Second Critical Essay
The Romance of Tristan and Iseult(Dover Edition, ISBN978-0486440194; you must use this edition)
I will comment on drafts emailed to me no later than Friday, November 11th at 10:00 pm.
Essay prompt: The oft-told legend of Tristan and Iseult offers a vivid glance into the world and mindset of Medieval Europe. Your assignment is to use evidence from The Romance of Tristan and Iseult to discuss one (and only one) of the following topics in detail:
1) Justice in the Medieval World.How are disputes over justice settled? What role does Christianity play? What does their justice system say about how Medieval Europeans viewed the natural world? The main characters often use tricks to manipulate the justice system; are these tricks considered cheating or just?
2) Magic and Religion. What are the roles of magic,"fairy", and mythical creatures in the story? To what degree are these seen as inherently good, evil, or neutral forces? What role does Christianity play? How do these people view the natural world?
3) Chivalric Love and Morality.What is the moral code of the characters, especially regarding sexual morals? Why does the author excuse or condemn certain actions and characters? What are the special circumstances that would make a usually-guilty act innocent?
How do their values differ from mainstream sexual morals of today? (Note: This last question is important, but do not spend much of the essay writing about today. Focus primarily on the Medieval World.)
I do notwant you to retell the story apart from giving necessary background for specific pieces of evidence; you should write analysis, not a book report.
• 4-6 pages
• Full paragraphs with topic sentences expected.
• Introductory and concluding paragraphs expected.
• If you quote 1-2 consecutive lines, keep them inside the paragraph. If you quote 3-5 consecutive lines, set them in a single-spaced block. Do not use quotes longer than 5 lines.
• Double-spaced
• Normal margins
• 12-point, Times New Roman font
Two copies of your essays are required for full credit: one hard copy given to the instructor (Matthew Amyx) and one copy submitted to Turnitin.com.
Hint: If you correctly and appropriately cite examples from 3-5 different chapters and not just 1 or 2, I will more likely believe you actually read the book and gave it some thought.
If you have any questions or uncertainties regarding the assignment, please email me, come to office hours, or make an appointment as necessary.
Sample body paragraph:
[Topic sentence]In Homer's Illiad, readers see how the Ancient Greeks believed the gods offered would-be heroes a choice: either they could enjoy long lives of peace and be forgotten, or they could lead lives of glorious adventure that would secure their legacies but would likely end in early and violent deaths. [Context sentence] When the Trojans push the Greeks back to the beach and threaten their ships, Achilles urges his men to go home by telling them what the gods told his mother Thetis about him: [Evidence] "If I stay here and fight, I shall not return alive but my name will live forever: whereas if I go home my name will die, but it will be long ere death shall take me." [Concluding sentence tying it all together] Achilles eventually will choose glory and suffer death in his prime, and will indeed be remembered forever in tales about the Trojan War, but he also understood that this fate is not for everyone, and therefore offered to let his soldiers go home.