ENGLISH 4270
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE FALL
2006
GRADY SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
Essays
are due by Friday, October 27; they
should be typed, double-spaced, and four to six pages long in a 12-point font.
In considering these topics, bear in mind that they are starting points, and
that simply answering in sequence the questions below will not produce a good
or even coherent essay. Develop your own
particular thesis, and be sure to support your argument through frequent and
specific reference to the text. Please
let at least one human being—one who knows the difference between “its” and
“it’s”—proofread your essay before you hand it in.
1. Design your own topic, of suitable specificity and
sophistication, about something that interests you Malory’s
Morte D’Arthur, Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight, or Pearl.. Provide me
with a one-paragraph description of your topic no later than Friday, September 22. Feel free to consult with me in developing
this topic; discussing it with your classmates is highly recommended, too.
2. [rescued from the
midterm!] Compare the Gawains we've seen this
semester in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte D'Arthur. How do
different writers use Gawain to represent different attitudes towards chivalry
and heroic knightly behavior? What, if anything, do the characters have
in common?
3. [held over from last
time!] After some disastrous quests in the early days of his rule, Arthur
establishes a knightly code to govern the activities of the Round Table (in
3.15). One thing this code tries to do
is establish exactly what a good knight is, and what good knights should
do. How well does the distinction
between good and bad hold up in the Morte? Is the line
drawn between them typically distinct or vague and permeable? Can good knights
go bad—and can bad kights sometimes
become good? How/why/when/with what
results?
4 . Do you
think that Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight and
5. [also held over from last
time!] Mandeville’s Travels certainly
seems to promote a tolerant attitude
towards faiths other than the narrator’s own Catholicism. But it doesn’t seem to extend that attitudes towards the Jews. Discuss the effect and the function of the
text’s treatment of the Jews that Sir John “meets” during his “travels.”
6. Though Malory’s title is
the Morte D’Arthur, and
Caxton devotes his preface to the text to discussing
the evidence for Arthur’s historical existence, in the later books of the Morte it’s clear
that Lancelot’s role is what interests Malory
most. Discuss, hypothesize about,
review, critique, extol, explain, and otherwise ruminate about Lancelot’s
importance in Malory’s text.
7. Though Malory’s title is
the Morte D’Arthur, and
Caxton devotes his preface to the text to discussing
the evidence for Arthur’s historical existence, in the later books of the Morte it’s clear
that Lancelot’s role is what interests Malory
most. What happens to Arthur? Discuss Arthur’s role in the later books of
the Morte.
8. [yet again, held over from
last time!] The Grail Quest includes all of the usual elements of a chivalric
adventure: knights in armor undertake battles, quest far and wide, participate
in tournaments, etc. How does it differ
from other episodes in Malory’s Morte? How does Malory
modify our understanding of the knight’s role in the world, and the meaning of
chivalric adventure? How does the Grail
Quest change the way we read the last books of the Morte—or does it?
9. Discuss the role(s) that the pentangle and the
girdle play in Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight, in the context of a thesis that you develop and defend about
what/how/why they mean what they do.
Favor me with a copy of this thesis, expressed in a few sentences, by
Monday 10/23.