33. The Canterbury Tales: the Merchant Group

The Pardoner -  Pardoners granted papal indulgences—reprieves from penance in exchange for charitable donations to the Church. Many pardoners, including this one, collected profits for themselves. In fact, Chaucer’s Pardoner excels in fraud, carrying a bag full of fake relics—for example, he claims to have the veil of the Virgin Mary. The Pardoner has long, greasy, yellow hair and is beardless. These characteristics were associated with shiftiness and gender ambiguity in Chaucer’s time. The Pardoner also has a gift for singing and preaching whenever he finds himself inside a church

The Manciple -  A manciple was in charge of getting provisions for a college or court. Despite his lack of education, this Manciple is smarter than the thirty lawyers he feeds.

The Merchant -  The Merchant trades in furs and other cloths, mostly from Flanders. He is part of a powerful and wealthy class in Chaucer’s society.

The Physician -  The Physician is one of the best in his profession, for he knows the cause of every malady and can cure most of them. Though the Physician keeps himself in perfect physical health, the narrator calls into question the Physician’s spiritual health: he rarely consults the Bible and has an unhealthy love of financial gain.

34. Geoffrey Chaucer. The Pardoner’s tale: plot, structure, the system of characters

Plot:

The tale is based on a folk-tale of Oriental origin, although many variations exist. Three drunken and debauched men set out from a pub to find and kill Death, whom they blame for the passing of their friend, and all other people that previously have died, which they were told by the Landlord. An old man they brusquely query tells them that he has asked Death to take him but has failed. He then says they can find death at the foot of an oak tree. When the men arrive at the tree, they find a large amount of gold coins and forget about their quest to kill Death. They decide that they would sleep at the oak tree over night, so they can take the coins in the morning. The three men draw straws to see who among them should fetch wine and food while the other two wait under the tree. The youngest of the three men draws the shortest straw. The two plot to overpower and stab the other one when he returns, while the one who leaves for the town plots to lace the wine with rat poison. When he returns with the food and drink, the other two kill him and drink the poisoned wine, dying slow and painful deaths. All three have found death.

The relationship between tellers and tale is distinctly significant in "The Pardoner's Tale." The Pardoner is an enigmatic character, portrayed as grotesque in the General Prologue and apparently aware of his own sin—it is not clear why he tells the pilgrims about his own sin in the prologue prior to his tale—yet his preaching is correct and the results of his methods, despite their corruption, are good. Mention by him of a "draughte of corny strong ale" may suggest that he is being so open because he is drunk. The Pardoner's confession is similar in its revelation of details to the prologue by the Wife of Bath, who gives away details about herself in her prologue. Both prologues are heavily influenced by the Romance of the Rose, particularly the Fals Semblaunt episode.

The Pardoner is also described as a good speaker in his portrait in the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, which is reflected in the quality of the narrative attributed to him

35. Ballad Sir Patrick Spens: plot, structure, themes, genre peculiarities

"Sir Patrick Spens" is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads (No. 58), and is of Scottish origin.^[1]

The story as told in the ballad has multiple versions, but they all follow the same basic plot. The King of Scotland has called for the greatest sailor in the land to command a ship for a royal errand. The name "Sir Patrick Spens" is mentioned by a courtier, and the king despatches a letter. Sir Patrick, though honoured to receive a royal commission, is dismayed at being put to sea in the dead of winter, clearly realising this voyage could well be his last.

Versions differ somewhat at this point. Some indicate that a storm sank the ship in the initial crossing, thus ending the ballad at this point, while many have Sir Patrick safely reaching Norway. In Norway tension arises between the Norwegian lords and the Scots, who are accused of being a financial burden on the king. Sir Patrick, taking offence, leaves the following day. Nearly all versions, whether they have the wreck on the outward voyage or the return, relate the bad omen of seeing "the new mune late yestreen, with the auld mune in her airms", and modern science agrees the tides would be at maximum force at that time. The winter storms have the best of the great sailor, sending him and the Scottish lords to the bottom of the sea

36. Ballad The Wife of Usher’s Well: plot, structure, themes, genre peculiarities

"The Wife of Usher's Well" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 79, originally from Britain, and is more particularly considered a Scottish ballad, but also popular in North America.^[1] No complete original version has survived, but the song has been "remade" in America in a cohesive form.

The ballad concerns a woman from Usher's Well, who sends her three sons away, to school in some versions, and a few weeks after learns that they had died. The woman grieves bitterly for the loss of her children, cursing the winds and sea.

The song implicitly draws on an old belief that one should mourn a death for a year and a day, for any longer may cause the dead to return; it has this in common with the ballad "The Unquiet Grave". When the children return to their mother aroundMartinmas it is as revenants, not, as she hoped, "in earthly flesh and blood", and it is a bleak affair. They wear hats made of birch, which is said to protect the dead from the influences of the living, from a tree that grows at the gates of Paradise. The mother expects a joyous reunion, in some versions preparing a celebratory feast for them, which, as subjects of Death, they are unable to eat. They consistently remind her that they are no longer living; they are unable to sleep as well, and must depart at the break of day.

37. Legends about King Arthur in Medieval literature

Tales told by the Bards were transferred into book form and the romantic stories of the Arthurian legend and the ideals of courtly love became part of Medieval literature. The main source of information about King Arthur and the Arthurian Legend was written by a Welsh cleric and author called Geoffrey of Monmouth who wrote a fictional book called Historia Regum Britanniae - the History of the King's of Britain in 1136. Other stories about King Arthur and the Arthurian Legend were written in the Welsh  'Black Book of Caernarvon' in 1250 . Other books called Historia Brittonum by Nennius, the Annales Cambriae, the Chronicon Anglicanum and the Welsh Mabinogion also make references to the Arthurian Legend and King Arthur.

38. Sir Thomas Malory. Le Morte d’Arthur: the role of supernatural objects

39. Sir Thomas Malory. Le Morte d’Arthur: King Arthur and King Pellinore

The central figure was King Arthur, a noble hero around whom were gathered the equally noble Knights of the Round Table - the most valorous Knights (including the sinner-hero Lancelot) in history - and the fair ladies of Camelot, worthy of the highest acts of chivalry. The Knights variously performed great deeds and embarked on a number of virtuous and romantic "quests", including the supreme 'Quest for the Holy Grail'. King Arthur was a figure of enigma whose life had a mysterious beginning and a mysterious end. His guardian and advisor in the early days of his kingdom was Merlin the wizard, whose predictions continued to influence the course of the story. King Arthur fought many battles but was ultimately betrayed by those close to him: his sister, son, wife, and friend, causing his inevitable downfall at his last great battle.

King Pellinore /ˈpɛlɨnɔər/ is the king of Listenoise or of "the Isles" (possibly Anglesey, or perhaps the medieval kingdom of the same name), according to the Arthurian legend. Son of King Pellam and brother of Kings Pelles and Alain, he is most famous for his endless hunt of the Questing Beast, which he is tracking when King Arthur first meets him. Pellinore beats King Arthur after three jousts and breaks the sword Arthur had withdrawn from the stone (in some versions this is Excalibur, though he gets another sword of that name from the Lady of the Lake soon after.) Merlin throws a spell of enchantment on Pellinore to save Arthur’s life. Arthur praises Pellinore’s skill, and they soon become friends, with Arthur inviting him to join theKnights of the Round Table. He has many legitimate and illegitimate children; his sons Tor, Aglovale, Lamorak, Dornar, and Percival all eventually join the Round Table as well, and his unnamed daughter (see Dindrane) becomes a servant of the Holy Grail and helps Percival, Galahad and Bors achieve the mystical objective.

Pellinore is a major figure in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and the sections of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur based on it. There, he helps Arthur in his early wars against rebelling vassals, but when he kills King Lot of Orkney during the Battle of Tarabel (also called Dimilioc), he sparks a blood feud between his and Lot's family that results in his death and the deaths of many others. Before this, Pellinore is frequently encountered pursuing the Questing Beast, a strange monster with the head of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion and the feet of a deer. Though he claims his bloodline is destined to perpetually chase the bizarre creature, Sir Palamedes the Saracen takes up the quest, and, according to one version, slays the beast.

Pellinore was said to have been of the royal line of Joseph of Arimathea, whose dynasty guards the Holy Grail, according to Arthurian lore. Indeed, it is Pellinore’s own son, Percival, who was one of the first Grail seekers, and his grand nephew,Galahad, who finally succeeds in the quest. In the Livre d'Artus (early 13th century), Pellinore is called the "Maimed King" after being wounded by a holy spear, having doubted the powers of the Grail.