While finishing my readings and Influence Map this week, I have
come to a realization on how blind I was coming into this class. Mythology and medieval
times is one thing, but actually diving in to this “fable” that is King Arthur,
I am prepared to embark on a knowledge quest on what this legend was all about,
when I thought he was actually real to begin with (even if he is or isn’t). Of course the media persuaded my mind to
thinking that such a legend actually existed.
My first witnessed experience with King Arthur had to have been when
watching the Disney movie, The Sword in the Stone, which wasn’t a good first
representation of the character but as a child it had me to believe that there
was a powerful sword in a rock and whoever could pull it out would be deemed
king (Arthur/Wart). Quest for Camelot was also a child
favorite of mine, which had some relevance to the King Arthur tale. After that I guess I had all these run-ins with medieval movies
that only the name “King Arthur” stuck with me and gave me the mindset that all
these movies were about him and that He was an actual person (especially with
the 2004 movie, King Arthur). Even the
movie DragonHeart would make me think of the name King Arthur even though now I
realize it has nothing to do with him. My
general understanding at the time was that only these words associated me with
the Medieval Times: Camelot, Excalibur, swords, knights, Lancelot, Dragons, and
King Arthur. I have definitely improved my understanding of the Medieval Times
now, but back in the day I was very close minded when it came to the Renaissance
Era.
As we talked about in class on Wednesday with regarding the size of Arthur’s shinbone, I did agree with everyone’s opinion about what that “size” resembled in a much bigger picture. Obviously, there aren’t many people today that have the same size shinbones as Arthur may have had, but the book stated about Arthur’s skull and face to that of basically a giant. Understanding what detail the book went into to explain Arthur’s size could literally mean that he was powerful in that his features were inhuman or that of a God. Relating power to size is a common characteristic that most people give to others who have demonstrated heroics or exceptional honor to many. A great example would be God himself. He has been depicted in movies to be a huge man, sometimes muscular, bearded and mostly long haired (almost wizard-like). We give him this label because he was the creator of the universe and created life in its simplest form. I don’t think people would give a description of someone who created all living things as “oh he looks like my elderly neighbor”. From this class, I am hoping to gain knowledge about who King Arthur was as a whole and what he did to make people respect him and keep him in legends that have made him sound like an actual historical figure today.
Jordan, I think you've hit on some important points in you comments on Arthur's shin bone. Arthur being larger then life, godly in size, etc. resembles other heroes that I have been reading about the past two semesters. The other similarities have got me thinking about general qualities of heroes. Last semester I took "Courage and Violence" with Dr. Reichard and that was all about heroes.
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