Medieval English Literature Questions
Bring on the tough stuff. There's not just one right answer.
- Are there medieval texts that contain themes, concerns, characters, and so on that just don't seem to fit in with the major characteristics of the period? Which ones? What makes them seem anachronistic to you?
- Scholars usually say that the Medieval Period ended around the time the Renaissance or Early Modern period started. But consider: people didn't just wake up one morning and say, "Forsooth, this great age shall henceforth be named The Renaissance. Huzzah." So, what's the logic behind saying that the Medieval Period concluded at around 1500 (or a bit earlier)? In what ways does this cut-off point seem nonsensical or arbitrary?
- Why are lineage and kinship such central themes in so many medieval works? Think about the major characters and plotlines of great works like Beowulf and Le Morte D'Arthur in formulating your answer.
- From the Abbess Hild in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People to Queen Guinevere to the Real Housewife of Bath, Medieval Literature gives us a range of female figures to consider. How do these characters represent some of the period's anxieties surrounding women? Are the women portrayed more positively or more negatively, in your opinion? Are there any medieval texts or authors that you would consider feminist, by the standards of those times?
- Medieval Literature's got range. In the tall tales of this era, you can find hulking, bearded heroes fighting monsters, religious allegories up the wazoo, chivalrous knights jousting it out for their ladies' honor, and even medieval fart jokes (yes, they went there). How do the diverse literary tastes of Middle Ages readers and writers reflect the ethos of that time? How were the tastes of people back then similar to people today? How were they different?
- In Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, knights are always going around in disguise or trading armor with each other, oftentimes with hilarious results. Sometimes, with tragic results. In what ways is identity established in chivalric literature—especially when characters can't see each other's faces? What does all this recognition and misrecognition tell us about medieval concepts of personhood? Knightly identity? King Arthur's court? Deliciously deep questions, indeed.
- How do medieval texts distinguish between "good" and "evil"? What sorts of Biblical authorities are cited by medieval authors on these matters?
- Medieval English Literature was around well before England thought of itself as any kind of cohesive nation. Still, do you see an emerging sense of national identity in some of the texts of the time? If so, where do you see it? And how is it expressed?
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Disney's The Sword in the Stone, and the popular television show Merlin all lead us to believe that Arthurian legend is still crazy appealing to the masses… a thousand years later. Why do you think this might be? What themes of this legend do people still connect with?
- If you were making a modern film version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which actors would you choose to play the starring roles? Why?
- If the Wife of Bath were living today, what do you think she would be jamming to on her playlist for the long road to Canterbury? Come up with four to six songs that really fit her personality and tastes.