The Lover's Tale
Whan that the goode Wif of Bathe hadde hir tale ytold, with ful light herte thought she, “Whan that I go again from Canterbury, Sekirly shalle I have a soper at the cost of alle.” Anoon a yonge lovere saide in parfit Englisch, “Lordings, now leten me tell the tale of most solas and best sentence.” The young lover paused for a moment: “Surely the tale would be much more enjoyable if we stop with all the Middle English.” The pilgrims nodded in agreement, wondering why they had not decided upon this earlier, and the lover continued, “Now, permit me to tell the most pleasant and meaningful tale.”
“In the days of old, during the time of the great King Arthur, there was a knight well known for his courage, valor, and good looks; however, this knight was known to no woman, and many people spoke of this in jest. Also, there was a fair maiden, young and coy, who adored the knight. This lovely lady adored him so much that one day, as he was riding his great steed, she winked at him. This gesture greatly offended the courageous man. He dismounted his horse, went up to the woman, and asked her if she knew who he was.
She said, ‘Sir, I do know who you are, and I dare say that I have loved you for some time now.’
The knight was horrified by this beautiful, forthright, and bold woman. He said to her, ‘Woman, I am a fair knight, and thou art not my type.’ A few bystanders giggled, but the knight continued, ‘You shall be punished for what thou hast done to me.’ Then, with his great strength, he took hold of the woman, placed her behind him on his noble steed, and brought her to his lord, the great King Arthur.
The noble knight smiled gleefully and was full of joy as he greeted the knights of Arthur’s court (he seemed joyful and gay). The great King Arthur listened to the complaints of his brave knight, and after some time told him that he would need time to decide what punishment to give this girl.
illogical to some, the reasons for embalming the dead made perfect sense to the Egyptians. Mummification kept corpses in a desiccate, pristine condition; the body must be suitable for the owner’s spirit to return for a rendezvous, as per Egyptian belief (Evans, 20)....
The Arthurian legends of Iwein and Gawain and the Green Knight are two examples of the medieval initiation story: a tale in which a character, usually in puberty or young adulthood, leaves home to seek adventures and, in the process, maturity. Through the course of their adventures, including a meeting with the man of the wilderness, temptations at the hands of women, and a permanent physical or mental wounding, the character grows from adolescent awkwardness and foolishness to the full potential knightly honor. While both Arthurian legends fit this format, the depth of character development, specifically in terms of relationships, is vastly different. Whereas Gawain and the Green Knight does little more with relationships than demonstrate the evils of female temptations, Iwein effectively explores the formation, destruction, and resurrection of numerous male and female relationships.
In The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell Gawain reveals his loyalty to King Arthur by agreeing the marry the "Loathly" lady after she saves the king's life. This not the first appearance of the "loathly" lady in Medieval literature. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the "Knight's Tale" reiterates the "familiar folklore motif [that] concerns the transformation of the ugly hag into a beautiful woman after a man has placed himself under her 'sovereynte'" and incorporates "the theme of A Riddle Asked and Answered" (Wilhelm 467).
Sir Gawain is the nephew of the most famous King Arthur. Gawain being in line of the throne knew he must show his bravery and man up in front of his fellow knights. The Green Knight stormed into the king’s courts riding on a mystical horse. He taunted the men asking for the bravest knight in the kingdom to stand up and take his outrageous challenge. As the men sat quietly not knowing what to do, Sir Gawain decides t...
Richard Wright introduces the main character in his novel, “Native Sun”, as a poor black man, named Bigger Thomas, living in the ghetto. In book 1 “fear”, I analyzed how Bigger lived and learned who his true character was. I also learned how he felt towards himself, family, and his friends. Bigger Thomas’ character is a very angry and violent person towards anyone who makes him feel afraid or out of place. Richard Wright uses imagery, sentence syntax, and symbolism to express how Bigger Thomas truly thinks.
In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of a what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples ofchivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve theworld in which he lived.
Mummification relates to Egypt, because before the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians used mummification, but instead of using chemicals such as Natron, they preserved their dead by desiccation. Before the Egyptians would then bury their dead in the arid desert with the deceased’s belongings. However, the wealthier Egyptians began to bury their dead in tombs, and used artificial mummification, which is removing the internal organs and wrapping the body in linen and burying them in coffins. But by the New Kingdom, the Egyptians perfected their mummification process, and had elaborate funerals for the deceased. Egyptian mummification is not used by the Egyptians frequently today, but the discoveries and texts were important in discovering how the Egyptians progress in science and technology.
The elements that will be focused on are the multiple functions of the tomb and rituals, specifically the mummification of bodies. Ancient Egyptian tombs had many functions; the main function being to hold the bodies of the dead. Tombs were typically built during a person’s lifetime and were ready by their time of death (Olson, 2009). Before bodies were put in the tombs, they underwent a process called mummification to help preserve the body and keep it intact. The tomb was also a place where family members could come and visit the deceased. In the early years, tomb structures were very simple; they consisted only of one chamber (Grajetzki, 2003: 3-4). Later on, façade tombs were built— which consisted of two parts; an “underground chamber for the dead and the superstructure built above the ground, over the shaft and the burial chamber” (Grajetzki, 2003: 8). Next, the Egyptian tombs and ...
Sir Gawain and the Green knight, one of the fourteenth century Middle English alliterative romances told a story of a beheading game which was used to highlight the importance of honor, chivalry and masculinity. The poem, being one of the Arthurian stories, introduced the character of Morgan le Fay who sets the story in motion (by sending the green knight) by wanting to humiliate Arthur’s court and frighten his wife Guinevere. Morgan Le fay’s Character set a story that survived years and is still revered to be one of the best poems. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morgan le Fay redefines how masculinity is viewed during the Arthurian period.
When Gawain shows up at the Green Knight’s chapel, his mere presence provides comfort to his host, who greets him: “Sir so sweet, you honour the trysts you owe.” Perhaps the green gallant had been expecting Gawain, as representative of the crumbling House of Arthur, to be derelict in his duties. Gawain lives up to his good name. Similarly, he resisted the unbearable temptations of Lady Bertilak on numerous occasions, providing a mere kiss, in accordance with the code of chivalry.
The mummification process was very important in ancient Egypt. The rich pharaohs cared a lot about their mummification process, their funeral and their tombs. They did all what they could do to get the fanciest funeral and tomb. Some of their tombs were built out of mud brick or sometimes even stone. However, the poor citizens in ancient Egypt didn’t have as fancy funerals as the pharaohs had. They concentrated on their mummification process and that’s where most of their money went after their death.
What does this fantastic story tell us about the knight's character and beliefs? This tale gives us insight into the Knight's sense of romance, passion, courage, loyalty and justice or fortune. Firstly, it shows us his ideal of one true, romantic love. He is virtuous and passionate, especially in his love-life. There was only one woman to be ...
An earthquake occurs abruptly and causes severs damage to people, property, landscape and more. A great mega-thrust earthquake, known as the Great Tohoku Earthquake has shaken Japan at 5:46:24 UTC on March 11, 2011. It caused a severe disaster, including tsunami and nuclear radiation exposure.. This mega-quake located at the latitude 38.297 degree North and longitude of 142.372 degree East, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan (USGS, 2013). An earthquake and tsunami waves caused widespread damage to many areas of Japan. People in Japan are still recovering from the damages.
And happed that, allone as he was born,/ He saugh a mayde walkynge hym biforn,/ Of which mayde anon, maugree hir heed,/ By verray force he rafte hir maydenhed” (lines 885-888). The knight only gets to hold this power for a short amount of time before he is caught. For his crime, he presents himself in front of a court full of women who must decide his punishment. We can see why The Wife chose this story in just the fact that an unjust man must plead for his life in front of a court of powerful women. The head of the court, the queen, decides to show him mercy if the knight can find out what it is that women truly desire. The queen and her ladies decide to give him one year to find the answer to her question, if he does not find the answer then the knight will be killed. Not only do the women have power over the knight in this situation, but they have now extended their power over him for an entire year. His life is now dedicated to finding out what exactly women
The death toll climbs to over 10,000 and is still rising (Branigan 2). The disaster in Japan began without warning on Friday March 11, 2011 at 2:46pm with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in the country (Fackler 3). A massive thirty-three foot high tsunami, generated by the earthquake, swept over lands in northern Japan, taking objects and debris with it. To make matters worse, the tsunami caused the cooling systems at several nuclear power plants to fail. The disaster in Japan was a tragic event, and it had a plethora of causes and effects.