So You Wanna Be a Knight

(This was also written for my Britlit class)

Knighthood conjures up many images: the victorious champion at a tournament; the strong warrior defending the common serf; the pious Christian fighting for the Holy Land; the gallant gentleman courting the gentle lady; and the resolved youth setting out in search of the Holy Grail. Knights are the elite, the uncommon, those set apart from the ordinary and average. If you truly want to be a knight, you have a lot to live up to.

First, you need a horse. No knight is complete without a horse. The horse distinguishes you in battle from the common foot soldier. And you'll need armor, of course. Those tournaments can be brutal, and good armor can mean the difference between death and bruised ribs. Choose your weapons wisely: inferior lances shatter on a whim, and shoddy swords snap at the most inconvenient times. If you want to be a good knight, you must be properly equipped.

There is, however, a side of knighthood that is far more important than shiny metal plates and sharpened wooden sticks. There are certain moral, ethical, and spiritual standards you must meet. Being a knight is not all fun and games, but you must never shirk from your duty. Whatever your leige lord instructs you to do, do it without murmuring. You must stay loyal to your country and true to your king. You must defend those weaker than yourself. Keep your temper, even when churlish louts insult you for no good reason.

Be confident in your strength, but do not exalt yourself above the One who gives you that strength. He can just as easily take it away. Trust always in Christ, and give him honor in all that you do. You may find it helpful to paint a picture of the Queen of Heaven on the inside of your shield. This will inspire you in battle, and your valor will not fail you. Be ever virtuous and of pure character. Be willing to fight for your faith, even if it takes you to foreign lands you don't have any interest in. Don't give anyone reason to speak ill of you. Be honest: if your host's wife gives you a girdle, give it back. And if you make a mistake, 'fess up. It's more likely that you'll have an Order of Knighthood established for you if you come clean.

Cleanliness is next to godliness. No damsel in distress is looking for a knight in dimsal, shabby armor. Keep yourself tidy and your equipment in good repair. Take care of your horse: he's more than a beast of burden, he is your status symbol. And riding beats walking, hands down. Always be courteous with the ladies, no matter how annoying they may be. You never know if they're a sorceress in disguise, just waiting for the chance to make you mute or turn you into a dwarf. Be courteous to even the lowliest of the servants, for they might have access to your food and prepare a nasty surprise. Be compassionate with all men, and do your best to be compassionate with the women.

It's a good deal to live up to, I know, but if Sir Lancelot can do it, you certainly can.

The Quest-ion

(This was written for my Britlit class.)

A search. A pursuit. A goal-oriented journey. A mission to restore that which has been lost. An adventure. Quests were common, expected, and approved. Knights of all ranks engaged in them. They were physical endeavors to right wrongs or to retrieve ancient and mystical artifacts. Yet the denotation of a quest only begins to scratch the surface, for when it comes to Arthurian knights and their quests, nothing is as it appears.
Quests could be ordered, could be given, could be searched for, or could be stumbled upon. There is no set formula for how a quest should start, and even less for how a quest should end. Quests set those who were knights in every sense of the word apart from those who wanted to be knights. They were marks of chivalrous and dutiful knights, though I suspect that, more often than not, knights were sent on quests to get them out of the king's hair. But true quests were never limited to the initial appearance.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a courtly holiday feast is interrupted by a knight who wants to play blow-for-blow with Arthur, and Sir Gawain takes the king's place. The quest that Gawain has stumbled upon seems simple enough at the onset: in a year, find the Green Knight and receive his return blow. When all is said and done, however, we discover that there was much more to the deceptively simple quest than having Gawain's head chopped off in return. Gawain's integrity was tested by the matter of the girdle, and he discovered that he had been found wanting. This quest revealed this and allowed Gawain to rectify it.
The knight from Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale" is ordered on his quest as a means of escape of the punishment he deserved. What was missing was his understanding of and respect for women, and the queen intended to see that restored. He talked with many women before, as a final effort to save his life, he spoke with the old, aged woman who shared with him the secret in exchange for his pledge to marry her. Even when he shared the secret with the court and was declared successful, his quest wasn't over. He had the knowledge, but he did not yet know how to use it. It is not until he gives his wife the choice of appearance that his quest has truly been completed.
Quests have always managed to reveal a weakness within the character of the quester. Rarely, however, does the quest provide no way to make amends. When the quest has been brought to its final conclusion, it is as if two quests have been unconsciously completed simultaneously: the quest to restore that which was missing in the physical realm, and the quest to restore that which was missing within the knight.