The Arthurian Tradition

And down the river's dim expanse

Like Some bold seer in a trance,

Seeing all his own mischance - 

With a glassy countenance

 Did she look to Camelot.

And at the closing of the day

She loosed the chain, and down she lay; 

The broad stream bore her far away,

 The Lady of Shalott.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott, 1842 

Prior Knowledge:

What do you know about King Arthur? Who was he? Where and when did he live? Did he even exist? Who were his friends? Who were his enemies? Where did you learn about King Arthur? In a movie? In a book? Have you seen King Arthur in more than one place, for example, in two different movies? If so, did the movies portray him in the same way? If not, in what way did they portray him differently from each other?

Objectives:

This WebQuest serves as an introduction to the Arthurian tradition, that is, the legend of King Arthur and all the forms it has taken over the past one thousand years. The purpose of this WebQuest is to familiarize students with many of the essential characteristics of the King Arthur story while at the same time making them aware of how the story has evolved in each retelling, from Geoffrey of Monmouth's twelfth-century work History of the Kings of Britain to the 2008-2009 BBC/NBC television series Merlin. It will also show how these stories exist in a variety of media and genres, from written histories to poems to paintings to video games.

Think about the following:

1. Did King Arthur really exist, or is he just a legend?

2. If he is just a legend, why was he created, and why do we often think of him as someone who may have actually existed?

3. According to the stories of King Arthur, where and when did he live?

4. What are the characteristics of the Arthurian Tradition? For example, what are the names of other people, places, or things associated with King Arthur?

5. What are some famous literary works featuring Arthur or other elements from the Arthur legend?

6. What are some famous plays, films or television shows featuring Arthur or other elements from the Arthur legend?

7. What are some famous pieces of art featuring Arthur or other elements from the Arthur legend?

8. What parts of these works borrow from the Arthurian Tradition, and what parts of them are different from the tradition? For example, do they change some of the characters? the places? the time period?

9. Why do people keep retelling the Arthur story?

10. Why do people make changes to the story when they retell it, and why do they make the changes they make? For instance, why would someone change Merlin into a woman, or set the story in the modern day?

11. How may these retellings be influenced by the retellers' personal lives and the time periods and places when these retellings were made? For example, how might a version of the legend told by someone in nineteenth-century England be different from a version of the legend told by someone in twenty-first-century Japan?

This WebQuest will help you:

1. Answer these questions;

2. Gain a greater understanding of Medieval history and culture;

3. Gain an in-depth understanding of a particular piece of Arthuriana;

4. Share your knowledge about this work with your classmates;

5. Compare what you learned with what your classmates learned to develop an awareness of how retellings both perpetuate traditions and challenge them.

Image: The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, 1888