Notion d'anglais mythe et héros

Introduction

I’m going to talk about of the notion of myth and hero. In a first time, I would to give a definition of this notion : A myth can be defined as a story about gods or heroes, it can be a popular belief or a tradition or a false notion. A hero can be a mythological figure, a person who is admired for his or her achievements, a superhero or maybe a role model or an icon. To illustrate this notion I chose to talk about King Arthur.

King Arthur is a hero whose stories we still hear about. He embodies all the values one might expect of a hero: courage, strength, bravery… But his actual existence has never been proven.That’s why he belongs to the two categories, being both a hero and a myth.

I am going to present the history of King Arthur through the ages, since the 6th century until today, and show how the use of the myth of King Arthur reflects the period of the Arthurian revival.I will therefore begin in the Middle Ages, continue in the 19th century with the Pre-Raphaelite revival, and finish with nowadays.

I used three documents to illustrate this notion : A page of the BBC website on the history of King Arthur, A painting by John Waterhouse: The Lady of Shalott and the film king Arthur.

1. The Middle Ages

Arthur is supposed to have lived in the 6th century. Yet, nothing was written about his feats until the 11th century. Troyes wrote Yvain: The Knight of the Lion and Perceval: The Story of the Grail in the 12th century; Thomas Malory wrote The Dead of Arthur.

Why did the myth emerge centuries after Arthur's supposed life? Some think that the Middle Ages were so chaotic and in need of hierarchy, that the myth was used to encourage people to submit to order and praise the noble values and the defense of women and the poor.

2. 19th-century revival

After being forgotten, there was a revival of the myth in the 19th century, with the Pre-Raphaelites, who felt nostalgia for the Middle Ages. John Water¬house, for instance, painted many works inspired by the Arthurian myth, such as The Lady of Shalott.

At a time of massive industrialisation in England, the Pre-Raphaelite movement rejected the modern world of factories and pollution, and found refuge in the art and legends of the past.

3. Nowadays

We may think that the myth of Arthur has become outdated, but actually it has been a source of inspiration for many films and series, each focusing on a different aspect of the legend.

The Monty Pythons made a parody to make fun of the legend, while John Boorman’s Excalibur is supposed to be a faithful transcription of Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. King Arthur (2004) aims at representing what things were really like, and indeed shows a 6th-century castle for the first time! It means that the legend is still speaking to us and echoes in today’s world.

Conclusion

To conclude, the myth of King Arthur is not outdated. He may be considered a modern-day hero, especially as the Knights of the Round Table are not perfect: There are betrayals, adultery, etc. which make the story universal.

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