Activities
ACTIVITY 1
The narrative is told from a range of viewpoints. At times the narrative voice is omniscient, at other times it is a distant observer. We see much of the action through Gawain’s eyes, but we also see a view from the Green Knight and from Arthur.
Divide into six groups. Each group adopt the identity of one of the characters (Gawain, the Green Knight, Bertilak, Arthur, the Lady or Morgan La Fay). Now retell the story from this single point of view. How does this affect your context, emphasis, and interpretation of the tale? At the end consider why the Gawain-poet employed multiple viewpoints.
ACTIVITY 2
Critical opinion is fiercely divided as to whether or not the poem presents the triumph of Christianity over a pagan world.
Divide into two groups. One group should use the experiences of Gawain as the source for a Christian parable. The other group should consider the pagan elements in the poem and argue how the pagan tricks of Morgan La Fay triumph.
ACTIVITY 3
The poem has many lengthy passages of vivid and technical details about some aspect of courtly life. (For instance: the passages on feasting, armoury, clothing, architecture, the hierarchical seating arrangements in Arthur’s court and the carving of the deer.)
Divide into groups. Each group select one of the aspects and compile an etiquette manual on the subject according to the courtly conventions described in the poem. Compare your interpretations with the way in which such images or activities are presented in the animation. Do you emphasise the same or different features?
ACTIVITY 4
Work as a group (a production team) to create an advertisement for the animation. Decide which medium you will use (printed, audio, visual or the Internet?) Will you imitate or re-appropriate a medieval art form, as is done in the title sequence of the animation where stained-glass windows initiate the story sequences? Do you consider modern effects to be less or more appropriate?
ACTIVITY 5
Write a review of how the animation acts as a critical interpretation of the poem. What is the effect of the reduction of the hunting and arming scenes? Does the animation focus less on courtly motifs in order to focus on the psychological issues that are relevant to a twenty-first century audience? What is your opinion of the impact of the background scenery and music? Does the visual experience detract from or enhance the abstract rhetorical structure and function of the poem?
ACTIVITY 6
Choose a key concept or activity from the poem (such as ‘trouthe’, ‘courtesy’, ‘battle’, there are many more!). Make a list of all the synonyms that are used in the poem. Then divide your list into those words that act as repetitions, and those that impart slight variations or complications in meaning. Do the synonyms you have found consolidate your understanding of the key concept, or do the slight variations in any way complicate a single meaning?
ACTIVITY 7
Take any section from a modern prose translation of the poem. (There are several printed translations; an e-text address will be found in the reference section of this site.) In modern English, try to rewrite the prose according to the conventions of alliterative verse, the meter and the ‘bob-and-wheel’ structure.
© 2000 Channel Four Television Corporation
