Medieval Studies Commons^™

Masculine Devotion And Moral Decay: The Paradox Of Chivalry In Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Julia Annunziato

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis investigates how, within Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, the concept of chivalry as a literary construct is misunderstood and misrepresented by the knights who attempt to uphold it. Through a close reading of Le Morte, this paper concludes that Malory presents chivalry not as a coherent moral code, but as a paradoxical system that both promotes and undermines the values it claims to uphold. While chivalry is typically meant to emphasize honor, loyalty, and spiritual devotion, Malory’s narrative reveals how these ideals are compromised by structures of masculine competition, performative identity, homosocial desire, and corrupted …

Knighthood In The Wilderness: Ecocritical Readings Of Nature And Chivalry In The World Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Dajana Memko

Theses and Dissertations

Many interpretations of the Green Knight portray him as a personification of nature or as nature’s embodiment. Ecocriticism, however, challenges a more anthropocentric approach, calling into question deeply ingrained ideals of chivalry and human dominion over nature. The Green Knight is a hybrid creature whose striking features mark his otherness; yet, through his familiarity, he challenges the knight of Camelot and asks them to consider their chivalric identities as well as the nature of their Trojan ancestry and legacy. Among them, Gawain is forced to confront his identity as he ventures into the wilderness of Wirral, and his interactions with …

Tolkien, "The Battle Of Maldon," And "The Homecoming Of Beorhtnoth": Poetic Allusions And The Experience Of Time, Anna Smol

Journal of Tolkien Research

J.R.R. Tolkien’s alliterative verse play, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’ s Son,” is his critical and creative response to the Old English poem “The Battle of Maldon.” Tracing his influence on “Maldon” criticism through his “Ofermod” essay, which posits a continuum of alliterative poems dealing with the nature of heroism, from Beowulf to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the discussion then turns to how Tolkien can claim a place in that tradition and how critics have applied his ideas about war and heroism to some of his other works, especially The Lord of the Rings. An analysis …

Chaucer’S Contradictory Representations Of Fourteenth Century Knighthood In The Canterbury Tales, Nicholas Cabrera

Theses and Dissertations

Differences in interpretation have long dominated scholarship regarding knighthood in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. But these differences fail to consider the nuance of the text and the historical realities of the period in which Chaucer wrote. Chaucer’s depiction of knighthood represents the institution as filled with tensions and contradictions.

Evolving Identity: Hellenistic Greece Vs. Arthurian Legend, Irene A. Bougatsos

Publications and Research

This paper for a capstone class delves into two iconic figures from contrasting time periods. While Sir Gawain and Alexander the Great are two literary figures separated by several centuries, the theme of identity is present in the stories of The Greek Alexander Romance and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. How identity fluctuates is what this paper strives to answer.

The Failure Of Chivalry, Courtesy, And Knighthood Post-Wwi As Represented In David Jones’S In Parenthesis, Taylor L. Hubbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes David Jones’s In Parenthesis to demonstrate the failed notion of chivalry, courtesy, and knighthood in modernity during and after the war. Jones’s semi-autobiographical prose poem recounting his experiences of WWI was published in 1937, nineteen years after the war ended. Jones applied the concepts of chivalry, courtesy, and knighthood to his experiences during WWI through In Parenthesis. Jones used these concepts, which originated in the classical period and the Middle Ages, to demonstrate how they have changed over time, especially given the events of WWI. The best way for Jones to demonstrate the impact of WWI …

Ofermod And Aristocratic Chivalry In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Amber Dunai

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper explores connections between J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1953 Essays and Studies publication The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son and representations of ofermod and aristocratic “chivalry” in The Lord of the Rings. Focusing on the motivations and leadership-related decisions of Denethor and Faramir in The Lord of the Rings, this paper argues that Faramir's behavior and motivations, despite Denethor’s implications to the contrary, cannot be described in terms of ofermod regardless of the risk that his choice to reject the Ring appears to pose to Gondor. By contrast, Denethor and his son Boromir represent the pride-motivated decision-making and rash …

Untitled: Deconstruction And Reconstruction Of Identity In Le Chevalier De La Charrette And The Romance Of Tristran, Devin Louise Moulton

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Questions of identity are a central source of tension within the genre of the chivalric romances. Even among the large collective that is King Arthur’s court, innumerable romances recount the tales of individual knights in search of individual glory and of some way to distinguish their names among the masses of the court and the group of knights across chivalric traditions while simultaneously bound by the confines of that same group and its structures. For most, such a feat is impossible and many knights, though they may earn a name in the course of a single romance, never truly break …

Riders, Chivalry, And Knighthood In Tolkien, Thomas Honegger

Journal of Tolkien Research

Abstract

This essay is a much extended version of the paper I gave at the IMC Leeds on 5 July 2017. It examines Tolkien’s complex attitude towards the concept(s) of chivalry and knighthood. A close reading analysis of relevant key passages from The Lord of the Rings is combined with an examination of his statements on chivalry in his scholarly works. Tolkien’s views are then related to the scholarly discourse on the key elements of chivalry, which allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of why Tolkien depicts the representatives of chivalry/knighthood in The Lord of the Rings the …

Flawed Knighthood And Kingship In The Medieval Literary Tradition, Leta Bressin

Theses & Honors Papers

Throughout the corpus of medieval literature, especially fourteenth-century romance, chivalry plays a significant role as a social construct for gauging both successful and disastrous kingship. For kings like Henry II, Richard I, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, and Edward IV, the literature of the time offers insights on the difficulties of chivalry and kingship in representation and practice. Production of vernacular chivalric romance literature evolved considerably in the thirteenth and fourteenth-centuries in England. Geoffrey Chaucer’s fourteenth-century Knight’s Tale, and the anonymous Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthure offer a stinging critique of chivalry potentially aimed at Richard II, …

Mirrored Images: The Passion And The First Crusade In A Fourteenth-Century Parisian Illuminated Manuscript (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale De France, Ms Fr. 352), Susanna A. Throop

History Faculty Publications

This lavish mid-fourteenth-century Parisian illuminated manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 352) combines a description of the Holy Land with an abridged version of the history and continuations of William of Tyre in Old French known as the Eracles. It is both visually familiar to scholars and under-studied. Several of its Gothic panel miniatures, especially folio 62r, the conquest of Jerusalem, have been published more than once, yet the manuscript's illumination programme as a whole has not been assessed since Jaroslav Folda's 1968 doctoral dissertation. Analysis of folio 62r in the context of both the full illumination …

The Unbought Grace Of Life: Chivalry In Western Literature, Richard N. Boggs

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The code of chivalry has a rich literary history. From the violence and misogyny of pre-chivalric ancient Greece and Rome, the chivalric code was constructed in a deliberate effort to curb and improve the most violent aspects of male behavior. The chivalric male ideal was built upon the tripartite foundation of the ancient archaic virtues, the gallantry of Germanic barbarians, and the Christian beatitudes. Chivalry sought a male ideal which brought raw strength and power under the concept of legitimate authority. By casting the literary male ideal – the knight – into the role of the defender of the weak …

The Study Of Chivalry: Resources And Approaches, Howell Chickering, Thomas H. Seiler

TEAMS Varia

In a series of essays readers will find information about modern scholarship on the subject of chivalry and various suggestions for ways to teach some familiar and unfamiliar chivalric materials. Short bibliographies are provided for teachers' further use.