Name _______________________________Class Period__
Notes:
Arthurian legend: Stories based on the fictional King Arthur set during the Middle Ages
Camelot: King Arthur’s castle and court
Guinevere: King Arthur’s wife
Lancelot: Arthur’s chief knight & rival for Guinevere’s love.
The Order of the Knights of the Round Table: Most important knights. The Round Table
represented the eternity of God, the equality, unity, and comradeship of the Order, and singleness
of purpose of all the Knights. The Order's dominant idea centered around the love of God, people,
and noble deeds.
Chivalry: Description of the knightly virtues of honor. Represents loyalty shown to superiors,
courtesy to equals, and compassion to the weak.
First Knight Film Viewing Guide
CHARACTERS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR APPEARANCE
List descriptors, both physical and non-physical:
1.
Lancelot:
2.
Mark:
3.
Malagant:
4.
Lady of Leonese (Guinevere):
5.
Sir Agravaine:
6.
Peter, the King’s Stableman:
7.
Ralf:
8.
Jacob:
SECTION 1
1.
What was the purpose of the scrolling words at the very beginning? Be specific.
2.
Mark and Lancelot fight. After the duel of swords, Mark asks him what it takes to fight like
Lancelot does. Lancelot replies that there are three things you must do to win a sword fight:
1) Study your opponent so that you know what his is going to do before he does it.
2) You have to know that one moment in every fight when you win or lose and you have to
know how to wait for it.
3) And you have to not care if you live or die.
Which of the requirements could Mark not do?
5.
What weapons do Malagant and his men use?
6.
In the dialogue between the Lady of Leoness and Oswald (her old advisor), what are the:
a. issues:
b. promises made:
7.
c. descriptions of Arthur:
What do you see about the character and disposition of the Lady of Leoness?
8. Name three events that the author uses in the rising action to set the stage for this story in the
first section:
a.
b.
c.
9. Arthur takes Lady Guinevere to the top of the bluff for her first look at Camelot at night. He
obviously has done this to impress her. What is her reaction to this action of Arthur's?
SECTION 2
1. Lancelot reads on the round table: “In serving each other, we become free.”
a. How does King Arthur interpret this for him?
b. Do you agree?
2. King Arthur says to Lancelot: “A man who fears nothing is a man who loves nothing. If you love
nothing, what joy is there in your life?” Analyze this statement. Do you think it is true of Launcelot
at this time? Is it a true statement?
3. Of the Round Table King Arthur said that it had “ . . . no head and no foot . . . ” Can a country
be run like this? Is it only a dream?
4. The flashback to Lancelot’s childhood tells us several important things about his background.
What are they? What influence do they have on his life now?
5. At the end of this section, what do you see as Guinevere’s conflict?
a. What does DUTY demand of her?
b. What does her heart demand?
SECTION 3
1. King Arthur represents the true spirit of Camelot when he says to Lancelot, drying by the fire
after his rescue of Guinevere: “I can’t love people in slices. I take the good with the bad.” Put this
way of relating to people in your own words. What does it mean to you?
2. As Lancelot ponders joining King Arthur and his knights at the round table, what do you think
that this would signify for him? Why would he want to take Arthur up on his offer?
3. “Brother to brother, yours in life and death.” So said the knights to Lancelot. Expand on the
statement. What does this mean to the knights?
4. Strategy played a major part in King Arthur’s battle with Malagant’s forces at Leoness. On the
basis of what you saw, how did Arthur outsmart Malagant?
5. Why was Lancelot the first one at the smoking ruins of the church? Why does he seem so
traumatized by this?
6. “I never believed in anything before but I do believe in Camelot, and will serve it best by leaving.”
What does Lancelot mean by these parting words to Queen Guinevere?
7. What does Arthur mean on his deathbed when he says to Guinevere: “I feel it now, my love; the
sunlight. It’s in your eyes.”
8. Consider the ending of the movie with the funeral pyre. What message did the film producer
want to leave with his audience at the end?