LIT 251
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Margery Kempe and Sir Thomas Malory

By a generation (Margery Kempe) or two (Sir Thomas Malory) after Chaucer, the memory of the Peasants' Revolt had faded.  And yet, people were still disatisfied with the way that society was functioning, and perhaps as a result, a civil war had developed over the throne between two branches of the royal family – the Wars of the Roses.  For today, we're reading two people on the margins of mid 15th-century England – Margery Kempe (who is a woman with, according to her own testimony, a direct pipeline to God) and Sir Thomas Malory (who is an imprisoned knight fighting on the losing side of the Wars of the Roses).

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. What, according to Margery Kempe, is wrong with the world?  Margery is very critical of her society.  What does she see as the chief root of its ills?  Why does her society react so negatively to her?  Why is she so threatening to it?  What social principles does she violate or challenge?  What is it about Margery Kempe's spirituality that might be perceived as a threat to accepted norms of religion and spiritual life?  What is it about Margery Kempe's choices in life that might be perceived as a threat to male dominance in her society?  What is it about Margery Kempe's ideas and example that might be perceived as a threat to the social institution of marriage?
2. What is wrong with Arthur's court in Malory?  The court is disintegrating into chaos and violence.  What is causing that disintegration?  Who are the villains?  Who are the tragic heroes?  What can we conclude about Malory's values from his depiction of his villains and heroes?  What does Malory admire and condemn?  How do his values reflect on his society?  How does Malory feel about his own time period?  How might he be criticizing or challenging the values of his time?

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