Adventures in Literature, Wednesday, Period Three [Class Three]

[carpe_demon]

Drake was wearing oh-so-wizardy robes for class today, including a tall pointy hat. "Today we're going to look at the legend of King Arthur," he said. "So was Arthur a real person? Some think he was just a fictional hero of folklore. But the Historia Brittonum, or The History of the Britons, a 9th-century Latin historical compilation, and Annales Cambriae, or The Annals of Wales, Latin chronicles from the 10th century, both link Arthur, Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons sometime in the late 5th to early 6th century, to historical battles. But these documents were written centuries after Arthur's lifetime, and neither calls him King.

"Now, I happen to know the real story, because I know Arthur. Well, I know his current incarnation's mother's sister's ex-husband, so in some strange way, I'm his uncle on the demon side. He's just a toddler, though, so he's been forbidden to use Excalibur until he turns 18 or his mom will ground him."

Clearly, Drake had yet to meet the Arthur and Merlin in Fandom.

"Anyway, real or fictional aside, this is a literature class, so we're going to look at the legend. References to Arthur pop up in all sorts of medieval stories and poems, like the Welsh Mabinogion, but the story we all know and love was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his work Historia Regum Britanniae, or History of the Kings of Britain. This is where Merlin first appears, as adviser to King Uther Pendragon. Merlin was the son of a mortal woman and an incubus, from whom he inherited his power. He engineered the birth of Arthur by magically disguising Uther as his enemy, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, so that Uther could sleep with Gorlois's wife, Igraine. Not a shining moment for our Merlin there, though he believed he did what was necessary to ensure Britain got her king.

"After Uther died, Arthur became king. He carved out an empire by defeating the Picts and the Scots and conquering Ireland, Iceland, and the Orkney Islands. After a decade or so of peace, he got bored and decided to take over Norway, Denmark, and Gaul. While he was away fighting, his nephew Mordred seized the throne and Arthur's wife Guinevere, so Arthur had to hurry home to kick his ass. Unfortunately, Mordred managed to mortally wound Arthur, who was taken to the isle of Avalon and never seen again.

"Notice some things missing there? Like Lancelot and the Holy Grail? Those came later. The 12th Century French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, took a relatively obscure character and pumped up his role. See, his patroness was Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Noble ladies back then were big into romance and chivalry, so Chrétien whipped up a love triangle to entertain them. So enter Lance, studly knight, who carried on an affair with Guin and ultimately brought down Camelot. Ooops. Chrétien also added in the Grail quest, little realizing what Monty Python would do with it in several hundred years.

"Nowadays you can find dozens of different interpretations of the legend. The Mists of Avalon, for instance, uses the perspective of the female characters of the legend, such as Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's half-sister, who generally gets cast as a villain, seducing her brother and exposing Guinevere's affair with Lancelot. In this retelling, Morgaine is trying to protect England and the pagan way of life. Or there's the movie King Arthur, which does away with the magic, turns Arthur into a Roman knight, and leaves the audience wondering just when Clive Owen and Ioan Gruffudd will just give up and make out. Or Camelot 3000, which has Arthur and his knights reincarnated in the year 3000. Check them out, you're bound to find one that tickles your fancy."

Drake snapped his fingers and totally modded changed the students' clothing to medieval garb. "OK! Sookie, you're Queen Guinevere. Sam, you're Arthur, and Tony, you're Lancelot. The rest of you are Knights of the Round Table -- even the girls, we're equal opportunity platemail here -- or ladies of the court, if you prefer. The Queen's just been caught in a compromising position with Lancelot. Art, you love them both. Guin, you love them both. Lance, you love them both. But the laws of the land demand a punishment, and the King cannot appear weak. Lance and Guin, you get to defend yourselves, if you can. The rest of you can argue for or against execution, banishment, forgiveness, or whatever you can come up with. And Arthur, you'll have to decide what to do."


[Syllabus | Class Roster]

Comments

Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[carpe_demon]

Offer up your opinion, or talk amongst yourselves.

Didi is totes a black knight, of course.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[glacial_queen]

Karla raised a hand. "Why is this even an issue? She's a Queen. It is her right to sleep with whomever she chooses, so long as it was a consensual decision. And as long as Arthur confirms paternity, who is to say otherwise? Hell's fire, even if he doesn't, Lancelot will, and that still frees the child from the stigma of a bastardy. So what's the problem?"

Karla's viewpoint was...special.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

"I agree!" Hayley said.

She wasn't sure what she was agreeing to. But she figured Karla had to be right. She was a queen, after all.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Sadly, that's not how it was in England." Eleanor glanced at both Hayley and Karla. "Just as Prof...Drake," she amended, "stated, women had no rights in that day. Even a Queen. Sometimes most especially a queen." She paused for a moment, then continued, "Guinevere was chosen to be Arthur's bride, by men. She had no choice or say in the matter. In the eyes of the court and the people, she committed treason in the worst possible way... by bringing another man to the king's bed."

"Not that I agree with that," she added, "but unfortunately it is how things were." And still are, she thought.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[thatsamilkshake]

See Francine. See Francine not say a goddamned word about bringing another man to the king's bed.

Admittedly it helped that she was still working up a nice head of steam over the idea that either of the parties she knew in this situation would act the way the stories said they had.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[living_endless]

Didi was a black lady, actually, with layers of skirts and her hair twisted up into a series of braids.

"Arthur's king," she offered. "Eleanor is right about how things were, but if he wanted to change and find a way to save all of their lives, he could have. You always get a choice."

... no family issues there, at all.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"It depends on the political situation overall," Hinata offered quietly. "There's a lot of factors for why a person reacts the way th-they do. The King may have felt that in his Queen choosing another man to bed, that his authority was being undermined at a time he needed to be perceived as being strong."

She fidgeted with the sleeve of her jacket. "If th-that was the case, he would have had to react strongly in order to avoid becoming a laughingstock with his people."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[living_endless]

Didi shook her head. "True strength is not having to jump to what's expected of you. I'm not saying it would be easy, but -- he's king. They aren't. He could change the rules."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine let the argument about what he could have done play out, then said softly, "The Arthur I know wouldn't let people he loves die."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[glacial_queen]

Normally, Karla's tirae would begin with, 'And this is what happens when you leave males in charge...' but she understood that this was not Kaeleer (or else it wouldn't be a problem) and that point, while valid, probably had no place in the discussion.

"Does the king get to sleep with other females?" Karla countered, still not really understanding the whole 'gender inequality' thing. "I mean, if he's also tumbling dairy maids and whatnot, why isn't he on trial, too?"

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

"I was wondering that myself," Gabrielle jumped in, not as much out of a sense of 'this system is backwards' as her own stubborn idealism and the growing frustration of realizing that Xena never got any credit anywhere in the history books for a lot of the things she'd done. "Why is it always all right for some man in power to get away with all of these things? I don't care if he's a king, or a god, or some famous hero. It's not right."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"I couldn't agree with you more," Eleanor said, glancing at both Karla and Gabrielle. "I wish I knew who it was that decided years ago that women were less than men." She would love to give those people a piece of her mind, but that wasn't the point here. "I don't even know how it came it about or why people started agreeing to it, as several points in history portray women with a lot more power and position. Even now in my own time, though some advances have been made, women are still regarded as second-class to men. We can't hold university degrees, for example."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe didn't know Karla well, but she agreed with her because her argument sounded valid to her.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"If you're the king," she offered, "then you do what you want. If you don't want to punish them, or if you do, do it. Other people have a problem, you deal with them, I'd think."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"Would you d-deal with an entire nation that way?" Hinata asked softly. "For, make no mistake, if you s-start dealing with people like that, rebellion will rumble throughout a country."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"But it's not about the kingdom, unless she became pregnant during the course of the affair," because Fiona had a very odd grasp of politics that mostly involved reading about them in the kind of dusty old books that didn't involve much more than flat information.

"It's a personal matter, isn't it?"

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She shook her head.

"N-Nothing is a personal matter, when you're the ruler of a nation," Hinata explained. "And everything you do, especially a scandal like th-that is spread throughout the entire nation, until every man, woman, and child knows about it. Bards would make songs about it--some would make it a comedy, poking fun at the king, some would make it a tragedy, but it would be everywhere."

“And th-that story affects how the commons view their king,” she continued, “and so, they watch and talk and form their own opinions. Everyone knows the laws, and that adultery is w-wrong. They see how he deals with it and judge from that. ‘He’s the King’ they say, and yet his queen cheats on him,’ and they wonder, and belittle, and some will be on her side, and some will be on his side, but everyone will question ‘what sort of king is that, who can not even inspire loyalty in his own wife, until he has to react.”

“Then, he’s got several choices. He can ch-change the rules, just for him, and make an exception to them so no one is punished. But he could likely be seen as w-weak for that choice, and become a laughingstock because then the songs will go ‘and the k-king gave his permission for his wife to sleep with others’ and... that’s not, people would say, what most m-men would do. Can we trust a king like that? If he executes his Knight, they would t-talk about how harsh a punishment that was and how little the realm could afford to lose such a powerful Knight. Or exile, perhaps, wh-which is harsh—divorcing a Knight from the realm he is sworn to protect and yet leaving him alive so that, if the need is th-there, he can be found. Or strip him of his titles and s-send him back to his lands in disgrace, but th-that might lead to the former-Knight being the one to bring about rebellion.”

Hinata was used to thinking like this, yes. “A ruler is only one person,” she said, “and a powerful one, to be s-sure. But he must weigh the mood of his nation with every action he takes, for every action will have a reaction and he must judge wh-which is the best route to take for the good of the realm. He has not the luxury of keeping th-things private.”

...that was also the most Hinata had spoken in one go in a long time. She looked down. “At least,” she added, trying not to feel embarrassed, “that’s what I th-think.”

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

This class was just going to poke at all manner of interesting things for her, she just knew it.

"Then maybe he should put him to a trial, or a number of trials. If he passes them, then he's proven his loyalty and made his apologies. If he dies in the process, he dies because he wasn't a good enough knight and that's his own fault and not the kings. Either way, the king gets more work out of him, no one can be upset that he was executed fairly or unfairly, and the knight has a chance and can't begrudge the king" much "if he doesn't succeed."

She couldn't believe she was saying this. It was her Aunt Lucia's logic. It was the Council's logic.

...but maybe she was playing the Uncle Henry. The one who wanted 'Lancelot' to win.

...oh boy her head was going to break when she found out about Uncle Aaron's old name.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"That is a solution as well," she admitted, nodding. "And one that would place the onus of blame on the knight."

Hinata paused.

"There's also the matter of the queen's infidelity though. Some would call for her to be put aside or put to death for the shame she has brought on to the royal family, some would c-claim she had be coerced, and some would say he should f-forgive her entirely. And for every opinion, there's another group that would be unhappy."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[glacial_queen]

One of the good things about Hinata being so shy was that when she spoke, Karla actually paused to listen. "Those are...really good points," she admitted.

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She flushed slightly at the compliment.

"It would be easier," she admitted, "if people c-could simply do what they wished. But law and order and p-power means there's more to be aware of."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"That's fairly much what I was trying to state," Eleanor smiled lightly, seeing that Hinata seemed rather shy. "Even if a ruler holds ultimate power over their land and people, whether they be king or queen, if they begin to rule as fits their convenience and whim, people will begin to distrust them. Which could lead to all the problems Hinata brought up."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She nodded slightly.

"Ruling may be their b-birthright," Hinata said, "but the people do have their own ways of expressing displeasure, and wh-while individually their voices may not matter so much, together they're a force that cannot be ignored."

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[formermayqueen.livejournal.com]

Cordelia rolled her eyes at this. "Why doesn't he pull one of the usual excuses of 'I got bored and brought Lancelot in for variety'?"

Re: Knights and Ladies! [AiL: Class Three]

[yakkoyaks.livejournal.com]

"It's not a real solution until there's an anvil involved somehow," Yakko opined. He would use it musically.