Lesson video

Hi, welcome to today's English lesson.

This is the second lesson in the Canterbury Tales, "The Knight's Tale" series.

And today we're going to be looking at the introduction to the "Knight's Tale" itself.

For today's lesson you're going to need something to write on and something to right with.

So if you want to take a moment to pause the video and go and find those things, then you'll do that in a second.

Can I also suggest you take this opportunity to blank out any apps or notifications you might have running in the background that might interrupt your focus during the lesson? If you'd like to pause the video now, then that'd be great.

All done? Brilliant.

Then let's begin.

A brief recap for those of you who might not have seen the earlier lessons in the series.

The Canterbury Tales is an epic poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the middle ages.

It's the story of a group of pilgrims on their journey from the Tabard in Southwark London to visit a shrine of Thomas a Beckett, at Canterbury Cathedral.

Let's start on "The Knight's Tale".

The first tale told in the competition is "The Knight's Tale".

The pilgrims decided to draw straws to see who is going to tell the first tale.

The night draws the short straw.

And so he is the one to tell the first tale, okay.

Early chance for us to check that you've been paying attention now.

Pause the video in a second, and I want you to copy out and complete the sentences below by filling in the gaps.

There are three sentences.

Each of them with two gaps that need to be filled in the first and all last letters are included to help you along the way.

Pause the video now.

Let's see how you get on.

Fantastic effort.

So let's see how that went.

Sentence one then, the Canterbury Tales is an epic poem about pilgrims on a journey to Canterbury.

Well done if you got that one, right.

Number two then, on the journey the pilgrims hold a storytelling competition.

So it's something to keep them entertained along the way.

They're going to tell stories to each other.

Sentence three, the Knight draws the short straw, and so goes first.

Drawing straws was an old way of finding out who would be the loser in a particular competition, and would have to do something that the others didn't want to do.

In this case, it was going first and being the one to embarrass themselves with their first story.

And that person is the Knight.

Before we move on to look at "The Knight's Tale" itself we're first introduced to the Knight as a person in Chaucer's general prologue.

The general prologue is a short introduction describing how each of the pilgrims behaves and what they're like as a person.

A knight there was and he a worthy man who from the moment that he first began to ride about the world, loved chivalry, truth, honour freedom and all courtesy.

And always won he sovereign family for prize, though so illustrious, he was very wise.

In Chaucer's general prologue the Knight is described as the most noble member of the party.

He's won glory in many great battles but he's always humble in his behaviour and in the way that he dresses There's a fair amount of new language there.

So let's take a little bit of a look in that in depth.

The word chivalry, chivalry is the code of behaviour that knight's follow.

It's the way that they dictate the actions that they should give.

The Knight behaved in a chivalrous way when he fought bravely for his Lord.

He follows the code of chivalry.

The Knights to follow the chivalric code prize religion glory, and honouring women above all else.

These are three important key aspects to bear in mind when we're discussing chivalry, religion, glory and honouring women.

What that means is that the Knights who follow the chivalric code would prize doing something for their religion for their God or gods above all else.

They would also prize glory, winning a battle in an honourable way and doing service to their Lord, whoever that might be, also above all else.

And that third element honouring women making sure that there at all times were behaving in an honourable way towards women, whether that be somebody that they knew, part of their family, or indeed just someone who was a stranger, as well establish later as we start the story from "The Knight's Tale".

Another new word that we've just been introduced to there is the word noble.

To be noble is to have high moral standards of behaviour.

The Knight behave nobly when he allowed his opponent to rest before they fought.

To be noble was one of those really important aspects of the chivalric code.

Knights always tried to behave in a noble way.

The Knight in "The Knight's Tale" is also described as being humble.

To be humble means to not show off, no matter how good you may be at something.

Despite his fame and fortune the night dressed in humble clothing.

It's really about being a good winner.

Doesn't matter how great you are at something, to be humble means that you don't show off about it.

And you accept those gifts that you've been given.

Chance to test your learning now.

In a moment I'm going to ask you to pause the video and there are four true or false statements.

For each statement the answer will be true, or it will be false.

Feel free to write down a T or a F for example rather than writing out the whole sentence A, the Knight tells his tale first because he lost a competition.

Is it true or is it false? B, the Knight boasts about how strong he is, true or false? C, the Knight is described as being wise.

Is that true or is that false.

And finally D, the Knight is described as a dishonourable liar, is it true or is it false? Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay.

Let's see how you got on.

As you can see, A, the Knight tells us his his tale first because he lost a competition.

It's true.

The Knight drew the short straw, and so he had to tell his tale first.

B the Knight boasts about how strong he is certainly false.

He's a humble man who doesn't boast about how great he is despite the fact a that he's a fantastic warrior.

C, the Knight is described as being wise.

True, he's described as being humble and wise by Chaucer in the general prologue.

D, the Knight is described as a dishonourable liar.

Well, that's certainly false.

He's an honourable and noble man who certainly wouldn't lie.

It would go against the chivalry code.

Hopefully you did quite well on that one.

If you got all four correct then fantastic.

Give yourself a round of applause.

If you didn't it might be worth looking back over the learning we've done so far and just refreshing your memory about some of those answers.

Okay, on to "The Knight's Tale" itself now.

And an introduction to "The Knight's Tale" we found out a little bit of information about where the tale is set and what's going to happen within it.

"The Knight's Tale" takes place in Ancient Greece.

The story beings with a description of Duke Theseus.

You might remember that name from some of your earlier lessons on mythology.

Duke Theseus of Athens is returning home from a war in a place called Scythia.

During this war Theseus captures the Queen of Scythia, Hippolyta.

The two fall madly in love and return to Athens to be married.

With them comes Hyppolyta's beautiful sister Emily.

She'll become very important later.

So keep an eye out.

On the way home Theseus' party comes across a group of crying women dressed all in black.

That right upon the road, as suppliants do, a company of ladies two by two, knelt all in black before his cavalcade.

But such a clamorous cry of woe they made that in the whole world living man had heard no such a lamentation, on my word.

Now this is the introduction from Chaucer's modern interpretation, or modern version of the original Canterbury Tales, "The Knight's Tale".

We might be able to see here from earlier lessons some of the iambic pentameter, the paired groups, the pairs of syllables being used together, five of those together to make an iambic pentameter line.

You're probably are also seeing the paired end line rhymes, or heroic couplets, as they're referred to.

If you missed that and didn't know what we're talking about there then it might be worth going back and looking at lesson one in the series where we discuss iambic pentameter and heroic couplets in more detail.

Back to the story.

The crying women who stopped Theseus explained that King Creon of Thebes, which is another place in ancient Greece, has killed their husbands in battle, but refuses to give back their bodies for burial.

This is an example of unchivalric behaviour.

As a man of great chivalry Theseus offers to help the women.

He rides immediately to fight Creon.

Okay, time for a multiple choice question now to check your learning.

I'm going to give you four options in a second and read each one out to you.

Once I've done that I'd like you to pause the video and to decide which one is the correct answer.

Which of these is an example of chivalry.

Is it option one, Theseus immediately riding to help the crying women? Is it option two, Theseus capturing Queen Hippolyta in battle? Option three, Creon refusing to return the bodies of the men he killed.

Or option four, Theseus marrying Hippolyta after he had captured her in battle.

Pause the video now and make your decision.

Fantastic effort.

Let's have a look how you've done.

So we ask the question which of these is an example of chivalry.

And it is of course option one, Theseus immediately riding to help the crying women.

So some women had asked for his help and as a chivalric hero, someone who honours women above all else, he immediately goes to their aid and decides to fight King Creon of Thebes.

As we've previously looked at, one of the key aspects of chivalry is respect for women and honouring women.

Theseus shows this by turning around immediately and heading off to battle with King Creon of Thebes.

The image of red Mars with spear and shield so shone upon his banner's snow which field.

It made a billowing glitter up and down and by the banner born was his pennon.

In which in beaten gold was worked complete the Minotaur, which he had slain in Crete.

I'm sure you can imagine what a terrifying sight it must have been for Creon seeing Theseus spilling over the top of the hill with, as we said, a spear and shield in his hand, looking like mighty God of War Mars and on his banner a snow white field, and on the front of it having a picture of the Minotaur, which you might remember from your Greek mythology lessons was the creature, the monster which he slew within the Labyrinth.

Interestingly, although the tale is set in Ancient Greece featuring Greek mythological figures like Duke Theseus and the Minotaur being mentioned, the Knight mentions Roman guards in his tale, such as Mars, the Roman God of War.

This could be because Chaucer was emphasising that the Knight is well travelled and he's drawing lots of ideas from lots of different cultures during his tale.

Another chance to check your learning now then.

Another four options.

One of them is correct.

I'd like you to pause the video in a moment after I've read them out to you and decide which one is the correct answer.

So the question is, what happened to King Creon of Thebes? Is it option one, Theseus forced him to give back the bodies of the dead men? Is it option two, Theseus fought him in open battle and killed him? Is it option three, Theseus made him apologise to the women? Or is it option four, Theseus sent the Minosaur to attack Creon? Pause the video now and decide which one's your answer.

Let's have a look how you got on.

It was of course option two.

Theseus fought King Creon in open battle and killed him.

Okay, let's take a moment to check our knowledge of the story so far.

In the beginning we're introduced to the chivalric Duke Theseus.

Theseus captures Hyppolyta, Queen of Scythia.

The two fall in love and return to Athens to be married.

On the way they meet women in mourning, meaning women who were crying for someone who is dead.

Theseus vows to help the women and rides immediately to battle Creon, who he slays in open combat.

So on with the tale, thus rode this duke, thud rode this conqueror and in his host of chivalry the flower until he came to Thebes and did alight full in the field where he'd intent to fight.

But to be brief in telling of this thing, with Creon, who is THebes' dread lord and king.

He fought and slew him manfully like knight in open way and put his host to flight.

What we see here is Chaucer's emphases on just how chivalrous Theseus is.

Not only has he done exactly as the mourning women asked and immediately gone off to fight Creon, but he also fights him in open combat.

He risks the chance of Creon, who is also an incredible warrior, a dread lord and king, he risks the chance of Creon being able to kill him in order to be chivalrous to these women.

However, he fights Creon and slays him manfully like a knight in open combat and his host, Creon's host, rest of his army see what a fantastic warrior Theseus is.

They turn and they run away.

So Theseus no longer has to fight the rest of his army.

All right, you've worked ever so hard.

Let's move on to our main task now.

In a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video and complete the exercise on the next slide.

There'll be two sentence openings and I'd like you to expand those sentences in your own writing.

Let's make a start.

So, in a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video and write out the two sentence openings and then expand them using your knowledge using what you've learned so far this lesson.

Sentence one, chivalry is.

I'd like you to expand that to explain what you understand by chivalry from what you've learned so far this lesson.

Sentence two, chivalry can be seen in "The Knight's Tale" when? I'd like you to expand that sentence using your knowledge of where chivalry can be seen in "The Knight's Tale", perhaps through actions of some of the main characters.

If you're unsure of any of these answers feel free to go back in the video and see if that can refresh your memory.

Pause the video now and complete those sentences.

Okay, hopefully you've managed to get on with those.

Let's have a look at how you've done.

Sentence one, chivalry is.

Chivalry is when a Knight acts in an honourable way.

This could have been that you put.

It's a perfectly acceptable answer.

However you could have developed that answer further to chivalry is when a Knight follows the chivalric code and prizes religion, glory, and honouring women above all else.

The reason that this is a stronger answer is because it references directly the key aspects, the key three elements of the chivalric code, religion, glory, and honouring women above all else.

Remember, you might not have written exactly what these answers say, and that's absolutely fine.

But as long as there are common words and similar meanings that means you've understood the process very well.

Let's have a look at sentence two.

Chivalry can be seen in "The Knight's Tale" when? Theseus goes to fight Creon to honour the mourning women.

Again, this is a perfectly legitimate answer.

Theseus does go to fight Creon to honour the mourning women and that is a good example of chivalry.

However, we could have developed this answer further.

Chivalry can be seen in "The Knight's Tale" when Theseus honours the mourning women by immediately challenging Creon in open battle.

And the reason this is a more developed answer is because it not only references the mourning women, but it also develops the fact that he did it immediately, meaning he honoured them above even his own comfort.

And at the same time he also showed his noble nature by not just fighting Creon, but by fighting him in a fair open battle.

He gave Creon a chance to defeat him if he was able.

If you've got either of those with similar key words and a similar meaning then you've done a fantastic effort.

Really well done.

Okay, a huge well done.

You've made it to the end of our second lesson in The Canterbury Tales, "A Knight's Tale" series.

You've done fantastically well and you've achieved an awful lot during that lesson.

It wasn't easy.

I'd like you to do a couple of things before you leave.

When this video ends I'd like you to go back through your notes that you've made during the video and find the three things that you think are the most important from the session.

It could be anything that you've decided.

It might be key words you've learned, or key elements about plot.

But jot down those three things and try to come back to them and remember them for the next session.

The second thing that you could do is ask a parent or carer to share any work that you've done by taking a photograph of it and sending that to your teacher.

I know they'd love to see what a brilliant job you're doing.

You could also attach that same photograph and get your parent or carer to upload it to our Twitter site at @oaknational with the hashtag #LearnWithOak.

And I would love to see what a fantastic job you're going as well.

Hope to see you again in our third lesson in the series.

Until then, thank you and well done.