Final Exam
Due in hard copy on date and time of final exam. No late exams will be accepted.
I. Short answer. 2 pts each
1. What event sets off the final battle in the Morte Darthur?
2. What is the holy relic used by Balin against King Pellem?
3. Who is the historical figure who allegedly brought the grail to England?
4. What happens to Lancelot after Arthur’s death in the Morte Darthur?
5. Who is the spurned young lady who floats herself past Arthur’s court in a barge?
6. What is the name of the manuscript in which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is found?
7. What animal is associated with Gawain’s theft of the green girdle?
8. Where is the last phrase of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, “Hony soit qui mal pense,” taken
from?
9. Who is the greatest knight of the Morte Darthur before Lancelot?
10. What event causes Gawain to turn against Lancelot in the Morte Darthur?
11. What are the five knightly virtues?
12. With what historical figure is the pentangle associated?
13. What does the Green Knight agree to give Gawain when he first enters Arthur’s court asking for a game?
14. Who is the old lady at Bertilak’s court in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and what is her relationship to
King Arthur?
15. The knights of Arthur’s court accuse Guinevere of killing another knight in the Morte Darthur. It is
obvious she didn’t do it. Why, then, does Lancelot receive a thigh-wound when fighting her accuser?
16. What is the significance of this thigh-wound, and who else in the Morte Darthur has one?
17. Define courtly love.
18. Define the genre of medieval romance and list a few typical characteristics.
19. What two defining poetic techniques are used in each stanza of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?
20. What is the significance of the name “La Fresne”? List three meanings using the context of the tale.
21. According to medieval bestiaries, what magical power do weasels possess?
22. Marie de France uses various devices or symbolic objects to signal entrances to the otherworld in her tales.
List three of these.
23. What is the name of the technique that thematically connects together different adventures in the
Morte Darthur:?
24. When did Malory live and why might he have been imprisoned?
25. What does the queen accuse Lanval of when he refuses her advances?
II. Essay. Analyze each of the following passages in a 5-6 sentence paragraph. Pay very close
attention to the specific language, images, symbols, and themes used in the passage at hand, and
clearly explicate the meaning of these specific moments in your essay. Avoid summarizing. Long
quotes are entirely unnecessary, but do be sure to refer to the actual text at hand. 10 pts each.
1. “Wit you well my heart was never so heavy as it now is. And much more am I sorry for the
loss of my good knights than for the loss of my fair queen; for queens I may have enough, but
such a fellowship of good knights shall never be together in any company. Now I daresay that
there was never a Christian king who ever held such a fellowship together...Alas, that ever Sir
Lancelot and I should be at debate! Ah, Aggravain, Aggravain, Jesus forgive it thy soul; for the
evil will that thou and thy brother Sir Mordred had unto Sir Lancelot hath caused all this
sorrow!”
2. “And as for my lady, Queen Guinevere, except your person of your highness and my lord Sir
Gawain, there is no knight under heaven that dare make it good upon me that ever I was a traitor
unto your person. And where it please you to say that I have holden my lady, your queen, years
and winters, unto that I shall ever make a large answer, and prove it upon any knight that beareth
the life, except your person and Sir Gawain, that my lady, Queen Guinevere, is as true a lady unto
your person as is any lady living unto her lord, and that will I make good with my hands.
Howbeit it hath liked her good grace to have me in favour and cherish me more than any other
knight; and unto my power again I have deserved her love...[for] at such times, my lord
Arthur...you loved me and thanked me when I saved your queen from the fire, and then you
promised me for ever to be my good lord. And now methinketh you reward me evil for my good
service.”
3. “Behold, sir,” said he, and handles the belt.
“This is the blazon of the blemish that I bear on my neck;
This is the sign of sore loss that I have suffered there
For the cowardice and coveting that I came to there,
And I must bear it on my body till I breathe my last.
For one may keep a deed dark, but undo it no whit,
For where a fault is made fast, it is fixed evermore.”
The king comforts the knight, and the court all together
Agree with gay laughter and gracious intent
That the lords and the ladies belonging to the Table,
Each brother of that band, a baldric should have...
4. ...As she sat weeping in front of the bed, a weasel, which had come out from beneath the altar,
ran past, and the servant struck it because it passed over the body. He killed it with a stick and
threw it on the floor. It did not take long for another to run up which, seeing the first one lying
there, walked around its head, touching it often with its foot. Unable to rouse its partner, it
seemed distressed and left the chapel, going into the woods in search of herbs. With its teeth the
weasel picked a flower, bright red in colour, and then quickly returned, placing it in the mouth of
its companion, whom the servant had killed, with the result that it quickly recovered.
5. When she was gone, Sir Gawain got from his bed,
Arose and arrayed him in his rich attire;
Tucked away the token the temptress had left,
Laid it reliably where he looked for it after.
And then with good cheer to the chapel he goes,
Approached a priest in private, and prayed to be taught
To lead a better life and lift up his mind,
Lest he be among the lost when he must leave this world.
And shamefaced at shrift he showed his misdeeds
From the largest to the least, and asked the Lord’s mercy,
And called on his confessor to cleanse his soul,
And he absolved him of his sins as safe and as clean
As if the Dread Day of Judgment should dawn on the morrow.
And then he made merry amid the fine ladies
With deft-footed dances and dalliance light,
As never until now....