King-Arthur----亚瑟成王记.doc

课程论文亚瑟王：亚瑟成王记King Arthur：A Knight to A King Abstract：King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century.About Arthurian legend, once popular in numerous literary classics.The movie,King Arthur, put these stories onto the screen,which reappears the great achievements of the European monarch.According to the movie,this paper analyzes the reasons that make the knight Arthur be King Arthur from two main aspects :the historical background and his own characteristics.Key Words:King Arthur;historical background ;charactersIntroductionKing Arthur, a film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Franzoni in 2004,tells a story of a legendary warrior champion. Legend of the middle ages of 4,5 century A.D, before and after,King Arthur overthrew the hundreds of years rule of the Roman Empire in the British territory,he dislodged the Saxons invasion successfully, and gradually pushed Britain to an important position in Europe through a series of political and military measures.He established a series of great achievements.The film is unusual in reinterpreting Arthur as a Roman officer rather than a medieval knight.Despite these departures from the source material,the Welsh Mabinogion, the producers of the film attempted to market it as a more historically accurate version of the Arthurian legends,supposedly inspired by new archaeological findings. The film was shot in England, Ireland, and Wales.In general,the movie focuses on the comradeship between Arthur and his knights,Arthurs concept of freedom, and how Arthur recognized the truth of the Holy See,then determined to fight for British.It is the third epic following Gladiator and Troy. 1. The Main PlotArthur, also known as Artorius Castus,is portrayed as a Roman cavalry officer,the son of a Roman father and a Celtic mother, who commands a unit of Sarmatian auxiliary cavalry in Britain at the close of the Roman occupation in 467 A.D.He and his remaining knights Lancelot,Bors,Tristan,Gawain,Galahad and Dagonet are expecting discharge from the service of the Empire after faithfully serving for 15 years.However,on the night they ought to receive their freedom, they are dispatched on a final and possibly suicidal mission by Bishop Germanus in the freezing winter to rescue the important Roman family of Marius Honorius from impending capture by the invading Saxons, led by their chief Cerdic and his son Cynric. At the remote estate,Arthur meets Marius and frees a Woad, Guinevere, and a small boy, Lucan.Finally, Arthur decides to take everyone, along with Marius family, back to Hadrians Wall.Along the journey,Guinevere takes Arthur to meet with Merlin, the leader of the Woads and her father.Merlin suggests an alliance between the Woads and the Sarmatian knights against the invading Saxons.However,Arthur do not say anything.In due course, Arthur and his remaining men forsake Roman citizenship and form an alliance with the Woads to fight the Saxons. In the climactic battle, the Battle of Badon Hill. After fierce fighting,Arthur kills Cerdic, and the Saxons are defeated.Though Arthur is victorious, the events of the film have led to the loss of his faith in Rome as a bastion of justice. After realizing that the Rome of his ideals exists only in his dreams, Arthur also despairs over the deaths of his men. The film ends with Arthur and Guineveres marriage. Merlin then proclaims him to be their king. King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and his remaining knights promise to lead the Britons, united with the defeat of the Saxons and retreat of the Romans, against future invaders. The last scene shows the 3 horses belonging to Tristan, Dagonet and Lancelot running free across the landscape as the narrative describes how the fallen knights live on in tales passed from generation to generation.2.Reasons make Knight be KingAt the first beginning,Arthur is a Roman cavalry officer,and has been serving for Rome Empire over 15 years.Most important,he is an idealistic christian soldier who truly believes god has sent him into this world to protect and win in Roman battles.However,he finally gives up the chance to be a Roman citizen but the British king,so what makes Knight Arthur be King Arthur?2.1Arthurs Historical Background450 A.D,the Roman Empire has been gradually declining,as well as intended to evacuate from the United Kingdom.On the Great Britain island, many of the lords and knights fought over land and castles,war-torn peoples also organized their own partisans actively.At this time,Saxons,people with strong aggressive,also take into Great Britain. The country was teetering.Arthur and his Round Table Knights had withstood the invading Saxons many times, but under the help of Hadrians Wall and Roman military support.Once Rome evacuated from the United Kingdom,its not hard to image what would happen.However,Woads stopped fighting with Arthur but cooperated with him,it means Arthur has won respect from local people,he got new military power.It is called human conditions.As a Chinese saying goes:A hero is nothing but a product of his time.In that turbulent era,a man who has ability,intelligence,just heart and powerful army would become a hero.So Arthur did. The Great Britain needed a king,then Arthur came.2.2Arthurs Love with GuinevereGuinevere is the daughter of Merlin,the leader of Woads.Over Arthurs last mission,he saved Guinevere and gradually fell in love with her.On one hand,Guinevere encouraged Arthur to fight for himself,use his own strength to obtain the forever freedom,but not the permission from Rome.On the other hand,she and her father led their clansman to fight with Saxons to help Arthur defeating invaders.In other word,Arthur earned the local military power. Eventually, Merlin advocated Arthur be the king of British,that is King Arthur.Therefore,it is totally right that there is always a great woman behind a successful man.2.3Arthurs Characteristics2.3.1Arthurs BraveArthur was trained to be a warrior since he was a child,otherwise,he had been experiencing lots of battles,which made him be brave and intelligent.For example,in the movie,in the climactic battle, the Battle of Badon Hill,even there was only himself left,he never gave up but prepared to fight.Arthurs brave and battlewise and extraordinary courage impressed some excellent knights,they joined Arthur and organized into the famous Round Table Knights.Under the leadership of Arthur,these brave soldiers become gangbusters all the way and achieved proud exploits.2.3.2Arthurs IntelligenceArthur is an absolutely preeminent militarist.In the Battle of Badon Hill,the Saxons were much more than Arthurs army,as well as the fighting capacity.In this case,Arthur didnt fight as usual.First,he had the gate opened and no one left.Then,he ignited some haystack,and made plenty of smoke which created very mysterious atmosphere and really scared the Saxons.And most importantly,he combined war-horse with bow,which had strong lethality and killed many Saxons.2.3.3Arthurs Sense of ResponsibilityArthur had to separate from their families when he still was a child.He fully understood what wars brought,he had seen lots of death.Consequently,when he saw the countrys chaotic situation,he vowed to make the entire British Isles break away from the brutal rule of the Romans through his own efforts,and get rid of the confusion of the war situation.Arthur determined to build a new,peaceful and serene home for people here.It is such sense of responsibility that drove Arthur to fight all the time.2.3.4Arthurs MagnanimityAlong the journey to Hadrians Wall,one night, Guinevere took Arthur to meet with her father,Merlin,the leader of Woads.The plot was revealed in flashback that Arthurs mother had died in a Woad attack when he was a boy and then Arthur pulled his fathers sword from the burial mound in an effort to rescue his mother from a burning building,but he failed.That means,the Woad killed his mother,the only relative left of Arthur.The hatred is too tremendous to make Arthur kill Merlin at their first sight.But Arthur not.He chose to cooperate with his former enemy,for the peace and freedom of his people.What magnanimous he is!2.4Arthurs Pursuit of Equality and FreedomIn the movie,when Bishop Germanus arrived the meeting hall,found that the table was round,which had no particular order.From this scene,we can see that within Arthurs mind,he and his knights are equal,it is unnecessary to make the order.They are more like brothers than soldiers.Thats properly why his knights were willing to die for him.On the night they ought to receive their freedom,Arthur and his knights were extremely exciting,they laughed,drunk,danced and sang.For them,freedom is the most wonderful thing in the whole world.They desired freedom,as if it were air,water and food.Many of them never stopped fighting for freedom until their last time.2.5Arthurs ConsensusA hero always has some magical power.Magician predicted that Arthur would become the holy British monarch,and Arthur also pulled out of the Sword in the Stone ,confirmed his future.So,when Guinevere first met Arthur, she told Arthur of the fairy tales shed heard of him.In their mind,Arthur was destinied to be the King of Britain.That is to say,in the matter of consensus,Arthur had absolutely superiority.ConclusionFrom King Arthur,not hard to find that Arthur is not a legend, he was just a man, a self-sacrifice man to become a leader and has won the title of king.Among all the knights,Arthur was the most responsible and justice,he hoped that world would be more fair and peaceful.Though his warriors loyal to him, they are more like a war machine.This is also the reason why Arthur will become the leader, because they are willing to submit to his leadership.So,what makes Knight Arthur be King Arthur?We can come to conclusion now.First of all,the era Arthur lived was very turbulent,Rome evacuated and Saxons invaded. Heroes emerge in trouble times,the era has chosen Arthur.And then,Arthur is a brave,kind,magnanimous and responsible man,he has almost all the characters that a hero should have.Otherwise,it is essential that his people advocate him,what is called Conquer the people,conquer the world.Whats more,Arthur has been serving here for 15 years,he knows British geography and how to use it to fight.Finally,favorable climate,geographical and human conditions,the road to British King is done.References1 Lambert, Kym (2004) The Problem of the Woad. Retrieved 1-27-07.2 Hardy, Thomas (1923), The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyon