BRITISH LITERATURE AND LEGENDS

Canterbury Tales and The Legends of King Arthur

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales ( 坎特伯雷故事集 )is an

important literary work written at the end of the 14th century.

It is one of the first books to be written in the common language

of English (“Middle English”)

• Geoffrey Chaucer is known as the Father of English literature, is considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey .

• It is about a group of pilgrims ( 朝圣者 ) on their way to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the

shrine of Thomas Becket.

• They have a story telling contest, and the stories make up the “Canterbury Tales.”

• Thomas Becket was killed openly at Canterbury Cathedral because he defied King Henry II.

• The Catholic Church quickly made him a saint & martyr after his murder. (rare)

Canterbury Cathedraland Thomas Becket

The shrine of Thomas Becket was destroyed during the English Reformation, along with many other Catholic shrines. Becket later became a saint of the Anglican Church as well.

• Before the Canterbury Tales, much of the literature was written in Norman French and Latin.

• The Canterbury Tales are written in Middle English, which developed from the more Germanic Old English. There were many changes in the language after the Normans Conquest.

Middle English & Modern English

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes

To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

And specially from every shires ende

Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,

The hooly blisful martir for to seke

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes

To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

And specially from every shires ende

Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,

The hooly blisful martir for to seke

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,

And palmers* long to seek the stranger strands

Of far off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,

And specially from every shires’* end

Of England, down to Canterbury they wend

The holy blissful martyr*, quick

To give his help to them when they were sick

Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,

And palmers* long to seek the stranger strands

Of far off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,

And specially from every shires’* end

Of England, down to Canterbury they wend

The holy blissful martyr*, quick

To give his help to them when they were sick

* Palmer = pilgrim, *shire= county, *martyr= 烈士 (Becket)

• Listen to the Prologue of The Canterbury Tales in the Original Middle English

The Canterbury Tales

• The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims.

• The most famous story, The Wife of Bath, is a story from the King Arthur Legends.

• For more than 1,000 years, people have created legends about King Arthur

• The stories represent a quest for a great and just Kingdom or the loss of such a Kingdom

• King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table - British legends about a Great King, his loyal Knights, and a perfect Kingdom called Camelot.

• Historical or just legend?

• Geoffrey of Monmouth - History of the Kings of Britain

• Alfred Lord Tennyson - Idylls of the King

Geoffrey of Monmouth - History of the Kings of Britain (1136)

• Geoffrey of Monmouth was a British cleric and historian.

• Unreliable, but important

• “National myth”

• Many people believe a historical King Arthur truly existed, and the Tintagel

Castle is believed to have been his home. (Cornwall, England)

• A Knight is a gentleman warrior.

• The “Knightly Virtues” –chivalry, courage, justice, purity,

humility, etc.

• Women are to be protected.

• chivalry |ˈsh ivəlrē| noun - the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code.

• chivalrous |ˈsh ivəlrəs| adj. (of a man or his behavior) courteous and gallant, esp. toward women.

“Knight in Shining Armor”

Is chivalry really “dead”?

Chivalry, “Bor’s Dilemma”

• joust |joust| verb [ intrans. ] [often as n. ] ( jousting) historical (of a medieval knight) engage in a sports contest in which two opponents on horseback fight with lances.

The Legends of King Arthur and Camelot

• The legends of King Arthur are still the source of inspiration in many kinds of art, especially literature.

• Petty ( – 狭隘的 a person who is small-minded)

• ‘ere (before)

• Heathen (not Christian or Jewish)

• host (many people)

• To harry, harried ( 骚扰 )

• Swarm ( 拥进 )

• Wizard/Sorcerer

• Helps many people in the

Legends of Arthur.

• Arthur’s wife, who he loves

very much, and who betrays him in many

stories.

• Usually he is portrayed as the

greatest Knight who tries to be loyal to

Arthur, but who is in love with

Guinevere.

• The traitor who fought King Arthur

• Both men killed each other

• In many stories he is Arthur’s son or nephew

A different story of how Arthur gets the sword.

• A famous King Arthur story is the Quest for the Holy Grail.

• Holy Grail is a cup from Jesus’ last supper, believed to have great spiritual powers, and so some of the Knights make a journey to search for it.

Last Supper

• In some stories, Arthur is not happy when the

men go to seek the Holy Grail, but he

allows his most spiritual Knights to go (Percival,

Bors, and Galahad).

• The Knights Percival & Bors see the Grail, but cannot fully look at the grail because of their immaturity

• The Knight Galahad is able to fully witness the grail. He is believed to be the “Jesus-figure” in the Arthurian Legends

Because only the most pure can see the grail.

• The Holy Grail is symbolic of spiritual enlightenment, and a Kingdom of Heaven.

• Often the Holy Grail represents the end of the great Kingdom of Camelot.

• In many King Arthur legends,

the Knights break up, and then King

Arthur usually dies in a battle

against Mordred.

• Some of the famous stories told by the pilgrims on the way to Canterbury are King Arthur legends.

• The Wife of Bath is the most famous story from the Tales, and it is about a Knight from King Arthur’s court ( 亚瑟王朝廷 )

The Canterbury TalesThe Wife of Bath

• The story begins:

• One of King Arthur’s Knights rapes a girl

• The punishment is death, but the Queen gives him a chance to save himself.

• (The Wife of Bath)

• The Queen sends the Knight on a quest to discover what women want the most.

• He has one year to find the answer, and if he fails, he will be killed.

• after one year of searching he is unable to find the true answer, until…

• On the road, he meets an old hag, who says she will give him the answer if he will agree to any favor she asks him.

• The hag tells him that women want is to rule their husband.

• The Queen accepts his answer and the knight is allowed to live.

• Later, the old hag asks the Knight to marry her.

• They marry, but he is sad that she is so ugly and old.

• The hag tells her husband that he has a choice:

she can be always ugly and faithful, or she can be beautiful and unfaithful

• The Knight, remembering what women want most,

asks his wife to chose for herself.

• Proud of her husband, the hag became

beautiful. And they lived happily ever after.

The Canterbury Tales

• Though The Wife of Bath is the most famous of the tales, The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer never completed the book, and so we do not know which of the pilgrims won the story contest.

Review, Thomas Becket

• We will watch some more of Becket.

• We will begin the movie when King Henry II decides he will make Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury.

• The original Archbishop dies, and Henry hopes that making Becket the new Archbishop he will have more control over the church.

Becket

• Becket supports the church over the power of the King. This makes King Henry II quite mad.

• A priest of the church was killed by a Norman nobleman.

• Becket excommunicates ( 革出教门 ) the nobleman.

• 15 MIN 51-1.05

• >25 MIN 1.18 – 1.40

• 15 MIN 2.11 – 2.26