King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table: Subtexts and Perspectives?!
Different people with different perspectives think about different subtexts in a story; in this case, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The three main lenses, perspectives, will be sex, race, and religion. A person with different lenses’ perspectives would be compared with my opinions about the story.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is a story about the adventures and quests the knights risk for different reasons. The characters include King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Merlin, Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot etc.
First of all, I think that ‘women’ throughout the story represents evil. For example, Queen Morgan le Fay tried to kill her brother, King Arthur, but eventually ended with failures, but she manages to steal the scabbard, which refrained King Arthur from bleeding a lot and dying, with her dark magic. The second person, who represents magic and mystery, would be Merlin because he helped and advised King Arthur with his abilities (magic), and because his words were mysterious and vague. Also, he represents mystery because nobody knew why and how he disappeared. Thirdly, I think the swords represent murders, because the knights used swords to kill and wound other. Fourthly, the Holy Grail represents imagination, man’s desire and ambition. This is because majority of the knights went on a quest to find back the Grail, but only a few knights were successful and many went lost. The fifth item is Excalibur which, in my opinion, represents greed and outer beauty. The reason I think this is because King Arthur liked Excalibur more than the scabbard, and thus he lost the scabbard which was something that worth more than the sword itself (Very like people who care more about wealth and eventually lose their health). The last object is the scabbard of Excalibur. I think represents an inner beauty and faith, because it was something that helped and protected King Arthur.
If I was an English man who was also a Christian, I would think that ‘women’ represent filth and foulness, because women like Morgan le Fay, tried to harm a king in a dirty, cowardly way. Secondly, I would believe that Merlin is holy because Merlin did magic something like what Jesus did. The swords, third items, probably represent justice and man-likeness like the knights used to think, because such fights with swords ensure man’s cowardice or grandness. Fourthly, I think the English Christian man would think that the Holy Grail represents man’s desire and ambition, but I don’t think that he would think that it represents imagination because he might believe that the Holy Grail actually exists. His opinion about Excalibur would be the opposite of mine; he would believe that Excalibur is an inner beauty and that it is everything that matters in life just like King Arthur as it is a sword that represents his power. Lastly, I think the scabbard will represent nothing to him (also like King Arthur) because it only protects him (which King Arthur didn’t even care about) and because it does not help him show-off his power and wealth.
on May 9th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Who wrote these stories. What could they gain by portraying women as evil?
The following passage is very confusing:
The second person, who represents magic and mystery, would be Merlin because he helped and advised King Arthur with his abilities (magic), and because his words were mysterious and vague. Also, he represents mystery because nobody knew why and how he disappeared. Thirdly, I think the swords represent murders, because the knights used swords to kill and wound other. Fourthly, the Holy Grail represents imagination, man�s desire and ambition. This is because majority of the knights went on a quest to find back the Grail, but only a few knights were successful and many went lost. The fifth item is Excalibur which, in my opinion, represents greed and outer beauty. The reason I think this is because King Arthur liked Excalibur more than the scabbard, and thus he lost the scabbard which was something that worth more than the sword itself (Very like people who care more about wealth and eventually lose their health). The last object is the scabbard of Excalibur. I think represents an inner beauty and faith, because it was something that helped and protected King Arthur.
Which lens are you looking through?
Nice observation: Secondly, I would believe that Merlin is holy because Merlin did magic something like what Jesus did.
See if you can simplify this post a bit.