Comparing King Arthur And First Knight

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“Arthurian legend are stories and medieval romances about King Arthur and his court in his kingdom, Camelot”.(Camelot para.1) Arthurian legend is told in several different ways by many different people such as the story “Le Morte ‘d Arthur” by Sir Thomas Malory, and “First Knight” directed by Jerry Zucker. Some scholars say that Arthurian legend is completely fictional, while others believe that Arthur was a real person or was based on a real person. In order to know whether or not Arthurian legend could have been based on actual history it is important to know English history, the characters in Arthurian legend, and the supernatural in Arthurian legend.
Knowing English history is essential to determining whether or not King Arthur was a real person or not. If King Arthur was a real person English history could hold facts about him or the person he was based off of. “The earliest reference to Arthur is in a poem dating from around AD 594. He appears again in the 'History of the Britons', written in AD 830 by Nennius, where he is depicted as a heroic general and a Christian warrior.” This shows that although …show more content…
Characters like Lancelot who are just normal people seem to be completely realistic and like they could have been actual people. Other characters such as the green knight, who had his head chopped off and still lived seem completely fictional. “That the shock of the sharp blow shivered the bones and cut the flesh cleanly and clove it in twain, that the blade of bright steel bit into the ground. The head was hewn off and fell to the floor…. He laid hold of his head and heaved it aloft.” (Wiggins 176) In this quote from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Gawain chops the Green Knights head off and the Green Knight then picks it up and rides away. Characters such as the Green Knight make Arthurian legend seem more fiction than
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