King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Comparing Legendary Leaders”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of how national myths promote cultural values by comparing the Arthurian legends to stories about a legendary leader from another culture.

King Arthur is one of many legendary leaders whose stories help to shape a culture’s identity. In this activity, you will do some research into another legendary leader, answer some questions about this leader, and then present your findings.

Research a Leader

You will be assigned one of the leaders from this list:

• King Gesar (Mongolia)
• Prince Marko (Serbia)
• Dhat al-Himma (Arabian Peninsula)
• Gearóid Mór FitzGerald (Ireland)
• Wu Zetian (China)
• Sundiata Keita (Mali)
• Owain Lawgoch (Wales)
• Shajar al-Durr (Egypt)
• Nzinga Mbande (Angola)
• Duke of Zhou (China)
• Ragnar Lodbrok (Sweden and Denmark)

Conduct research to find out more about the leader that you have been assigned.

Answer Questions:

In at least a full paragraph each, answer the following questions:

1. What is this leader’s story?

2. Which parts of the story seem to be rooted in history, and which parts seem to be mythic?

3. What values does this leader’s story teach?

Compare and Contrast With King Arthur

Create a visual presentation that uses the information you found in your research to compare and contrast your leader with King Arthur. Your presentation should use both visual elements (images, diagrams, charts, etc.) and text to convey the similarities and differences in the two leaders’ stories and the values they convey.

Teaching Suggestion: If your students do not have access to the internet for research purposes, you might print some appropriate references in advance. Students may struggle with the third question—about values—the most, because it requires making inferences. You might scaffold the process by asking them to first discuss what values are taught by a well-known folktale or a children’s story they are familiar with. If they argue that accounts of the leader they researched don’t teach anything—because the accounts are “history”—you can remind them that there are cultural reasons that only certain parts of the leader’s life were chosen to be a part of history’s “story.”

Clarify for students how you wish them to create their presentations—will these be on paper or digital, and, if they will be digital, what formats are they allowed to use? If you will be asking students to present their work to their classmates live, rather than post it in the classroom or on a class website, you may wish to sort students into two or more groups, so that they are not hearing duplicate presentations.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with visual impairments may not be able to complete this activity as written; instead of creating visual presentations, they might be asked to write a compare and contrast essay for the final stage of the activity. Students with attentional and executive function differences may benefit from being asked to transfer the answers to questions 1 and 3 into a graphic organizer. On the graphic organizer, they can compare and contrast these answers with Arthur’s story before attempting to convey these ideas in their final presentations.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The color of certain knights’ armor is part of their characterization. Choose one knight and his armor color to use as the basis for your response to this prompt.

• What does the color of the knight’s armor symbolize about the knight’s character? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of language or detail that support your interpretation of the color’s symbolism.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this symbolism supports one or more of the book’s thematic concerns with Knightly Codes and Oaths of Virtue, The Overpowering Nature of Sin, and Fate and God’s Will.

2. One story that the Epilogue shares is the story of a shepherd who finds Arthur and his men sleeping in a cave, awaiting the time when they are needed again.

• How does this particular story create a parallel between Arthur and Christ? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from the story that support the parallel that you have described in your topic sentence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this parallel supports one or more of the book’s thematic concerns with Knightly Codes and Oaths of Virtue, British Nationalism and Mythological History, and Fate and God’s Will.

3. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table centers the concerns of high-status Christian men. Choose a group that is not at the center of this story: women, servants, non-Christians, etc., as the basis for your response to this prompt.

• What role does this group seem to play in the stories, and what messages does this send about this group? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from the story that support your ideas about the role that the group plays.
• Explain how each of your examples supports your interpretation of the messages being sent about the group.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the messages being sent about this group support the novel’s larger meaning.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the different prophecies in the stories. Who delivers these prophecies, and what does this tell the reader about where their information about the future comes from? After characters hear a prophecy, do they seem to be able to change what will happen? What does this tell the reader about fate and free will? Write an essay in which you analyze the messages about fate and free will conveyed through the prophecies in King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. Show how the prophecies support the idea of Fate and God’s Will. Support your reasoning with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. There are clear parallels between the love story of Tristram and Iseult and that of Launcelot and Guinevere—but there are also important differences. What do the two pairs of lovers have in common? How do they respond differently to these similar situations? What are the consequences of their choices? Write an essay that analyzes what messages about honorable behavior are conveyed by the differences in the lovers’ behavior in similar situations. Show how these messages support the text’s larger concern with Knightly Codes and Oaths of Virtue. Support your reasoning with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. The Arthurian legends were created to make a claim about the greatness of England, based on the greatness of King Arthur and Logres. How well does King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table support this claim? What are the criteria the story uses to define what makes a “great” king or kingdom? Do the behavior and accomplishments of Arthur and his knights clearly show them fulfilling these criteria? Write an essay that evaluates whether Green’s version of the King Arthur story effectively supports the idea that Arthur was a great king who established a great kingdom. Connect your evaluation to the text’s thematic concern with British Nationalism and Mythological History. Support your reasoning with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following characters does not have magical abilities?

A) Merlin

B) Guinevere

C) Nimue

D) Morgana

2. Where do each of the knights’ quests begin?

A) At Tintagel Castle

B) On the Isle of Avalon

C) In the Grail Chapel

D) At the Round Table

3. Which story most clearly teaches the lesson that courtesy is important, even toward people who behave shamefully?

A) Tristram’s banishment from Cornwall

B) Gareth’s decision to hide his noble birth

C) Gawain’s refusal of Bernlak’s wife

D) Allewes’s attempts to trap Launcelot

4. Which story most clearly teaches the lesson that it is important to help people in need, even if it is very inconvenient?

A) Morgana’s attempts on Arthur’s life

B) The death of Pellinore’s daughter

C) Launcelot’s knighting of Gareth

D) The Green Knight showing mercy to Gawain

5. Which is the best statement of the duty symbolized by the Round Table in this story?

A) Protect the people and behave honorably.

B) Safeguard the Holy Grail and stay faithful.

C) Keep Arthur on the throne and stay loyal.

D) Be merciful to the defeated and show forgiveness.

6. What do Pellinore’s and Gawain’s mistakes in their early quests lead Arthur to create?

A) The Holy Sacrament

B) The Holy Grail

C) The Round Table

D) The Order of Chivalry

7. Which is the best statement of what swords symbolize in this story?

A) Destiny

B) Power

C) Honor

D) Nobility

8. Which is the best description of what finding the Holy Grail symbolizes about those who find it?

A) They have displayed perfect loyalty to Arthur.

B) Their faith in God is unwavering.

C) They have achieved perfect knighthood.

D) Their love for Britain is their highest priority.

9. What lesson do Gawain’s reaction to Gareth’s death and Sir Lionel’s reaction to being left by his brother to fend for himself in the forest have in common?

A) A truly honorable knight never gives up on his companions.

B) Wrath and the desire for revenge indicate a loss of control.

C) Even death is part of God’s plan and must be accepted as His will.

D) An impure heart leaves a person open to deception by others.

10. Which knight is a symbol of perfection?

A) Galahad

B) Launcelot

C) Gawain

D) Percivale

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How do Percivale’s birth and childhood establish him as someone worthy of the quest for the Grail?

2. In King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, what is the relationship between Christianity and magic?