Medieval Period Essay

Write a 250- to 300-word response for each selected topic (about

one page each in times new roman 12cpi, double spaced); use quotes from the selected works to support your position.  

 EACH TOPIC NEEDS TO BE DISCUSSED IN PAGE FORM. 

  

From Beowulf 

1. Beowulf was written in Anglo Saxon vernacular, meaning that the language was used the way the people used it every day. How can this use of the vernacular reveal insights into the values held by the society depicted in the work?

     

From Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain

2. According to Monmouth’s “history,” what is Merlin’s role in the destiny of Britain? How

good or bad would the Pendragon kings be without Merlin’s assistance?

From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

3. Who initially accepts the Green Knight’s challenge? Why does he accept? Who intervenes? Why does he intervene?

  

From Le Morte D’Arthur

4. In “The Poisoned Apple,” King Arthur asks Guinevere, “What aileth you . . . that ye cannot keep Sir Lancelot upon your side.” Is it possible that Malory is using dramatic irony in that the audience knows of the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere but the king does not or could he

be suggesting that Arthur knows about the affair and is perhaps needling his wife? How can the utterance be understood in either case?

EACH QUESTION NEED TO ANSWERED IN ESSAY FORM 250-300 WORDS WITH QUOTES FROM THE POEM ITSELF.