tales of king arthur - david-glen smith · tales of king arthur. 2 ... the stories of king arthur...

06.11.13 || English 2322: British Literature: Anglo-Saxon — Mid 18th Century || D. Glen Smith, instructor

Tales of King Arthur

2

Arthurian Tales and Legends


The stories of King Arthur and his court serve multi-functions.

• showtheculturalshiftbeforetheNormanConquest(EleventhCentury)

confirmingvaluesofthelateAnglo-Saxonperiod

• promoteastrongsenseofidentityfortheaverageEnglishcitizen:

nationalprideandadevelopingsenseofanEnglish-specificculture

• utilizeidentifiablecharacterswhoarepresentedsituationsandconflicts

mirroringasetofheroiccodesfromanunidentifiederaintheearlyhistories

ofEngland

• presentonthesurfaceuniversalthemesofgoodversusevil

• althoughheavilyindebtedtoRomanCatholicmoralsandimagery,

thestoriesstillutilizematerialfromthefolk-paganconceptspredatingthe

catholicconversionduringtheSixthCenturywiththeactionsofthe

ArchbishopofCanterbury,Augustine [see page 10 of demo]

3



The first recorded stories come from the country of Wales.

InthecollectionofstoriestitledThe Mabinogion,thebeginningsofacultural

heroemerge.

• Begunasanoraltradition;itisspeculatedtheywerefirstconceivedduring

theEnglishIronAgeduringRomanoccupationoftheisland.

• Itisalsobelieved,bytheNinthCentury,numerousdifferentversionsofthe

Arthurianlegendwerecommonplace.

• IntheWelshfolktaleCulhwch and Olwen,whichwasrecordedwithin

The Mabinogion duringtheEleventhCentury,KingArthurappearsasa

minorbackgroundcharacter,afigurealreadyestablishedasafamousnoble.

>However,heisshownasaKingwhounifiedallofBritain.

> Inthissense,thecharacteralreadyhasachievednotorietyfrom

previousadventures.

4



Within The Mabinogion text, five stories exist mentioning Arthur.

Hedoesnotappearasthecentralheroinanyofthesestories.

• Inasense,thecharacterisbeingusedmoreasafigureofdigression

andlessasapivotalpersonality.

• Whatthisproveshoweveristhatasanimage,Arthurwasalready

well-conceivedasapopularfolkhero.Simplybyusinghisnameinvoked

aculturalexpectationornationalisticattitude,evenatthisearlystage.

>Asimilar,slightlymoremodernconceptcouldbe

SherlockHolmes

OliverTwist

MaryPoppins

LadyMacBeth

5



Looking at these various stories collectively, they all fall into a

general category.

Literatureitselfcanbecatalogedbymodes.

• Forexample,therearefivetopconceptsofdeterminingthemesinliterature:

>Realistic

>Naturalistic

>Existential

>Romantic

>Fantasy

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Looking at these various stories collectively, they all fall into a

general category.

Literatureitselfcanbecatalogedbymodes.

• Forexample,therearefivetopconceptsofdeterminingthemesinliterature:

>Realistic

>Naturalistic

>Existential

>Romantic

>Fantasy Dependingonanauthor’sintentionsandemphasis,

Arthuriantalesmaybeplacedineitheroftheselast

twocategories.

Suchlabelsarearbitraryandupfordiscussionor

debateofcourse.

}


Realistic mode:Equalbalanceofextremesbetweengoodandevil.

Theworldisfullofbothforces.

Theworldiscontrolledbybothunseenforcesatonetimeoranother.

Thegoaloftheworkexpresses a wanttoachievethehappyending.

Keep in mind, the happiness is not always achieved in the story.

Naturalistic mode:Writerwantstoexposeevil,corruption.

Heretheauthorshowsevilexistinginabundance.

Theprotagonistfightsagainstextremehorror,suffering.

Literary Modes

G

E

G

E


Existential mode:Themostcomplexmodeofthesefiveconcepts:

theworldisseenasalivinghellforhumans,asurrealnightmare;thehumanrace

isdehumanizedbythemodernworld.Thegoaloftheworkexpresses a wantfor

theprotagonisttoseehowahappyendingispossible;however,morethanlikely

theprotagonistcannotmoveoutsideoftheself-inducedrutoftheirenvironment.

Suchcharactersaredisplayedasanti-heros.Atbesttheelementofgoodmight

bereachedifcharactersacknowledgetheirmistakes.However,oftentimesthese

flawedcharactersareoverwhelmedbytheprospectofchangeandrefuseto

transformthemselves.Theideaof‘good’thereforeisastatenotachievable—

itisanidealisticdreamandnonexistent.

Mostmodernofthefulllist.

Literary Modes

G

E


Romantic mode: Yourecognizetheprotagonistimmediately.Inthiscasethe

heroisultimatelygood,patriotic,devoted.He/Shewilltriumphevenifitmeans

dyingforthecause.Someareshowninmorerealisticsettingsthanothers.The

protagonistultimatelycontrolstheenvironment.Thereexistsanultimatestrug-

glebetweengoodandevil;however,therewill beahappyending.

Fantasy mode:Examplesincludesurrealism,magic-realism,unreality,

dreamlogic.Goodandevilstruggleagainstoneanotherintermssimilar

torealisticmodels.

Literary Modes

G

E

G

E

G

E


For the sake of clarity—inregardstotheKingArthurRomances,itisbest

toconsiderthisgenreofstoriesasacombinationofmodes:

Romantic-Fantasy mode: Yourecognizetheprotagonistimmediately.Inthis

casetheheroisultimatelygood,patriotic,devoted.He/Shewilltriumphevenifit

meansdyingforthecause.Somestoriesareshowninmorerealisticsettingsthan

others;inthesecases,thethemesaremoregearedtowardsareligiousmessage.

Thereexistsanultimatestrugglebetweengoodandevil;however,therewill be

ahappyending.Elementsofmagicexist,mixingbothChristianandpagan

referencesinonetext.Goodandevilstruggleagainstoneanotherforfullcontrol.

OftenintheKingArthurstoriesreaderswilldiscoverastronginfluenceof

Christianthemesandelements;mostcommonisthesearchfortheHolyGrail.

However,donotconfusethismaterialwithhagiographiesfromthesametime

period.

Literary Modes


As discussed in previous classes—ahagiographybecameagenreontoitself

intheearlycenturiesoftheMiddleAges.

• Allmajorreligionshavegeneratedthesetypesofstories:

Moslem,Christian,andJewishfaiths.

• Themesinvolveaspiritualepiphanymomentfortheprotagonistand

ajourneyundertakentofurtheraidinspiritualmatters,eitheronapersonal

ornational/globallevel.

• SpecificallyforChristianliterature,thesestoriesdetaillivesofparticular

saintsandmartyrs,displaymiracletalestoencouragethefaithful,and

discussthefindingsofsecularobjects.

• MoreoftenthesewerewritteninthelanguageoftheRomanChurch:Latin.

• However,likeinthecaseofGeoffreyChaucer,somewerewritteninthe

commonvernacular.

• DuringtheMedievalera,anabundanceofmaterialwascreatedwithin

thisreligious-basedgenre.

Hagiography


Comparing these genres side by side—abetterunderstandingof

theirfunctionsinLiteraturecanbegained.

Hagiography— Lives of the Saints Arthurian Romance Fantasies

• religiousthemes: •politicalthemes:

what makes a great saint? what makes a great king/knight?

• protagonisthasastrongersenseof •protagonistsaimsforahigher

morality,morethanaverageperson morality,despiteobviousflaws

• passiveandsubmissivepersonality •passive/aggressivepersonality

Hagiography versus Romance-Fantasy

tales of king arthur - david-glen smith · tales of king arthur. 2 ... the stories of king arthur...

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