A complement/ something to compare, to king arthur and his knights of the round table

Question

I have a summer reading project where I must select a work of art, photography, music, poetry, or another piece of literature that complements "King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table" by characters, themes, and/or symbols. I also need to be able to make six to ten connections between the "chosen thing" and the story.

Even though right now I need anything..., the book I'm suposed to be comparing to is the puffin classics edition of king arthur and his knights of the round table.

Answer 1

A great symbol is a circle. A circle is complete and shows infinity (lacking a beginning and an end). Also a circle is perfectly round and no matter where you stand around the circle you're never at the head of it. This symbolizes the round table where no member was elevated because no-one sat at the edge of the table. All around the circle are equal and no-one is more important then another which was the value of arthurian legend in my opinion.

Answer 2

COMPARE TO CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES, who have had the greatest influence on the  world.  

Answer 3

The philosophy of Gaia.

Answer 4

I mean this is in all seriousness, you could write a fantastic paper comparing and contrasting King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table to Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail (video).

Good luck!

Answer 5

Actually, Michelle D's idea isn't bad.  It's creative and a different approach to King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table.  I would get approval from your teacher first but Monte Python and the Holy Grail relates quite well from a comical approach to King Arthur and his 12 knights of the Round Table.

Another idea would be from the Legends of Charlemagne and the 12 Paladins.  Find a copy of Bulfinch's Mythology (which also contains all of the Arthurian adventures) it contains the adventures of the 12 Paladins - Roland, Oliver, Turpin the priest, Namo the Burgundian duke, Salomon, Rinaldo, Ganelon, Ogier the Dane, Rogero, Astolpho, Florismart, and Malagigi the Enchanter.

EDIT:  As an example -

Charlemagne could be compared to King Arthur.

Malagigi could be compared to Merlin.

Ganelon could be compared to Mordred.

Roland could be compared to Gawain (for their loyalty to their kings, respectively).

Rogero could be compared to Tristan (for their romances).

Rinaldo could be compared to Lancelot (for their falling out of favor with their kings, respectively).

Answer 6

Arthur, as the great king, has counterparts in other cultures,

In Irish legend there is King Conchabhar who corresponds somewhat to Arthur. See Lady Gregory’s “Cuchulain of Muithemne'' at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cuc...

Irish legend also tells of the leader Fionn or Finn and his band of warriors. See “Legend of Gods and Fighting Men” by Lady Gregory at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/gaf...

Denmark has King Hrolf Kraki. A translation giving the most comlete version of his story is available from Penguin. See http://www.viking.ucla.edu/hrolf/maincon... and http://books.google.ca/books?id=zx_O_WNH... . A short version of the story appears in the second half of chapter 2 of  Saxo Grammaticus’ “Gesta Danorum” and in the account of the youth of Hrolf’s father and uncle as here ascribed to a certain Frode and Halfdan whose story is told at the beginning of book VII, see http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Danish... .

Note that the first half of the Old English poem “Beowulf’' takes place in Denmark during the very early part of  Hrolf Kraki’s reign. In “Beowulf'' Hrolf is known as Hrothulf and his co-king, his uncle, as King Helga rather than Helgi. Beowulf himself is possibly in origin identical to the Boðvar Bjarki of the Scandinavian tales.

The counterpart of King Arthur in German legendary tradition is Dietrich von Berne, who derives from the historic Theodoric the Goth. See http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heroic/t*t... and a summary of the Icelandic verson called the Thidrekssaga at http://www.xs4all.nl/~ppk/nibelung/sum.h... .

The Frankish (French) counterpart is the Emperor Charlemagne and his twelve peers. See http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/rol... for a translation of the famous “Song of Roland''. Translation of other French poems are not easily found in English, at least important ones like “Le Quatre Fils d’Aymon'', “Ogier le Danois'', and “Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne''.

In 1495 an Italian poet published an unfinished romance of Charlegemane called “Orlando Immarato'' (that is “Roland in Love”) what was continued and completed in 1542 by Ludovico Ariosto under the title “Orlando Furioso” (that is, Roland Gone Mad”). Ariostos’ inventions were a sensation for centuries, especially in Italian literature.

Bulfinch’s retelling in  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœLegends of Charlemange'' contains much based on the two Italian poems rather than earlier medieval material, notably chapters III to chapter XVII. See http://www.celtic-twilight.com/charlemag... .

Note that Roger Lancelyn Green’s account in the Puffin book also contain a number of authorial inventions not found in his sources. For example, he makes Modred to be begotten by Arthur on his sister Morgan le Fay, which is an invention of modern authors not found in any genuine medieval romance. In later prose romances Mordred is begotten on King Lot’s wife, not on Morgan.