Essays on King Arthur

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 by design mocks the traditional love poems of Shakespeare’s times. More traditional love poems were rife with exaggerated comparisons that extolled the beauty of the beloved. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 outright makes fun of such things in lines like the opening: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;” (1). While much of his poem is spent describing her lover’s shortcomings, in the end he claims to love her. Shakespearean sonnets are fourteen lines long and consist of four parts (Kennedy n.p.; Owen 260). The first three parts known as quatrains each consist ...

The poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" belongs to the works of the so-called "Arthurian cycle" since it tells about the adventures of Gawain, a knight of the Round Table, and the nephew of the legendary King Arthur. Translated by James Winny, the poem reveals the story about Sir Gawain's risky undertakings to meet the Green Knight. Sir Gawain agreed to hit the Green Knight with his axe but in return, he has to be struck back a year and one day later. The development of the plot of the poem is built on the conflict as well ...

The heroic narratives of the legend of King Arthur have somehow persevered through centuries and are still alive in contemporary times. Presently, societies are aware of the fable because of multiple depictions that range from movies to novels, all of which spin the tale in one way or another. Still, the depiction of King Arthur in such works revolves around a character that is not only victorious and strong as a leader but also passionate about his kingdom, ready to defend it from potential harm. Still, is it possible that King Arthur of Camelot and the documented adventures in ...

1. What elements of religion and philosophy are in the movie? The elements of religion in the movie are related to Catholicism and Christianity and everything immoral deed is justified with religion. The bishop Germanus is a person who wants to control everything and everybody and free-thinkers like Pelagius are sentenced to death and are scorned because they defy the psychology of the masses. At the beginning of the film, Arthur has much respect for Roman Catholics and listens to them, but later on he realizes that they just want to be in control and that everything about this ...

Abstract

Nowadays, the importance of studying the ancient literature becomes an actual question. From year to year, an amount of worth studying contemporary literary works increases and a lot of students complain that they do not want to read and analyze literary works of the ancient authors. However, they forget that the ancient literary works were the first examples of literature in the history of humankind. They contain information about life and environment in the preceded days and inspire a lot of young writers. The aim of this paper is to prove that the ancient literature is a basis for ...

The European renaissance was a time for people to rediscover philosophies from the Greek and Roman culture. These influences changed aspects to the English literature for the better. During the medieval times, dramas consisted of focusing on religious themes but with the rebirth the renaissance brought tragedies and comedies became the norm for stories and plays. Authors, such as William Shakespeare and Chaucer, began creating works that the held their beliefs on what the world and life were like. This paved the way for many other authors to base their literary works off of what they believed instead of ...

King Arthur's tale is a scenario where fiction has been integrated with reality to become an element of the story of a particular area. In this situation, King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Camelot and the Holy Grail are embedded as an element of the British culture and held in respect as equivalent as other historical icons. While the is no clear indication that there was the existence of King Arthur, the tale has enjoyed the appreciation for centuries and has become a respectable and memorable symbol of British History. The paper will highlight the reasons why ...

Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (2004) Versus the Lancelyn Green’s King Arthur (1953)

In this paper, it will be shown that the 2004 film version of King Arthur is not an historical retelling, nor does it capture the real belief systems of a Sixth Century king. Clive Owens stars as King Arthur in the 2004 Hollywood version directed by Antoine Fuqua. In this version, the film states in the beginning intertitles that the story of King Arthur, while written down in the 15th century, is based on “a real hero who lived thousand years earlier in a period often called ...

There were a lot of knights recorded in King Arthur’s time. Most of them are renowned because of their greatness like Sir Launcelot du Lake, Sir Tristram de Liones, Sir Lamorak de Galis, and many more. Because of the numbers of the knights at that time many knights will forget the faces and will just rely on their titles. With all the titles they have, no one will forget the kindness of Sir Lamorak.

His firmness in the Isle of Servage gave great hope unto the people of the isle against their lord, Sir Nabon le Noire. He ...

The Wife of Bath is undoubtedly one of the most interesting characters in the entire collection of Canterbury Tales. She is interesting not only to the readers, but also to the writer himself, Geoffrey Chaucer. The Wife of Bath is the only character to have a prologue longer than their tale. The wife of bath begins by saying that what she is about to say is all meant for entertainment and that no one should take offence. Throughout her tale, she consistently and repeatedly reveals that she is a sly and crafty liar. The reader may question the authenticity of her ...

The Once and Future King written by T.H. White is one of the works that contain several aspects of theorization and discussion of a perfect society, or utopia. It is the story of King Arthur’ ascension to the throne, his attempts to moralize the society of Camelot, his knights and problems, which they and Arthur faced. Finally, the story tells of the failure of King Arthur and his kingdom because of those problems. In T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, Arthur attempts to solve the problems in Camelot that refer to the excess of knights who do everything ...

Fisher King Film questions

Q1.Which character represents the Fisher King? Explain Answer: The character of Fisher king of famous Holy Grailof Arthurian literature in the movie is represented by Jack Lucas in the film “The Fisher King”. Jack Lucas gets into the estate of mind where he obsessed with the character of Fisher king. Similar situations faced by the Fisher king in the literature and stories faced by the Jack Lucas in the film too.

Q2. Which character represents Percival? Explain

Answer: Parry represents the character of Percival in the film who was the companion of Fisher king in the stories of Arthurian literature. The similar situations and ...

Celtic society was known for its rather elaborate yet defined system which separated the intellectual roles into three professioanl branches: the Bards, or the singers of praises and feared satirists, the Vates, or the diviners and seers, and the Druids, or the priests and wizards, judges and advisors, prophets and teachers of the Celtic world. Merlin is a man of great magic and mystery, making him one of the most enigmatic figure in the Arthurian legend. However, it was his accurate prophecies regarding the history of Britain and the rise and fall of its three kings that made him a legendary ...

Dark Ages is a term that is commonly used together with middle Ages. It defines a period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Italian Renaissance as well as the Age of Discovery. An Italian scholar Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 1304-1374 coined the term Dark Ages. He used the label in the description for what he viewed as a lack of quality in the Latin literature of his time. The term evolved with time to define lack of culture and development in Europe. At the time, Greek and Roman civilizations were well advanced for the time as they ...

Introduction A legend is made of extraordinary deeds, and the daring feats of a legend are told and retold for generations. It is often about a particular person, carrying a historical basis, with certain elements of magic and myth woven around him or her. The myths revolving a legend often carry supernatural angle to interpret natural events & explain the universe and humanity

Arthurian Legend

Arthurian legend has emerged slowly over centuries, and the storytellers have told again and again about a great chief or leader, who disappeared mysteriously, but promises to return to his people in time of need. King Arthur legends are often based on ...

Introduction

The strategic design perspective refers to a system that an organization deliberately constructs in order to achieve its goals. According to this approach, it is important to understand the core principles of the design of the organization. This can be achieved through aligning the design of the organization with the strategies employed. The organization should also ensure that the design and strategy fit the organizational environment where the organization operates. By following these, organizational managers have the potential of driving organizations to unprecedented levels of success (Evans, 2000). The design puts more emphasis on the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. ...

The medieval times or the middle ages witnessed the inception of the ‘Romance’ literature. This kind of literature was inspired into being by the knights’ usually idealistic courtly love of the noblewomen they interacted with on occasion.

What was model knightly behavior in the 12th and 13th centuries?

Using Chretien as an example, knights were held very highly and they were expected to solve dilemmas, which ranged in nature from psychological to ethical dilemmas. A typical knight had a good grip of combat tactics as well as the ability to display martial prowess in rescuing ladies from monsters, giants, and wicked knights (Greenblatt, 8). Knights, such Alexander’s knights accompanied the ...

Introduction

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a famous comedy movie released in 1975. The movie depicted the quest of King Arthur and his companions for the quest of searching the Holy Grail. The entire movie lies in the genre of satire in which parody of king Arthur has been shown (YouTube 1). However, the scene that is selected for this paper displays black knight fight with King Arthur. This scene best depicts the parody of King Arthur and his peasants making it the most hilarious scene of the movie. The scene is meant to communicate the acts of bravery ...

- Literature produced in early Old English, a Germanic language with a Celtic imagination, expressed in Arthurian legend - Legends of knights and honor - Chivalric code - Origin - How chivalric code was passed on - Definition Dark Ages or commonly known as the ‘Middle Ages’ or the medieval era. This period is called ‘middle’ because it was midway between the end of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifth century and the beginning of Renaissance in the fourteenth century. However, this period in history does not have precise dates and most of the ...

Summary of “The Drawing of the Dark” by Tim Powers

Tim Powers begins his story in “The drawing of the Dark” presenting the lead character, the Irishman Brian Duffy, who is attacked on the streets of Venice. After his assailants give in and retreat, he meets the old sorcerer Aurelianus, who offers him a job as a bouncer in the Zimmerman Inn – the brewery of the Herzwesten beer in Vienna. Duffy, a former mercenary who used to live in Austria and fought against the Turkish Army in Mohacs, accepts the offer and starts on his journey. Upon his arrival at Trieste he finds an odd tavern, where he orders a cup of wine. ...

Introduction

In the book Idylls of the King, Merlin acts as Arthur’s adviser, a prophet and a magician. Merlin is simply a creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth currently in living his 12th century history under Kings of Britain. He combined both the welsh tradition about a prophet known by the name Myrddin with the story. As the story unfolds we get to understand that Merlin had no human father. It unfolds later that Merlin too had earlier prophesied of the downgrading defeat of the British Knights by the Saxons (Tennyson, 16). The original Merlin legend that is portrayed in various medieval Welsh poems ...

Introduction

Summary The book is a historic one. The beginning and the end of the writing refer to the ancient city of Troy under the myth of Britain’s lineage. The books refer the way of Britain’s Trojan founder, Brutus. The translator of the poem makes an introduction of the British greatest leader, the legendary King Arthur (Armitage 12). The main action of the story takes place at the Camelot court where Arthur introduces a new game since it was New Year and game challenges were routine during holiday celebrations.

The poem is plotted during a New Year’s Eve feast ...

Over the course of the several decades, numerous romantic tales and epics have been penned. Epics are basically tales of warriors with heroic traits, capable of performing superhuman feats and fearlessly saving the nation and the damsel in distress from a terrible fate. In most tales of romance, captivating adventures as well as exciting experiences usually occur. The Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, happens to be one of the most renowned epics in the world. The eponymous character of Beowulf is a strong and brave hero whose ferocity and skill in battle helps save the clan of King Hrothgar. Beowulf later is crowned the ...

Introduction:

The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight starts at a New Years Eve Feast at King Arthur’s court. The lavish feast is interrupted when the Green Knight arrives and issues challenge to King Arthur and any member of his Court to strike him with his own axe, on the condition that the challenger find him in exactly one year to receive a blow in return. When no one, including Arthur takes him up on this so he mocks them. In response to his taunts, King Arthur steps up and starts to take the axe. Sir Gawain jumps in. ...

Dark Ages is the term referred to as the period of cultural and economic regression that occurred in Europe succeeding the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476. This period refers to the Middle Ages, A.D. 450 until A.D 1000 and is called the Dark Ages because it denotes a period of grief, torture and plague. During this era, the Roman territory was divided where Kings and mounted Knights emerged. Vikings and barbarians from northern and central Europe conquered Rome and brought havoc to the fallen empire. Imperialism was replaced with feudal system where citizens were protected inside walled ...

Introduction

There are a very few characters in the history of mankind who have captured the imagination of so many creators – writers, artists, musicians and auteurs. King Arthur for his leadership of Britain in the late 5th Century is one such figure who has inspired a plethora of work based on him. At a time when heroic literature flourished in England, reminiscent of the great wars fought and the personalities who fought them, there existed an entire collection of work dedicated only to King Arthur, now called Arthurian Literature. Among the best known works of Arthurian literature is Sir Thomas Malory’s ...

An unknown author in the 14th-century wrote “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. “Arthurian” stories. It takes place during the Christmas holiday that King Arthur and his subjects are celebrating. It’s a celebrating that is taking place in the prime of their life, “the happiest under heaven.” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) This mood is interrupted when a strange visitor, The Green Knight Arrives riding a green horse. The purpose of this essay is to establish is the Greene Knight is an evil character, or villain as will be the term used throughout this analysis. We will try to ...

On the surface, the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight appears to be a simple tale of a knight who accepts a difficult quest and, fulfilling it, returns to the court at Camelot, victorious. However, upon further exploration of the poem, much about its meaning becomes increasingly ambiguous. For example, the poem’s fourteenth century poet could have had a very different intent concerning ideas of chivalry and temptation than a modern reader may assume after reading the poem. Literary scholars argue over the meaning of Sir Gawain in terms of ideas about chivalry, temptation, the role of women, and the place of ...

A beautiful chanson de geste, or literary work celebrating the deeds of a hero, the Song of Roland could be easily dismissed by a casual observer to simply be a lovely poem. Such an observer might class it with the legend of King Arthur; he or she would not be far wrong. Though the Song of Roland is much older than the legend of King Arthur, it has both idealized heroes doing some impossible things such as fighting after they have burst their temples while blowing a horn. Yet this chanson de geste also has important historical significance for being the oldest surviving ...

Rosemary Sutcliff's The Light Beyond the Forest is a retelling of the quest to retrieve the Holy Grail, undertaken by four of the Knights of the Round Table - Lancelot, Bors, Percival and Galahad. This story recounts one of the more famous Arthurian legends in English history, and demonstrates both the virtues and flaws of noble knights on a crusade for their king and their God. Due to the scope and the majesty of this noble adventure, the knights conduct many feats of chivalry and heroism - sometimes, their lack of virtue comes back to haunt them and affect their journey. ...

The modern scientific method dates all the way back to the days of Isaac Newton who, ironically, only went to university because his parents thought he was too poor of a farmer to make anything of himself – so they sent him to read theology (Weisstein, 2011). The climate of research and inquiry produced one of the most transformational minds in all of the history of science. In addition to his laws of motion, he also developed the basis of a scientific method that still guides research and experimentation done in the present day.

Newton’s scientific method boiled down to four ...

The poem entitled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by an anonymous individual – thought to be a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer – in the fourteenth century (Pace University). Its narrative is a moral one and discusses the importance of remaining honourable and chivalrous. Sir Gawain is a knight of King Arthur’s rule and as such, he always attempts to behave in a brave and noble fashion. His encounter with the Green Knight tests this as he must ward off his friend’s beautiful wife’s sexual advances, and honestly bestow his day’s awards upon his friend, as well as honourably ...

The story of King Arthur has involved a number of symbols, places and characters who have extensively contributed to the flow and narration of that story. For instance Sir Ulfius whose real name was Merlin was taken to be noble knight who was used by the king as a messenger to pass information to and from the king and other characters in the story (Cutler 23).

King Arthur forms the main character in this story. King Arthur lived in a castle a place which was considered to habitant for the rich and leaders of a certain territories. In this castle, the king was being ...

Both Hamlet and King Arthur represents strong and determined personalities of their era. These personalities are well defined as heroes as they led their people towards greatest achievements. King Arthur marked the victory in sixth century of Britain against Saxons and has been looked upon as best leaders in history. Arthur has been a visionary and the changes introduced by him during his rule set the theme for the novel. As a child also, Arthur was honest, determined, modest and good at heart. Arthur has displayed a fair sense of judgment in his decisions and is contrary to the impulsiveness of character exhibited ...

There is a vivid description of a heroic character in the two literature works: Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The heroic protagonist is portrayed, in both cases, as a plain human being with imperfections in one way or the other. In this work, I have critically analyzed and given a comparison of the heroic qualities of both the characters.

On the onset, Beowulf crosses the ocean to fight and the main reason for the fight is to attain fame and honour. In his society, one of the greatest achievements is fame, especially after death. This is the notion that drives ...