Medieval English Literature Supervision 3

To prepare for next week:

Next week we will be looking at the Arthurian romances of Sir Thomas Malory. The most easily available version of the text is Malory, Complete Works, edited by Eugène Vinaver (Oxford University Press, 1971) – it has a bright red cover. I would like you to read both “The Tale of King Arthur” (which has six sections, from “Merlin” to “Gawain, Ywain and Marhalt”) and “The Most Piteous Tale of the Morte Arthur Saunz Guerdon” (which has five sections). This will give you a sense of both the episodic romances Malory recounts and the overarching narrative of Arthur’s reign. You should also read Caxton’s preface to his edition of Malory (at the beginning of Vinaver’s edition). If you read these and still want more, feel free to read other sections as well! Other editions sometimes lay the text out quite differently, and omit sections, so if you use another edition, check that you have read all the material set.

As for secondary reading, Vinaver’s introduction gives a clear summary of Malory’s life and work. Perhaps the best recent collection of essays on Malory is A Companion to Malory, ed. by Elizabeth Archibald and A.S.G. Edwards (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1996), which covers all aspects of Malory’s work. For the question of whether Malory’s writing should be considered a single work, or whether it should be regarded as eight separate ‘works’, see the first article, ‘The Hoole Book’ by Carol M. Meale. An earlier essay collection, Essays on Malory, ed. by J.A.W. Bennett (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963) might also be helpful.

As you read Malory, it may be helpful to consider and make notes on the following:

whether the text seems to be a single work or a group of works

the voice of the narrator (perhaps think about it in comparison with Chaucer)

the presentation of key characters, such as Arthur, Lancelot, Gawain, Guinevere, Mordred, Morgan le Fay and Merlin

what view of the idea of chivalry emerges from Malory’s work?

You should then attempt one of the essay questions below and hand your essay into me at least 48 hours before our next supervision. Remember to pay close attention to the wording of the question and to illustrate your answers with detailed reference to Malory’s narrative and language.

Either: “For herein may be seen noble chyvalrye, curtosye, humanyté, frendlynesse, hardynesse, love, frendshyp, cowardyse, murdre, hate, vertue, and synne. Doo after the good and leve the evyl, and it shal brynge you to good fame and renommee.” (William Caxton, Preface to his edition of Le Morte Darthur, 1485).

“Morte Darthur: the whole pleasure of which book standeth in two speciall poyntes, in open mans slaughter, and bold bawdrye: In which booke those be counted the noblest Knightes, that do kill most men without quarrel, and commit fowlest aduoulteries by subtlest shiftes” (Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, 1570)

Did Malory write a work of moral instruction?

Or: “Malory does not judge his characters, but allows them to judge one another.” Is this true?