Women in the Arthurian Legends: Medieval to Modern

Catalog description

The legends of King Arthur, Guinevere, Morgan le Fay and the Holy Grail have held our imaginations for more than eight centuries. From brief mention in chronicles and old songs, poets and writers have fashioned one of the greatest epics in all literature, stories so real that we still wonder whether Arthur's court actually existed. This course will examine a range of writings about the women of King Arthur's court from the earliest chronicles to the twelfth-century romances of Chrétien de Troyes and the later stories told by Chaucer and Malory. Modern interpretations of the legends will be explored through several films including: Ladyhawke (1985) Tristan & Isolde (2006), Excalibur (1981), The Sword of Lancelot (alt., Lancelot and Guinevere, 1963), and King Arthur (2004), with clips from Camelot, Lovespell, and the Mists of Avalon