Category Archives: Dalton, Alexandra

Perceval: Perceval and the knights: devils or angels?

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About the scene and clip:
At the start of the romance, Perceval, who has been raised in the forest by his mother, sees knights for the first time, riding along. At first, he thinks they are devils because they make such a racket; then he thinks they are angels, or even God, because they are so shiny and beautiful. He becomes obsessed with their armor and equipment, and won’t answer any of their questions. He is determined just to have answers to his own questions. The performer plays Perceval and the knights.

About the work:
The romance recounts the adventures of Perceval, a noble youth who was raised in ignorance of knighthood in the woods of Wales by his widowed mother, but who gets himself knighted by King Arthur and progressively learns about knighthood; this romance also tells of adventures of Gawain, always given as a paragon of chivalry. In this work the Grail makes its first appearance in medieval literature; there will be many more.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Perceval, or The Story of the Grail, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1985, pp 7ff. Original text: Le conte du Graal, ed./trans. Charles Méla, in Romans, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al., Paris, Classiques Modernes/ Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble:
Alexandra Dalton in a student of Dramatic Literature in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2009).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in spring 2009. It was videoed in the classroom by a fellow student.

Gawain: Bertilak’s wife tries yet again to seduce Gawain

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About the scene and clip:
On his journey to find the Green Knight—and to receive the return blow—Gawain is welcomed at a great castle whose lord is named Bertilak. The lord’s beautiful wife tries three times to seduce Gawain—but each time he manages to refuse her courteously and to refrain from committing the grave sin of adultery. This scene shows her final seduction attempt.

About the work:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the best loved works of medieval literature, is an anonymous Middle English romance of the 14th century. The style is “alliterative”: each poetic line is dominated by a certain letter sound that is repeated.

The story: At Christmas, a strange, huge, all-green knight arrives at King Arthur’s court. He challenges all present to an exchange of blows with his great axe. Gawain accepts, and cuts off the knight’s head—but the green man does not die! Rather, he picks up his head and, before riding away, reminds Gawain that in a year it will be his turn to receive his blow. Gawain, in his dutiful quest for the Green Knight, encounters many adventures—in particular, at a castle where he has an exchange of gifts with the lord, and where the lady attempts repeatedly to seduce the virtuous and honorable Gawain. He finally finds the Green Knight—in a surprising conclusion to the romance.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, tr. Brian Stone, Penguin, 2nd ed., London, 1974, III: 71, pp 87ff. One edition of this frequently-edited work is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, 2nd ed. revised by Norman Davis, Oxford, Clarendon, 1968.

About the performer/ensemble:
Alexandra Dalton is a student of Dramatic Literature in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2009).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in spring 2009. It was videoed in the classroom by a fellow student.

Gesta: Magician

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About the scene and clip:
The performer tells the story of a magician who invites people into a beautiful garden where he tricks them out of their inheritance, then cuts them off with nothing. (The use of an apple as a prop serves as a reminder of the story of Adam and Eve, in Genesis.) The performer chose not to perform the Christian allegorical interpretation, considering that the audience might enjoy figuring it out for themselves—but the moral is in fact a bit surprising: the magician is “the world,” not the devil, as one might expect.

About the work:
The Gesta Romanorum is an anonymous collection of stories, written in Latin. Though the earliest manuscripts date from the 14th c., the stories were probably written earlier. The tales consist of stories allegedly about deeds of the ancient Romans, with a Christian moral attached at the end, and were probably used by preachers in their sermons. The work was widely known, and Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Shakespeare all retold tales drawn from it.

About the genre:
The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.”

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
The Tales of the Gesta Romanorum, translated from the Latin by Charles Swan, revised by Wynnard Hooper, New York, Everest Books, 1959, pp. 55-6. (Note: The title given for this tale in the English translation is “Of the Suggestions of the Devil”—but it is in fact about a magician.) Medieval Latin:Märchen und Legenden aus den Gesta Romanorum, mit Holzschnitten von Axel von Leckoschek, Leipzig, Insel, 1926.

About the performer/ensemble:
Alexandra Dalton in a student of Dramatic Literature in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2009).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in spring 2009. It was videoed in the classroom by a fellow student.