Merlin Might be Human Too

I think that Merlin is one of the coolest guys in literature that hardly ever gets individual attention. I think that the Prose Merlin document written by Robert de Boron and compiled by Samuel N. Rosenburg presents him as a more interesting and clever person. I mean, he starts talking when he’s a baby and he manages to save his mother’s life from execution. That’s pretty awesome, right?
He’s part demon so he can see the past, but he’s also blessed by God so he can see the future. He is full of wisdom and it seems to be difficult to not be persuaded of his powers eventually. He manages to get into the good graces of two brothers, King Pendragon and his brother Uther (who will father Arthur). They rely on him completely because all of his predictions came true and his advice never does them wrong. When it comes time for the brothers to engage in a battle against the Saxons, they turn to Merlin for advice. The brothers ask Merlin how they will die (this seems to be everyone’s favorite question to ask Merlin, doesn’t it?), Merlin says that “nothing begins that does not come to an end, and no man should fear death if he receives it properly. Everyone living must realize that he will die, and you must realize that you will as well, and that neither nobility nor fortune can spare you from death” (Rosenburg 323). This is pretty deep, I think, because he’s basically telling them that death happens to everyone. But he says it so concisely and bluntly that it really gets the point across.

The only time I didn’t really like Merlin was in the story of Niviane the Huntress. Merlin is an old man at this time and he falls in love with a guest of King Arthur named Niviane. BUT…Niviane is fifteen. FIFTEEN. And Merlin is lusting after her because he knows that she’s a virgin and he wants to be her first. Niviane knows this and she has a really intense hatred for him that is so strong that she basically tricks him into teaching her magic. This ultimately makes her much stronger than Merlin because she manages to bewitch him and this leads to his downfall/death by being sealed in a tomb. But to me the irony is that for a long time Merlin was undisputedly the most powerful person alive and at the end someone else defeats him. And he’s defeated by not just anyone, but a much younger woman to boot. So needless to say, this was not Merlin’s best moment.

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Merlin (as I know him)

Okay, so we were talking in class about what Merlin means to us. Now,because I know all of you (probably) didn't have a father like mine who showed her movies like the original animated "Hobbit" and "The Tenth Kingdom" as a small child; you guys probably never saw this movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW7lYb9gRf4

(I would like to apologize for the quality of the video, it has been on youtube for six years now, so yes, it is old).

Anyways, this movie portrays Merlin's entire life. So his birth, growing up years, adulthood and old age. For the time it was made (1998-granted not THAT long ago, but that IS for those of you who just watched "Lord of the Rings" or "Pacific Rim") the effects are pretty cool. Or maybe this film just resonates with me because I was introduced to it at a young age. Either way, Merlin (Sam Neill-Doctor Grant from Jurassic Park) is NOT a crotchety old man in this one and he is NOT insane or a tree-loving hippie who runs into the woods when shit gets too heavy. Also it has some well known medieval tales thrown in there like Author and Guinevere, and  Queen Mab who is referenced in Shakespeare. So, maybe give it a watch, it won't kill you (it is only 2 minutes long and it has a great cast).

 Err... 1 out of 5

Merlin

Merlin is a very interesting guy. I felt bad for him in the beginning of the Geoffrey of Monmouth reading because he watched a bunch of his friends die, when just moments before they were alive and fighting. And when he wanted to go into the woods to live, his sister and her husband chained him up. That seems a little excessive to me. That being said, Merlin was kinda crazy.
His passion for the woods was a little bit odd. When he had his sister build him a house with seventy doors and seventy windows for the winter, it just showed how much he wanted to be in nature. I would never have thought of building a house with so many doors and windows to see outside, so I have to give him props for that, but it's still really weird.
One thing I did not like about Merlin was the way he treated his wife. When she was crying and begging him to stay, he simply said, "Sister I do not want a cow that pours out water in a broad fountain like the urn of the Virgin in summer-time." Kind of a jerk move, Merlin. But then he went on to say that if she gets remarried, he'll kill the man if he sees him. Is it just me, or does he not get that option since he just called his wife a crying cow?
I did enjoy his prophecy about the little boy his sister showed him. I bet his sister felt really dumb when it became true. I think the prophecy was the only thing I enjoyed about Merlin. Other than that, he's kind of a crazy, nature-loving, jerk of a hippie.

Margery Kempe

So that Margery Kempe character was pretty crazy huh? Screaming in church, having visions, talking to the Devil. If someone claimed to do that stuff today they would get a one way ticket to the loony bin. But if we were to look at how she acted and such in respect to the time, was she really all that crazy? We have read about a few other people, talking about mystics in particular, all of whom were from the same general time period. The period of religion being huge and playing a apart in almost every day to day activity, also teh time were magic is accepted to be real and evil. These other people also had some very crazy characteristics to them as well. Take just being an anchoress for example, they choose to live in a cell for probably about half of their life. If someone today just like asked to be put in jail, the concept would be so crazy to us we would make a movie about it.(Not thinking of any movie in particular) So there were a lot of crazy people back then, compared to our times perspective. But if they were all crazy back then, why was Margery Kempe actually considered crazy by people back then? Like everybody was crazy but this girl was just a bit more crazy and also crazy in different aspects, like wanting for her husband to die. All in all, every one was crazy so I don't feel like Margery was really as crazy as we think her to be. She was still crazy though, like really crazy.

Who is Merlin?

When you picture Merlin in your mind, what do you see?

Someone like this?

Or this?

Or, for lots of people now, someone more like this?

How do the two early stories of Merlin that we are reading compare to your expectations? Geoffrey of Monouth's Merlin dates from the 1130s and Robert de Boron's from around 1200. They are the foundation of all the many different versions of Merlin we have today, but many of my students notice the differences more than the similarities. How do these versions of Merlin surprise you?

I look forward to hearing what you all have to say about Merlin in your own posts and comments!

If you did not enjoy Merlin how about Geoffrey?

                  So I read about Geoffrey of Monmouth as well as his excerpts from vita Merlin. 

http://www.crystalinks.com/merlingirltol.jpg

         I just have to say, Merlin should have avoided war. It seems before he entered the war, he was a like able guy and enjoyed company. Though after the war, he did not even like crowds (4). Maybe it is just me but I think someone had PTSD. 

         I do not understand why his sister granted his wish and built him houses and anything else he asked for. Merlin ignored her request and still headed towards the woods. It was cute that Merlin invited her to visit his place once it was built (4). The fact that she fulfilled his wishes astonished me at first because I thought Merlin was not going to go back. Not only did Merlin stay in the house, his sister took him up on his offer and visited the place. Now does that not sound cute or what! He even "express[ed] his approval of [her]" (4). I enjoyed reading page 4 the most, mainly because of the sibling bonding that took place. 

         Now Geoffrey of Monmouth was a guy to read about. If you look him up, you will find blogs and articles all saying that there is little known about him. But everything I found about him portrayed Geoffrey as a remarkable man.

http://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/81/2c/812c028bdce4cdc6371626941514331414f6744.jpg

http://armstrong.chem.ox.ac.uk/OxfordCrest.gif

         On http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/geoffrey, Emily Huber will tell you Geoffrey was a clerk and teacher at Oxford University. He probably used his father's name, Arthur, until he got his own reputation. Kellea Croft's article, http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/geoffrey-of-monmouth-legend-maker-51616/, mentions that he was one of the bishops to sign the Treaty of Westminster. Geoffrey was appointed archdeacon of Llandsaff, he was consecrated as bishop of St. Asaph, and he was a secular Austin canon at St. George church. So pretty much, Geoffrey did not goof off. And if you think Geoffrey was not amazing already, Shakespeare's king of Lear was shaped from Geoffrey's writing, "History of the Kings of Britain" (Croft). This guy did some pretty incredible stuff throughout his life and I thought I would let you all know just a little about Geoffrey.

blog post # 3

My view on Margery Kempe of Norfolk

I really enjoyed reading about Margery Kempe of Norfolk. I think it was a great idea to have us read not only her history but also a few excerpts. Reading the four excerpts helped answer a few questions I got from the biography.

         How could she have been raised by such a good businessman but never taught how to read (Nelson 1). I feel like her father must have known this would hurt her future career. Which it obviously did limit her, Nelson even mentions on page 3 that her business failing could have been a result of her inability to read and write. Though I believe her business failed because she was more consumed in having babies than stabilizing and strengthening her business. 

         Another thing that really irritated me was how the confessor reacted to her confession (Nelson 2). As a confessor, you are suppose to help the sinner understand what they did wrong and help guide them back to God. What his guy did was F*** up (excuse my profanity). 

http://guyism.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/crazy-girl-YouTube.jpg

No wonder she went crazy, theres only so much a person can take before they crack. I mean look at Britney Spears, she went insane when the fame became too much. Did this confessor even get punished? I think he should have been punished, but I do wonder if this was all part of Gods plan for Margery. I highly doubt she would have gave herself to God and believed her visions were holy if these events did not happen. 

Hopefully all of you know about this girl, if not you need to look up “crazy girl on youtube, she’s Jenna Marbles but not as hot.

                         (Side note, I love how the author added comments like, " Hence, Jesus Christ dropped in one day for a chat. (Nelson 2)". We were all thinking it and at least his side comments were funny to read.)

         For some reason I cannot help but wonder why no one re-imprisoned her after she started to cry. In the fourth excerpts it said God started to send these visions to her at anytime and any place (Jokinen). I think in a sense having her visions come to her at any time made her look crazy but also strengthened her case that God was talking to her. WHAT SHOULD HAVE WEAKENED HER CASE was the fact that she practically paid her husband off. 

http://faithingeeks.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/fasting.jpg

She not only stopped fasting but she also paid her husbands debts (Jokinen). The third excerpt also mentioned how she wanted to give all of herself to God, how is that possible if she followed her compromise with her husband? How could she give herself to God if she had multiple kids, stayed married, and did not fast? She ignored God's request and kept on having sex, but she was still able to give herself to God... 

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

blog post # 2