Essay for Week 11: A Knight's Tale

Armored Knight Mounted on Cloaked Horse by Paul Mercuri(1861) via Wiki Commons 

I absolutely loved the King Arthur Unit! The stories of King Arthur and his knights have always intrigued me. When I was younger, specifically in middle school, I remember grabbing any book in the library with a knight on it just so I could read more about this time where knights went on quests, beautiful princesses, and even magic. My brother and I were also really obsessed with the BBC TV series Merlin. I even took a course last fall that was called Arthurian Legends and Literature. As you can tell I absolutely love the stories of Arthur and his knights, so it is only natural that I chose this unit to read this week.

From what I have experienced, there is a lot of variation with the stories of Arthur. Sometimes Merlin is a character, sometimes he isn't. Sometimes there is a Morgan Le Fey, sometimes she is referred as Morgana. The knights of the round table also vary. Personally my favorite knight is Gawain, but that is just my opinion. I really liked that Merlin was in these stories. Merlin was not in the original stories of Arthur, he was added into the story much later. However, I like the magician and was pleased to see him. I felt so bad for him when he died in The Passing of Merlin. Merlin knew his own death, but was distracted by his girlfriend, Vivien, who led him to his death. That young girl just did not have the patience for the old man. One story I did not really like was The Questing Beast. I mean I liked it, I just did not like part of it. I would hate to know my own fate. I would be trying to avoid my death at all costs. I almost feel like it would take away a lot of the quality of like because you are so worried about dying. We are all going to die in our own time, whenever God has planned for us, so there is no need to worry about the inevitable.