Version commerciale de : Thesis : Philosophy : Texas A&M University : ? / Bibliogr. p [141]-150. Index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / https://archive.org/details/moralcodeofchiva00gilc

Sir Thomas Malory’s fifteenth-century prose romance, Le Morte Darthur, depicts public and private identity as distinct and often incompatible halves of the Arthurian courtly community. In addition, masculine and feminine identity are represented as having different roles and functions within the text. Arthurian scholarship has predominantly focused on Malory’s portrayals of masculine and communal identity, as exemplified by central figures such as Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. However, in the past two decades an increasingly concentrated interest in the Morte’s female protagonists has emerged. As a contribution to this burgeoning site of critical inquiry I offer a tripartite case study of three marginal queens in this text: Igraine, Morgause and Morgan. Despite being the mother and sisters of King Arthur, these women have attracted comparatively little attention, either as individuals or as a family. This thesis argues that Malory presents noteworthy portraits of marginality in Igraine, Morgause and Morgan, which reveal the significance of space to the formation of identity in the Morte. Each of these protagonists is imagined in a variety of spaces in the Arthurian world: narrative, social, geographical, physical and emotional. Such spaces are contained within two principal romance locations, the court and quest wilderness, in which protagonists’ expressions and activities differ. Courts are typically governed by patriarchal authorities such as kings, knights, magicians and clerics, who privilege masculine public identity and political issues affecting the Arthurian community. By contrast, the quest wilderness encompasses places governed by what are termed ‘matriarchal’ authorities including queens, ladies, supernatural women and nuns, where private identity and individual emotions are more readily expressed. Marginal women speak and act in both the court and quest wilderness, but their identities are articulated differently in each. This thesis argues that Malory’s text presents moments when Igraine, Morgause and Morgan are marginalised by the Arthurian community critically, whilst the development of their individual identities in the quest wilderness is depicted sympathetically. As such, an examination of these protagonists’ movements across a variety of spatial boundaries in the world of the story as well as the narrative’s composite structure offers a revised reading of identity, gender and marginality in Malory studies. This thesis challenges two dominant assumptions about female voice and agency in the field. Firstly, that marginality is primarily a position of disempowerment, particularly for medieval women. Secondly, that marginal individuals are inherently subversive and threaten the Arthurian community.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis argues that the sixth book of Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur, the Tale of the Sangreal, introduces a new idea of chivalry to the knights of the Round Table and challenges them to reform how violence is justified in Arthurian society at the fundamental level. The central issue revolves around the knight’s intentions as they are confronted with situations of violence. In the Grail quest, each knight must demonstrate that he uses his knightly skills for the benefit of the community, not for his own purposes. By contrasting how knights justify violence in terms of Arthurian ideals, which privileges the use of violence for individual gain, with how knights justify violence in terms of Christian ideals, which privileges the use of violence to protect the community, this thesis demonstrates why Arthurian civilization collapsed as civil war engulfed the kingdom. Furthermore, the thesis shows how the Sangreal interacts with the rest of the Morte Darthur. It asks the knights to give up their worldly pretensions to honour and courtly privilege, and to reform their lives radically to comply with Christian ideals. This is achieved as the Grail journeys of the three Grail knights, Perceval, Bors, and Galahad, and the journey of Lancelot are examined closely, producing the spiritual biography of the knights. To demonstrate how far Arthurian civilization had moved from Christian ideals, the final chapter scrutinizes Arthur’s estrangement from God in the early years of his reign. These investigations make it evident that the Sangreal acts as a mirror for the Morte Darthur, proposing a better way of being within the chivalric world by closely analyzing the justification of violence within that world. This demonstrates that the collapse of Arthurian civilization is unavoidable.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis argues that the sixth book of Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur, the Tale of the Sangreal, introduces a new idea of chivalry to the knights of the Round Table and challenges them to reform how violence is justified in Arthurian society at the fundamental level. The central issue revolves around the knight’s intentions as they are confronted with situations of violence. In the Grail quest, each knight must demonstrate that he uses his knightly skills for the benefit of the community, not for his own purposes. By contrasting how knights justify violence in terms of Arthurian ideals, which privileges the use of violence for individual gain, with how knights justify violence in terms of Christian ideals, which privileges the use of violence to protect the community, this thesis demonstrates why Arthurian civilization collapsed as civil war engulfed the kingdom. Furthermore, the thesis shows how the Sangreal interacts with the rest of the Morte Darthur. It asks the knights to give up their worldly pretensions to honour and courtly privilege, and to reform their lives radically to comply with Christian ideals. This is achieved as the Grail journeys of the three Grail knights, Perceval, Bors, and Galahad, and the journey of Lancelot are examined closely, producing the spiritual biography of the knights. To demonstrate how far Arthurian civilization had moved from Christian ideals, the final chapter scrutinizes Arthur’s estrangement from God in the early years of his reign. These investigations make it evident that the Sangreal acts as a mirror for the Morte Darthur, proposing a better way of being within the chivalric world by closely analyzing the justification of violence within that world. This demonstrates that the collapse of Arthurian civilization is unavoidable.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Rober L. Kelly; submitted to the Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-172).

This thesis explores the role of animal imagery in Malory's Morte Darthur. Each chapter of the thesis attempts to achieve this aim by examining the animals from different, though related perspectives. Firstly, wherever possible, Malory's animal imagery is compared to the traditional mythological context of the animal under discussion, and to the appearance of that animal in other relevant Arthurian literature. This approach has proved most useful in Chapter Four, devoted to the dragon, where Malory's use of the dragon is initially antithetical to the traditional connotations associated with it, whereas as the Morte progresses the dragon reverts to its traditional meaning of evil and terror. Similarly, the subject of Chapter Three, the Questing Beast, has entailed a study of the French sources not used by Malory, simply because Malory did not include the complete story of the Questing Beast in the Morte. Without examining those sources, therefore, we would know neither the complete meaning, nor the complete story of this fascinating creature. Secondly, the thesis examines the relationship of the animals in the Morte to Malory's characters. In Chapter One it is shown that Torre and Tristram, unlike Gawain and Pellinor, are worthy of love because of their association with the symbol and token of love, the brachet. In Chapter Two the black bulls envisioned by Gawain are associated with Arthur's entire court, with the exception of the three Grail questers, Percival, Galahad, and Bors, who are represented as white bulls. Chapter Three attempts to show that the flawed characters of Pellinor and Palomides are mirrored in the ugly, elusive, meaningless object of their quest, the Questing Beast. Most significant of all, however, is the simultaneous association of the dragon with Arthur, his Kingdom, and his Knights in the final chapter of the thesis. Thirdly, the thesis examines the thematic function of Malory's animal imagery. Both Gawain's vision of the black and white bulls, and the changing meaning of the dragon symbol, foreshadow and comment on the cause of the tragedy with which the Morte ends. In both Chapter Two, treating the image of the bulls, and Chapter Four, dealing with the dragon, I have strongly suggested that the image of both the bulls and the dragon implies that Arthur's entire court, Arthur included, is responsible for the ruin of the Round Tabie and the fellowship it represented. - ' Thus the thesis concludes that the animals within Malory's Morte Darthur are of extreme importance, not merely as separate entities, but as symbols of varying social and ethical significance, and as thematic devices contributing to the unity of the whole work. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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