Half-way Through

Half-way through this semester, my views of Arthur have changed slightly. I thought that most stories of Arthur, would actually feature him as a main character as opposed to using him and his court as a stage for other great feats for knights and the court. I also had no idea that there were so many different personalities of Arthur that are very different. I think part of my expectations come from movies in my childhood like Sword and the Stone and  Quest for Camelot where Arthur has Merlin and his magic to guide him; this is not true in most of what we have addressed in this class. I like the new views I have on Arthur and his legends, but after watching Camelot I do prefer Arthur as a great warrior and king as opposed to dependent on Merlin. I also view Guinevere differently after this class; the romantic vibe I felt from her and Lancelot has diminished and now I feel much less friendly to her, seeing as she basically helped destroy the greatness of Camelot and the eventual death or "healing on Avalon" of Arthur.

King Arthur's death???

So we're soon to be reading the death of King Arthur. I haven't read much of King Arthur, but I was wondering how he dies. There are different versions, as there are different versions of how King Arthur is portrayed. I looked it up several places and came across this picture. I thought it was really artistic and detailed.


The first myth that I found about King Arthur's death is that King Arthur found out about Lancelot and Guinevere. King Arthur went to war with Lancelot and left Mordred in charge of his castle. Mordred wanted the castle for himself. Mordred and King Arthur became involved in a sword fight, where they both killed each other.

The second myth is that King Arthur never died at all. What happens is is that King Arthur is taken to a magical island called Avalon. While on Avalon, he heals from his wounds from his sword fight with Mordred. He is now waiting (at Avalon) to return to England when the people need him the most. I also read that the disappearance of King Arthur is the most interesting.

I am definitely intrigued in hearing what happens in our texts. I cannot wait to see how King Arthur disappears or dies.

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

Well first off we are starting to use a different book, Le Morte Darthur (ed. Helen Cooper), some people didn't think that it was available in the college book store anymore and that we could get it from amazon. WELL, the bookstore DOES have the book, although only a few copies left.

With that being said, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, SGGK, had an interesting end to it, did it not? Some interesting topics: what was the purpose of the whole test? and did Gawain actually fail? I believe the purpose of the whole test because this story took place when King Arthur was really young and their chivalry was to be tested. Could these young knights prove Morgan Le Fay wrong??? To some degree, yes, they did. Sir Gawain confesses his sins and is only nicked for having a lack of faith. Would I have done the same thing as him? Uh, I wouldn't have gotten myself in this predicament, but if I was so foolish to do so, then yes. I would have a lack of faith and I might not have confessed my sins. Therefore, the Green Knight probably would have cut off my head. And I would be in a coffin in the green chapel probably similar to the one below:

Did Sir Gawain actually fail the test? Yes. That was the purpose of his being nicked on the neck and him wearing the green belt. It is a reminder of what he has done and for him to become a better knight. Then at the end, the belt becomes a sign of honor. Only the Knights of the Round Table can wear them.

Honestly, I don't think anyone else other than Gawain could have done a better job. I know some may say Lancelot, but he probably would have had sex with Bertilak's wife. EVERYONE, even King Arthur, thought Gawain was going to die on this journey. He proved them all wrong and only came back with a nick on the neck??? I'd say that's pretty bad ass. If I was Gawain, I probably never even wanted to make the journey to meet the Green Knight. And if I did, I would've died killing all those trolls and woodland creatures he met along the way. If I didn't die, I would've stopped after the first one. I just would not be able to do the same thing Gawain did. So kudos to him.

How Did He Do It?

               The one question that remained unanswered throughout the entire story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for me was HOW THE GREEN KNIGHT SURVIVED HAVING HIS HEAD CUT OFF?? Was that belt truly magical? If the belt was magical, he could actually (try to) chop Gawain’s head off and he would have lived. Then we would have known that that’s why the green knight lived as well. However, the green knight only nicks Gawain’s neck, and then explains the entire test to him. Because he doesn’t actually cut his head off, I couldn’t be 100% certain that the belt was magical at all! Maybe she just said that the belt would make him invincible as a test and he failed. It seems just as likely as a belt actually giving him invincibility.

                Aside from this issue, I did really enjoy the story. The test that the Green Knight came up with was pretty ingenious. Not only was it entertaining for the court, but it gave a very true test of Gawain’s honor. As a knight he is supposed to honor all agreements, and in this test he actually makes two. Now why someone would agree to be decapitated in a year, I have no idea. But Gawain does fulfill all parts of both agreements, except for the final day with the King. By keeping the belt he hopes to survive his execution. Unfortunately, this fails his test of honor.

                The craziest part of the whole story though is the ending. Sir Gawain returns to the court wearing his belt to remind himself of his failure. Next thing you know, everyone is doing it! Green belts are IN, they represent HONOR. If there was any lesson to be taken away from the story, this ending kills it. It’s a Disney ending to me, everything has to end perfect and happy ever after. This story had me right up until that ending, but the ending was just terrible. Yes I understand that the court was doing it to make him feel better, but did he really need to feel better? It’s just a reminder that he’s human and needs to focus on doing better in the future. That’s a lesson everyone should carry with them in life. That’s how I would have ended this story.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

            That is the question that must be popping into knight’s heads every time they are asked to agree to something. Because EVERY TIME, it backfires. The gullibility is almost as unbelievable as a bridge made out of one gigantic sword. The troves of women that the knights get are also unbelievable, but that has enough material for its own post.

Blind trust has been a recurring theme in all of the stories we have read, with The Knight of the Cart being no exception. Everyone in that time period was easily tricked and coerced into completely terrible situations. Right off the bat King Arthur is tricked into giving up Guinevere. Good start. Later, Lancelot sets off on his second attempt to find Sir Gawain and is tricked by a dwarf working for Prince Méléagant and imprisoned. There is also a letter that tricks both Guinevere and Lancelot’s party to return home, where Méléagant now demands his fight with Lancelot (who obviously can’t be there).

The other recurring theme is the idea of promises. There are many promises made and all of them must be upheld. While innately that seems ok, some of these promises are ridiculous. The easiest of them all in this story is that Lancelot convinces his jailer to let him fight in the tournament, and that on his word he will come back afterwards. He’s a knight! Once we walked out of the door he would never need to go back to being a prisoner. Yet he complies and is luckily aided by Méléagant’s sister.

The one odd point about the way this story was written was definitely the ending with the final battle with Méléagant. Lancelot arrives, just in time to switch places with Gawain, and that’s it. End of story. No battle, no winner or loser. It’s as if the story gets cut off right before the climax! I guess it allows us to make our own ending, or maybe the writer just ran out of paper. Either way, it was still an entertaining story with plenty of love, action, and drama for everybody.

Everybody's Doing It!

               After having written about courtly love and how it conflicts with the marriage vows during this time period for the position paper, I have plenty to say about The Saga of the Mantle. This text was my primary example of the issues brought about by these conflicting systems.

                In one corner we have marriage. At this time marriages were typically arranged by the parents, with the man occasionally having some part in the selection, and this marriage was for either economic or political gain. Love was not at all a priority when it came to who someone chose to wed.

                In the other corner is courtly love: a list of rules to abide by when showing love and affection. To follow these rules was to be noble and chivalrous. However, a number of these rules conflict directly with how marriage went back then. Rule number one for example: “Marriage should not be a deterrent to love”. Really? How these two systems could ever coincide is mind-boggling!

                In comes this story about a man and his mantle, here to exploit the flaws in how this society conducted. I thought that using a “magic” mantle was actually a really great example to use for this story. The women (not the men) in the court all try on this mantle one by one, with it never fitting one properly. So now all of the women in this court, including the queen herself, are found guilty of adultery and shamed by this stranger. One woman, however, asks permission from her man. His reply that he will love her either way and that she doesn’t need to put it on is really what this story is about; love, faith, and trust. These are all values that all marriages need to be successful, and to try and fit into a mantle to claim purity isn’t going to solve anything.

                My take on this story, as was my position for the position paper, are that the marriage rules needed to change. Well, more of an update. In modern society we marry for love. Although with a 50% divorce rate I am starting to wonder how much that’s still occurring. I think that reading this story in this time period gave me a chance to see how the world has evolved and that even back then; people saw those flaws and the need for a change. It just wasn’t time yet.

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Me again! My post today is going to be about something a little different, and that is the role beauty plays in Arthurian tales. This may seem bizarre, and although beauty does not play a main role in the legends, the subject has been nagging at me for quite some time. (Although good looks are mentioned in both knights and maidens, I will be talking about feminine beauty, because it is the beauty I am most familiar with.) Guinevere, of course, is said to be the most beautiful in Arthur's kingdom. There are many portrayals of Guinevere, based on artist's ideas of beauty. I'll include some here:

William Morris's painting of Guinevere

Painting by Judith A. Smith

The list goes on. As a result, her beauty captures the heart's of Lancelot and King Arthur, and as a result, their free will. Even the women in The Saga of the Mantle seem to nearly have an enchanting power over the men, and are described as: "beautiful women and beautiful maidens, and there had never been better garments in the world than those with which they were adorned. For this reason every man looked at them, and every man was captivated..." (page 215 in my book, but don't even bother...you all have different editions. Anyhow, something about these words send a shiver down my spine. It is just so...

creepy. Can these men be for real? I picture these men drooling over a group of women as if they were behind glass at a zoo.

It does not end here, folks. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,  stanza 18, lines 940-970, two women are described (I will paraphrase):

(The first woman): "She was the fairest in all her figure, flesh and face...even more gorgeous than Guinevere..."

(enter the second woman): "With another lady leading her...who was far more aged...I must tell you that these two were totally unalike, for if the younger one had spirit, the senior one was seared. A pink complexion suffused the one, while rough, wrinkled cheeks rolled down upon the other. The younger...her breast and bright throat were laid all bare...the senior...By God! Her body was squat and thick."

By God is right! Despite the elderly woman having high honor in society, she has lost all power over Gawain, as opposed to the woman who is exposing her breast.

Do I even have to...go into how sexist that is?

After reading this, I got to thinking about our beauty standards today, and my conclusion is that despite how things may seem, we are much more accepting of different types of people. I will include pictures of women and maidens alike who have been deemed beautiful in today's society.

From boyishly thin to plus size, from age 16 to age 60...from black to white skin, to crazy pink hair...from hair long and curly to pixie-like short, society's idea of beauty is becoming more diverse. As diverse as the people who live in it. Not everyone can be Queen Guinevere, and it that notion in mind, it seems that the features that make a woman unique are what make her beautiful today.

What do you think? Has society truly changed, or is it as shallow about beauty as the society in Arthur's days appear to be? Who would you put on today's beauty list? Are any of them similar to the way you appear Guinevere? I don't think there is a wrong answer! 

Green Knight Part One

So I wasn't in class when you all discussed the first part of the Green Knight, but I wanted to share a few things that ran through my mind. The way I perceived this was basically that this green knight shows up, randomly challenges King Arthur to beheading him but receive payback in a year, and for whatever reason Gawain steps up and wants to do it. I mean, I guess to me, if I knew in a year this would come back at me, I probably wouldn't cut off someone's head. I thought maybe if someone wanted to be so crazy to take on this kind of challenge, maybe it was a chance for Gawain to show that he is noble and cares for the king. At first I couldn't really understand why someone would "want" to do that, then again I'm not a knight. Gawain taking on this kind of challenge will forever have him remembered and maybe something good would come out of it doing such a thing. However, I still think its a bit crazy, interesting first part of the story though!