Discussion instructions: Read and interpret excerpts from Malory’s Morte D’Arthu
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Discussion instructions:
Read and interpret excerpts from Malory’s Morte D’Arthur (CLO2).
Reflect on and discuss how Medieval portrayals of sin and redemption contribute to a Biblical-Christian understanding of humanness (CLO3).
Analyze the structure and meaning of a great work of Western literature in a formal literary analysis essay (CLO4). How did Thomas Malory use the Christian story of sin and redemption to shape his narrative about King Arthur in Le Morte D’Arthur? Use a specific character in a specific scene as the center of your argument, and cite the text appropriately in MLA style.
Use of study materials and texts with correct citations are required.
The Middle Ages is the name for European history from roughly 500-1500 A.D. It begins with the collapse of the Roman Empire and it ends with the spread into the “New World” and the transformation of politics, learning, and art that led into the Renaissance.
From the Middle Ages we get the institutionalization of the Christian church, the monarchical state system, the traditional European hierarchical social order, and the concept of a university.
The Middles Ages is famous for the power of the Roman Catholic church, and there is good reason for that. Often, in Protestant circles today, we focus on the corruption that was present in the church, but the Middles Ages also gave us invaluable Christian art, philosophy, and learning—since, in their worldview, every aspect of human existence fell under the lordship of Christ.
The culture of the Middle Ages was a mingling of a number of influences. There was still a lingering foundation of the heroic traditions of ancient peoples, as well as a major influence of Greco-Roman philosophy. For the first time, the cultures of the Germanic tribes in northwest Europe began to permeate farther than their borders. And all of this was surrounded by the umbrella of the spreading Christian faith, which was by far and large the most influential force on the time period.
(Image: The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon, Edward Burne-Jones, 1881-1889)
Paper instructions:
Assignment. Write a 750 word essay doing a literary analysis explaining the significance of a single passage, scene, or episode in relation to the whole of one of the works of literature (or excerpts) from the course. Talk about the whole work, but focus on the one passage, scene, or episode to get at that.
Please do not depend on outside resources except a dictionary and perhaps the Bible. This should be your own close reading of the work of literature.So that means no commentaries about the works, only your own critical thinking. You may use the work itself, the bible and a dictionary but nothing else.
Explanation. One of the foundational skills in reading literature is reading a text closely and drawing meaning from that reading. For this reason, this essay will allow you to engage deeply with a particular text. A close reading of a text “unfolds” the text, explains in detail how the work communicates to the reader. Such a reading will require you to understand all aspects of the work and to have a grasp of the meaning of individual parts of the work in relation to the entire work. You are not, however, striving to be exhaustive in your “explanation,” but rather you should strive to be selective in considering only those details that are significant to your own thematic understanding of the piece of literature.
This is how the prof wants her example of writing this essay:
Literary Analysis notes for King Arthur essay
For a thesis for the literary analysis paper, you would need a statement of theme/meaning focus
and a note on what literary methods that will be engaged in the paper.
In the following example, using the Arthur text from Mallory, a possible thesis could be:
In his work, Le Morte D’Arthur, in Book XX Chapter ix and x, Sir Thomas Mallory,
through a presentation of Arthur’s conflict, criticizes political leadership as it represents
the problem of loyalty and relationships at odds with the requirements of his position of
kingship.
In this thesis, we have identified the key meaningful theme that will be engaged and also
identified the literary method of a character’s conflict. We have also noted the specific portion of
the work to be examined. Your thesis sentence, located in the first paragraph, should do this.
See below the example of the author using a block quotation to highlight a particularly important
passage from the text in regards to his thesis. This allows him to present evidence all at once and
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then follow up with a detailed discussion: You should organize your essay in a logical way to
present evidence from the text and explanation of the idea of your thesis.
As Arthur learns that Guinevere’s execution caused the death of his knights, he
reverts to his emotional self and overflows with grief, revealing his attitude towards his
regal station. His deep conflict is evident in the text. Arthur swoons for “very pure sorrow”
(David and Simpson 488), and during his lamentation, he mourns the loss of fellowship and
denounces his kingship:
Alas, that ever I bore a crown upon my head! For now have I lost the fairest
fellowship of noble knights that ever held Christian king together. Alas, my good
knights be slain and gone away from me. Now within these two days I have lost nigh
forty knights and also the noble fellowship of sir Lancelot and his blood, for now I
may nevermore hold them together with my worship. Alas, that ever this war
began! (488)
Arthur’s immediate reaction is to complain about his crown, suggesting that his kingship is
to blame for everything. This illustrates Arthur’s growing inclination to choose fellowship
over kingship; for, if he was not king, war with Lancelot would not have been necessary,
and the fellowship of knights would not have been dismantled. Moreover, with complete
disregard for Lancelot and Guinevere’s adultery, Arthur laments the loss of his knights
and even Lancelot himself. Clearly, Arthur does not wish to punish Lancelot and the
Queen, even if it is his duty to do so, and this signifies again that remaining loyal to his
companion is more important than his kingship. This passage represents a key stage in
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Arthur’s personal conflict because it solidifies his antagonism towards the crown. Because
Arthur is the quintessential icon of a righteous king, his averse attitude towards the throne
represents a critique of political leadership. Thus, Malory’s contempt for the unreliable
polity is conveyed by Arthur’s desire, in light of his ultimate conflict of values, to be a loyal
companion, rebelling against his stately position and image.
Notice how the author spends time discussing multiple parts of the block quote to support his
argument. He has mentioned conflict and demonstrated how the author uses this conflict to lead
us to think about political leadership.
This is an important thing to remember: if you’re going to insert a block quote into your paper,
you should justify that decision by explaining in detail how it is important to your main
argument. Your reader will not appreciate it if you make them read a long quote and don’t follow
up with an adequate explanation. Conversely, they will respect your use of evidence if you
manage to provide strong explanation for how the evidence demonstrates your claim, relating
ideas back to your thesis statement.
Checking for Coherence
Each paragraph should have a topic sentence that indicates what particular development point of
your thesis. Once you’ve developed the body of your paper’s analysis, the last step before editing
is to ensure your analysis is coherent. A great strategy is to try reading just the main ideas (not
the explanations) throughout your paper. This means reading the thesis statement, then the topic
and concluding sentence of each paragraph, and then the conclusion paragraph. In a sense,
you’re checking the framework of your paper.
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Check each paragraph for
Topic Sentence that specifies some focused development of thesis
Relevant Material from work or research or explanation and analysis that furthers the topic
sentence and supports the thesis
Concluding Sentence that applies interpretation to details to showcase thesis
Conclusion This should not be repetitive but should summarize and add some depth/insight to
your essay’s topic without adding new information
Checking your paper’s main points with this top-down strategy is to ensure your paper sticks to
the same argument/topic from beginning to end. For your paper to be coherent, it should
conclude on the same argument the paper begins with.
Make sure to add a Works Cited citation for the work you have chosen. See the sample MLA
paper for format and consult the style guide f
