A Study Of The Legend Of Arthur In The Middle Ages (6-15th Century)

The Arthurian romance is one of the most important parts of western literature,which has a great influence on western society and culture. Studies in foreign countries have already been mature and systematic, while in China, scholars haven’t paid much attention to it, the translations of the great number of medieval Arthurian romances were rare. Although scholars have already make some achievements, the number is small, and Chinese essays or monographs have some misunderstandings about the medieval Arthurian romance, the most typical one is the conception of individualism in medieval cavalier literature, and this individualism is considered as the continuation and development of the significant western culture. The purpose of this essay is to introduce the transformation of the medieval Arthurian romance, and reveal the truth that it pays more attention to collectivism than to individualism through close reading, and finally try to change the thinking set of Chinese scholars.This essay is divided into four parts, the first chapter briefly talks about the transformation about the medieval Arthurian romance form its beginning in the 6th century to its summit in the 15 thcentury. The second chapter uses King Arthur himself as the representative of kings or lords in the Arthurian romance to make it clear that they must center on the benefits of country and nation. The third chapter focus on the variety figures of knight, their pursuits of personal honor are sometimes praised by the authors, however, when their pursuits make them ignore the interests of collective,they will finally end up with failure. The fourth chapter pays attention to female characters, they mostly appear as objects in the romances, but the authors’ attitudes are still sympathetic or admiring. Their attitudes is based on the purposes of women’s acts, those who maintain Arthur’s kingdom are praised, on the contrary, those who threaten Arthur’s kingship are demonized. Firstly, the author of this essay hope readers get the knowledge of the transformation of the Arthurian romance, those scholars who want to study this area may focus not only on the Chinese translations of Arthurian literature, but also on the French and German texts which represent the highest achievements of Arthurian romance in 12 thand 13thcentury. Secondly, the author wants to correct the misunderstanding, pursuit of individualism is indeed praised by the authors, but this pursuit must not violate the interests of community,once this pursuit surpasses it and threaten the benefits of country or nation, theauthors’ attitude will turn from praise to criticism. Therefore, comparing to individualism, collectivism is the one which the medieval Arthurian romance actually focuses on.