An Arthurian quest INSTRUCTIONS: Your quest is to find the HOLY GRAIL. How are you going to do this? By scoring the maximum number of points as you carry out the tasks which form part of your webquest. Your teacher (Merlin) will evaluate your tasks and award you points. Use the web links to find information (you can look for your own links) You are an exchange student studying English in the south of England and you go on a day trip to Winchester where you visit the medieval Great Hall. You are amazed to see King Arthur s famous Round Table right there! Now, go to this webpage: http://www.kingarthursknights.com/ and click on Arthurian Landmarks, which will take you to a map. You can also look at this page: http://www.castles.me.uk/knights-round-table.htm where you can read about The Knights of the Round Table at Winchester. Now answer these questions: Is this table the authentic Round Table? Paste a picture of the Winchester Table on your worksheet and give basic information about it. What do you think Arthur s Round Table symbolizes? THE WINCHESTER ROUND TABLE As you look at the Table you feel dizzy and suddenly you find yourself going back in time to the court of King Arthur in Camelot*. You have in your hand a copy of John Steinbeck s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (The Acts) which will be your guide in the world of King Arthur. First, you must choose a personality so that you can be given the instructions for your quest. YOUR PERSONALITY: SIR LANCELOT DU LAC SIR GAWAIN QUEEN GUINEVERE THE LADY OF THE LAKE SIR GALAHAD So, who are you?. What are your characteristics?. By the way, if you are interested, there is a book by Mark Twain which has a similar beginning: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. (There is also a film adaptation) 1
THE QUEST: To begin, find out the meaning of the word quest : King Arthur proposes an adventure: The quest for the Holy Grail. You ask him what the Holy Grail is. What was his answer? The Grail is also a symbol What do think it symbolizes? Find an image of the Grail and paste it onto your worksheet. http://www.kingarthursknights.com/ (click on Arthurian Items) Before you and your squire set out on your quest, Arthur reminds you that only the most perfect knight will be able to discover the Grail. You remember Merlin s words from The Acts (p49-50, Penguin Books U.S.A., 2008): (Arthur has fought a knight in single combat. They have been jousting and Arthur has lost.) Then the knight said courteously, So I have won and I have the choice either to kill you or to let you live. Yield to me and admit that you are beaten or you must die. Then Arthur said, Death is welcome when it comes. But defeat is not welcome. I will not yield... Then Merlin intervened, saying, Knight, hold your hand. This one is much more than you know. If you kill him you will give a dreadful wound to the whole kingdom. What do you mean? This is King Arthur, said Merlin. Then panic, fear of the wrath of the king, came over the knight, and again he raised his sword to kill him. But Merlin looked in his eyes and made an enchantment, and the knight s sword dropped and he fell into a deep sleep. The king was weak and wounded and Merlin took him to a hermitage nearby where the hermit cleaned his wounds and stopped the blood with bandages and healing balms. For three days the king rested there before he was able to mount his horse and go on his way. And as he rode with Merlin by his side, the king said bitterly, You must be proud to serve me, Merlin, a defeated king, a great and worthy knight who does not even have a sword, disarmed, wounded, and helpless. What is a knight without a sword? A nothing even less than a nothing. It is a child speaking, said Merlin, not a king and not a knight, but a hurt and angry child, or you would know, my lord, that there is more to a king than a crown, and far more to a knight than just a sword. You were a knight when you grappled Pellinore unarmed. And he defeated me. Somewhere in the world there is defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory. In your own words, what do you think that Merlin s advice means? And how does it apply to you as a person and a student? 2
Obviously, you need a good sword to defend yourself and beat other knights. You compare your sword with the famous Excalibur. Do you know how Arthur is given Excalibur in The Acts? What was special about the scabbard? EXCALIBUR So, you begin your quest and say farewell to your liege lord, King Arthur and to your fellow Knights of the Round Table at Camelot. You ride through a great forest of oak and beech trees and come upon a high tower on a hill which is guarded by a mysterious knight. You ask him why he is guarding the tower. GLASTONBURY TOR 3
What is the connection between Glastonbury and the Arthurian legend? Where is Glastonbury located? Give some brief information by looking at this page: http://www.legendofkingarthur.co.uk/southern-england/glastonbury.htm GLASTONBURY The knight tells you that his damsel is in the Tower and she is the most beautiful and purest lady in all England. You say that you can t agree because you haven t seen her. He challenges you for doubting his word and the battle begins. You recall the combat between King Arthur and a knight in The Acts (p124): Now the horn blew its savage signal, and both knights couched their spears and hurtled together, and both spears struck true and held, and both men were hurled to the ground, and they sprang up and drew their swords and faced each other**. They circled and feinted, each testing the other and looking for a weakness or an opening. Finally, you defeat the mysterious knight and you disarm him. You raise your mighty sword, ready to kill him and...you decide not to kill the knight and you put your sword back into its scabbard because you remember the oath all the knights gave at the wedding of King Arthur and Guinevere from The Acts (p105, Penguin Books U.S.A., 2008): And thus was ended the quests of the Wedding of King Arthur, but at the last the laws of the Round Table were laid down and every knight of the fellowship swore to keep the laws. They swore never to use violence without good purpose, never to fall to murder or treason. They swore on their honor to be merciful when mercy was asked and to protect damsels, ladies, gentlewomen and widows to enforce their rights and never enforce their lust on them. And they promised never to fight in an unjust cause or to fight for personal gain. All the knights of the Round Table took this oath. And every year at the high feast of Pentecost they renewed the oath. **Do you remember the nonsense rhyme: One fine day in the middle of the night, Two dead men got up to fight..? Find it and memorize it. You will have to recite it in class as part of your quest!! 4
Review the Chivalric Code by looking at: http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/knights-code-of-chivalry.htm where you will find reference to the Knights Code of Chivalry and the Vows of Knighthood from the Song of Roland. Copy out the Code and select three vows and give examples of how and why they apply to your life. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12 13. 14. 15 16. 17. The Chivalric Code MY PERSONAL CODE 1. 2. 3. Inside the Tower you climb the stairs and come to a room where you meet the knight s lady who is weaving and looking into a mirror. Indeed she is lovely and you ask her to go with you. She replies that she cannot because she is enchanted. She is the Lady of Shalott and there is a curse upon her. Find out what the curse is and what will happen to the Lady of Shalott. To do this you have to read the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson (http://www.pathguy.com/shalott.htm). Also, find and paste the famous painting of the Lady by the British pre-raphaelite painter John Waterhouse. The Lady of Shalott 5
You decide to rest and occupy your mind with something else. Create a bookmark in the shape of an Arthurian sword. Write the words Are you born a king? Or do you become a king? along the blade. Decorate the handle with jewels. Give your sword to Merlin. Now you take up your quest again. You need to get advice about how to find the Holy Grail. But, who can you ask? Suddenly, Merlin appears. However, you don t realise that this is not really Merlin (who has been locked in a cave by Nyneve), but it is the evil Morgan Le Fay, who doesn t want you to complete your quest. The Acts, p137 Like many cruel and evil women, Morgan Le Fay knew men s weaknesses and discounted their strengths. And she knew also that most improbable actions may be successful so long as they are undertaken boldly and without hesitation, for men believe beyond proof to the contrary that blood is thicker than water and that a beautiful woman cannot be evil. Thus, Morgan played a deadly game with Arthur s honesty and innocence. After this text, how does Morgan try to murder Arthur? What does blood is thicker than water mean? A beautiful woman cannot be evil do you think this is true? Give a reason for your answer. MORGAN LE FAY MORGAN LE FAY You begin to suspect that the person in front of you is not Merlin, so you ask him questions about Arthur, which Morgan Le Fay isn t able to answer. She becomes angry and reveals her true identity. You quickly jump onto your horse and ride away at top speed before she can speak and cast a spell on you. You think about the role of women in the world of knights and courtly love. Your mind goes back to the chapter in The Acts entitled Gawain, Ewain, and Marhalt : 6
GAWAIN, EWAIN, AND MARHALT Compare and contrast the ladies who accompany the three knights: 1. Sir Gawain s damsel: (She falls in love with another knight instead of the proud Gawain; she says to her chosen knight: He is not my love. I do not even like him. Your face may not have his arrogant perfection, but to me it is more manly. ) What is this damsel like? 2. Sir Marhalt s lady: 3. Sir Ewain s lady: Ewain is puzzled that Lady Lyne likes the life of a knight-errant and she replies (The Acts, p189): I will tell you, she said, and then you must not wonder more or ever ask me again. A little girl, hating embroidery, I watched the young boys practicing and I hated the hobbies of a gown. I was a better rider than they, a better hunter, as I proved Only the accident of girlness prevented me from being more than equal to the boys. Hating my limiting sex, I sometimes dressed in boys clothes, masked myself against shame, and waited in a forest glade like a child errant for boys and young men. I beat them., stood against them with sword and shield, until one time I killed a young knight in a fair fight. Then I was afraid. I buried his armor, and crept back to the protection of my needlework. You know that burning is the punishment for a lady s treason against a knight. What are you telling me? Sir Gawain cried. This is a tale of terror and unnatural. What do you think? Can a woman be a knight nowadays? Can she follow the chivalric code? Can she fight like a knight? How have things changed for women since the days of King Arthur? It is night so your squire helps you to take your armour off; you lie down beneath an oak tree and immediately fall asleep. In your dreams an armed archangel appears. It is St. Michael and he is holding out to you a simple cup which is surrounded by brilliant light: you 7
realize that it is the Holy Grail. Michael says to you, If you want to find the holy chalice, go to the origins of King Arthur where you must enter an ancient chapel. Only the pure of heart can reach the cup of God. When you wake up you remember that Geoffrey of Monmouth (in Historia Regum Britanniae ) explains that Arthur was conceived in the dramatic castle of Tintagel, where Merlin took him to be brought up by Sir Ector. You decide that the Grail must be there. TINTAGEL CASTLE TINTAGEL Find out where Tintagel is by looking at: http://www.tintagelcastle.co.uk/ What is the connection between the Arthurian legends and Tintagel? Watch a video from The History Channel on YouTube about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grpgccgjpri You mount your horse and head south and a few days later you see the castle on top of a high cliff. At the gateway you see a knight dressed in black armour. You recognize his shield it is the evil Mordred. He blocks your way and says that because you are a Knight of the Round Table, you may not pass. Thus begins a terrible combat, and you receive terrible wounds. 8
MORDRED MORDRED The Acts pp53-54 He (Arthur) could not bear to have his incestuous shame known, and at the same time he was frightened at the prophecy. To conceal his incestuous sin, couriers went out to all his barons and his knights, ordering that any male child born on May Day must be sent to the king on pain of death.then the king conveyed the babies to the coast, for he could not bring himself to slaughter them. He placed the month-old babies in a little ship and set the sail to an offshore wind and it moved out unattended. King Arthur, with shamed and evil eyes, watched the little ship carry its evidence of his fate away, shrinking in the distance. And the King turned and rode heavily away. The wind arose, shouting, and veered about and drove the ship back on the land. Below a castle it struck a sunken rock and spilled its wailing cargo into the waves. On the shore a good man sitting in his hut heard a cry above the whining wind and lash of the surf. He walked to the beach and in the soil he found a baby wedged in a bit of wreckage. He took it up and warmed it under his cloak and carried it home with him, and his wife took Mordred to her breast and suckled him. 1. What was the prophecy mentioned in the text?.. 2. Write a brief story imagining Mordred as a teenager. He has just found out who his mother and father are. How do you think he will feel? What will be his first impulses? What will he do after he calms down? Write a short paragraph from Mordred s perspective. MORDRED S TEENAGE DIARY Dear Diary, Horror of horrors!! I have just found out that...you are on the edge of the cliff with the hungry sea moving far below. Mordred swings his sword to cut off your head, but you kneel down, he misses you and he falls crashing down the cliff, disappearing into the majestic waves of the great ocean. You pass through the gateway and see an ancient chapel from where you see a glorious light emerge. 9
THE VISION OF THE HOLY GRAIL Tapestry designed by Edward Burne-Jones and woven by William Morris & Co Stepping into the chapel, the light blinds you and you see something floating in the air above the altar. You feel dizzy and fall to the ground. Suddenly you wake up. You are back in Winchester in the twenty-first century and the tour guide is saying, And the Holy Grail, according to many people, can be found in the Cathedral of Valencia in Spain Is the Holy Grail in Valencia? Look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/saint_mary_of_valencia_cathedral THE HOLY GRAIL??? 10
CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF YOUR QUEST. ARE YOU A PURE, NOBLE KNIGHT? NOW MERLIN WILL EVALUATE YOUR TASKS AND TELL YOU WHETHER YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE ADVENTURE TO FIND THE HOLY GRAIL. MERLIN HOPES THAT YOU HAVE LEARNT A LOT ALONG THE WAY! MERLIN This Latin phrase, according to Sir Thomas Malory s Le Morte d Arthur, was written on Arthur s tomb at Glastonbury. What does it mean? Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rexque futurus THE SLEEP OF ARTHUR IN AVALON SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES 11