Paper # 1: The Medieval Tradition
English 205
Legends of Arthur
Your first paper for this class should be essentially a close
reading of a specific image, concept, or passage from one or perhaps
two of the texts we have read up until this point. You may, of
course, use any of the criticism we have read to provide you with
avenues of entry to these texts, but this is not necessary. What is
necessary is that you unpack your chosen text/texts as completely as
possible, and that you develop a clear and coherent argument about
what your text(s) are doing. If you choose to deal with more than one
text, remember that a comparative paper must justify the comparison
it is making and draw a conclusion from it.
Below is a list of general topics which may help you to choose the text(s)
you wish to work with. You may develop a topic of your own if you clear it with
me first. Your paper will be 4-6 pages long, and it is due March 18.
- Interpretation: The question of the interpretation of
signs is foregrounded in several of the texts we have read (yes,
they did know about semiotics in the Middle Ages!). Consider the
problems/paradoxes inherent in one of the following, or choose
your own sign: dreams (Rhonabwy, Geoffrey); Yvain's lion;
the blood on the sheets in Lancelot; the blood on the snow
in Perceval, Gawain's shield, the green girdle, the
exchange of winnings in SGGK, the clothing in Erec and
Enide.
- Identity: How is identity constructed/deconstructed in
these tales? To what extent is identity created by binary
opposition (masculine/feminine, good/evil, etc.)? This is a big
question so you are probably better off limiting yourself to a
single text: a poem by Chretien, SGGK, The Saga of the Mantle,
The Lay of the Horn, Lanval.
- Women: What is that consortium of otherworldly women up
to anyway? Which women are on a knight's side, which work against
him? What determines which women become wives and which ones
don't? Suggested texts: Anything by Chretien, SGGK, Lanval,
Prose Merlin or Suite du Merlin.
- The Quest: Discuss the function of the knight's quest
in one or two of the following: anything by Chretien, Culhwch
and Olwen , SGGK. Do not try to deal with more than two
texts.
Remember that whatever topic you choose, your task is to read
closely rather than to generalize. Your thesis and argument must
develop out of the text and be supported by careful analysis. If you
want to deal with only a few paragraphs or a single scene from a
given text and really give it the treatment, go right ahead.