the days Chreiten de Troyes wrote the story of Perceval, and The Holy Grail. This story was then adapted by Eric Rohmer in his film Perceval de la Gallois. Eric Rohmer went on to use a few of Thomas Leitch’s forms of adaptation. The modes of adaption that he used were expansion, compression, Anti-House style and celebration. In Thomas Leitch’s writing he explains expansion as adding on new parts of a story, compression as shortening a story to fit a certain time frame, and Celebration is kind of celebrating someone’s work or making a tribute to it. This adaptation of Perceval really brought on an interesting twist to Perceval. Rohmer added elements such as a choir singing every time an important event in the plot happens, and the simple background like the fake trees to try to get that medieval feel to it. The film’s artificiality, irony, and different ways of telling the story can really stop the viewers from gaining a lot of attachment to the story, it the same time it makes you use your brain to really think about the story. Perceval is one of the many Arthurian tales that have been adapted throughout the
Morte d Arthur In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples of chivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve the world in which he lived. Respect for women and courtesy were two major characteristics that knights longed to develop, and King Arthur was able to demonstrate them in two specific instances.
Le’ Morte d’ Arthur is a medieval romaunce by Sir Thomas Malory about King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, violence plays a very crucial part in the story. Many different kinds of violence occur in this set of stories, some of which are very ordered and fine, like jousting, and also disordered violence like war. The worst type of violence though is when people use violence to get vengeance, which is a major theme, because many of these knights are mad at others. While many of the knights in the book are concerned with getting revenge, these actions and the search for vengeance are often futile and almost always end badly.
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales a storytelling competition is proposed by the Host. In his mind, it was only proper for the Knight to tell his story first. The sneaky Host rigged the drawing of straws and the Knight won the honor of going first. He told a Roman Epic of loyalty and love, set in classical antiquity that portrayed his gallant manner and elevated social class. The Miller's Tale, a parody of the Knight's Tale, came next. The Miller's Tale was more contemporary and left out many of the ideals that were displayed by the characters in the Knight's Tale. This fabliau told by the Miller seemed to debase the Knight's Tale and also to debase the Knight himself.
Malory's Le Morte D’Arthur isn't known to be classic just because of Arthur-but rather the themes of family, love, revenge, identity, loyalty and betrayal. As King, Arthur is put in many situations that test the people he surrounds himself with. Therefore, betrayal has become a reoccurring theme. Throughout the novel, people are seen betraying each other. Betrayal has become familiar in a way to the members of the round table, ultimately leading to it's demise. The acts of betrayal occur in various forms, whether it be through adultery or just going behind the other person's back. Regardless of how it happens it brings about serious disorder for all involved.
Charles Altamont and Mary Foley, he was thought to have been named after the legendary medieval king, Arthur
The Book of the Courtier was published in 1528, by Baldassare Castiglione. The Courtier was written over the course of many years. Castiglione began writing the Courtier in 1508, and finished in 1516. Although the Courtier was written such a long time ago, it still relates to our society today.
In his Miller’s Tale, Chaucer’s Miller weaves a tale which incorporates all three medieval estates, and develops a narrative which, when placed under examination, can be demonstrated as surpassing the simplistic and crude nature commonly attributed to such fabliaux. While his outward behavior in the Miller’s Prologue seems to immediately suggest a subversion of chivalric ideals, “So that with trouble upon his horse he sat,/ Nor bothered to doff his hood or hat,/ Nor deferred to anyone out of courtesy” the purpose of the Miller’s Tale is not to provoke those accustomed to more genteel manners to relinquish themselves of their learned moral and social restraint. (Chaucer 167) By lampooning romantic ideals, the Miller’s Tale effectively pays back