I NEED HOMEWORK HELP! PLEASE!!?
Posted in Facebook on August 7th, 2010 by gadisCould u proofread my essay? it’s a compare and contrast and iv’e never wrote one and i want it to be kick A!?
btw i’m a sophmore so don’t expect it to be to amazing
COMPARING AND CONTRASTING SELECTIONS: LE MORTE D’ ARTHUR AND SUNDIATA
Le Morte d’ Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory is a tale written in the 15th century about a boy’s rise to King of all Britain, and the events and people that helped him get there; Sundiata, similarly, was a story about a strong and talented young boy becoming King of Mali in approximately 1230. Both boys, Arthur and Sundiata, went through a somewhat rough childhood. Arthur was taken from his mother the day he was born and given to another woman who raised him, who, even though raised him wonderfully, treated him as the lower of her two sons. Sundiata was a young prince that could not even walk properly, and because of this was subject to many malicious jokes. His mother treated him hideously, and because of this, he escaped to neighboring Ghana and grew up there. Once he was a man, he returned to Mali only to find that it had been taken over by the king of Sosso, Soumaoro. However, both Arthur and Sundiata are extremely different in some aspects. Once Arthur became King of Britain, he was very content to settle his court at Camelot and stay there with his knights, playing period games such as jousting and sword fighting. Sundiata, on the other hand, was concerned with rescuing his country and family from the tyrannous sorcerer. Sundiata was not worried with if his people thought he was chivalrous or valiant, all he wanted was for his kingdom to be safe and secure.
A hero is someone who gives up everything that is of any value to save someone else from anything that might be harmful. Sir Lancelot was a hero in the way that he saved sixty-four prisoners because of his victory over Sir Tarquine, as well as the many other perilous endeavors he endured. However, Sir Lancelot did those things not out of pure love and a willingness to help another human being, but he did those things so that he would be remembered for the rest of time. Sir Lancelot wanted to be known as the daring and audacious knight that fought with the most terrifying of knights, and saved any damsel who was in distress. Sundiata, on the other hand, did not care about his name being written in the history books. Sundiata felt that it was his responsibility to conquer the cruel sorcerer Soumaoro, who had taken over his country. Soumaoro had also captured Balla Fasséké, Sundiata’s griot (at a time when the people of Mali could not read or write, the griot was a sort of living history book who recalled for the court the great deeds of the past and recited the country’s tradition and laws), as well as Sundiata’s half-sister, Nana Triban. Sundiata was prepared to surrender whatever it took to liberate his country and save his half-sister and griot, even at his own expense. Between Sir Lancelot and Sundiata, Sundiata is more of a hero than Sir Lancelot is. Sundiata did not wage war on the evil sorcerer to gain anything for himself; all he sought after was for his family and country to be out of harm’s way. Both men had strong qualities of strength and kindness, even though Sir Lancelot did those valiant things for the wrong reasons; he was still chivalrous and charming all the same.
In the terms of magic, both stories have an abundance of magic woven through the plot. In the legend of Sundiata, magic shows itself first in the form of soothsayers telling Sundiata to sacrifice a hundred white bulls, a hundred white rams, and a hundred white cocks in order to defeat Soumaoro’s plentiful magical powers. The second time the reader sees magic is when Nana Triban is informing Sundiata of when she flattered Soumaoro into telling her which jinn, or genie, protects him and gives his arm the “strength of ten arms”. She then goes on to explain that Soumaoro took her into his magic chamber and told her everything. However, in Le Morte d’ Arthur magic is the platform upon which the entire plot is written. One of the main characters, who while not necessarily being in the lime light of the story controls most of the plot, is Merlin. Throughout the story, Merlin is always in the right position at the correct moment, waiting to turn things the way he wants them. One tiny example of magic in Le Morte d’ Arthur is how Merlin arranged for King Uther to masquerade as the Duke of Tintagil so as to deceive Lady Igraine into conceiving Arthur with him. There is another place where magic is seen, and that is when Morgan le Fey, Queen of Gore, and her companions the queens of north Galys, of Estelonde, and of the Outer Isles see Sir Lancelot and each wants him for her own. Morgan le Fey then casts a spell over Sir Lancelot so that he remains asleep while they take him to her castle and make him their prisoner. The Queens then obliged him to take one of them as his mistress, or he could stay in the cell where they held him prisoner.
The courageous exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, compared to the astonishing things that Kamara and Kamandjan did, were more dangerous, violent, and gallant. Kamara and Kamandjan performed amazing things to give Sundiata’s troops hope. King Arthur’s knights, however, saved many people from the dangers and perils of which were abundantly present during King Arthur’s age. The feats of Kamara and Kamandjan, on the other hand, were completely unrealistic. Kamara bore down on a great mahogany tree and with one stroke of his sword, split the giant tree in two; this amazing action is somewhat realistic. However, Kamandjan pierced a tunnel through the Mountain of Sibi, which is completely and utterly unrealistic. The Knights of the Roundtable’s exploits were realistic, but the ways they did them were not. One example of this is when Sir Lancelot defeated the second giant at the castle of Tintagil; Sir Lancelot “drew abreast of the giant and struck him on the shoulder with a blow that
carried through to the navel, and the giant dropped dead.” That is impossible. The relationships between men and women vary strongly in the two tales. In Le Morte d’ Arthur, the women were most often the damsels in distress, whom the strong and valiant knights had the opportunity save and appear dashing and chivalrous. On the other hand, in Sundiata Nana Triban played a very strong role in which she deceived the evil sorcerer and saved herself and Balla Fasséké from the sorcerer’s hold. Nana Triban was a woman that the king looked up too, not necessarily because he could save her and receive glory, but because she was a strong woman whom he was proud to be related to.
Most of the pictures in Le Morte d’ Arthur are paintings, while most of the pictures in Sundiata are pictures of sculptures from the era from whence it was wrote. The paintings of Le Morte d’ Arthur romanticize the era of King Arthur with beautiful and graceful horses, strong and dashing men, and pale and lovely women.
The sculptures of Sundiata have more to do with war; the two sculptures included in the story depict a sofa (a soldier or warrior). Both strong and courageous, these sculptures tell the reader about the history of Mali. The strength and determination it took to survive, to keep their history alive, and not to let themselves be occupied by another country. While pictures from both stories represent the theme and feeling of the story, the beautiful paintings in Le Morte d’ Arthur do a much better job of helping the reader understand what Sir Thomas Malory is trying portray. While these paintings portray an image of 15th century Britain that is perhaps not wholly correct, they are a beautiful interpretation of Le Morte d’ Arthur in all of its grandeur.
Le Morte d’ Arthur and Sundiata are both stories about boys turning into men, good against evil, and they both portray human nature at its finest. Arthur and Sundiata are very similar, their rise to the top of the social ladder, how the
were treated as young boys, and how they were nearly nothing before they became kings. However, they are also very dissimilar; for example, their morals, their outlook on life, and the basis of their character are entirely different. Arthur and his Knights are more heroic and brave, and Sundiata is more focused on getting things done. The women of both stories played rather large roles, either as strong characters, as in Sundiata, or characters who were their purely to be saved, as in Le Morte d’ Arthur. Magic was rather abundant, as both stories based on soothsayers, evil sorcerers, nice wizards, prophesies, and enchantments. Magic is seen more in Le Morte d’ Arthur than in Sundiata purely because one of the main characters is a wizard. Both stories are fantastic stories that keeps and holds the reader’s attention, with dramatic battles and amazing events that are flabbergasting.
if you’ve made it this far, i literaly love you! THANK YOU!
