A YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT

1-WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL? 

Find more information and complete this biography:

Mark Twain was the pseudonym of Samuel L. Clements, who was born in the tiny town of Florida, Missouri, in 1835. His father died when he was 12, and he was apprenticed to a printer at the Hannibal Courier.He left home early and made his living as a typesetter in several towns.

His literary career began in earnest with The Innocents Abroad in 1868. He wrote many successful novels during the next two decades, including Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn(1884). The work A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court was eventually published in 1889.

2- THE STORY:

A-Read the summary of our version of A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

Hank Morgan is a 21st-century student who lives in New York. One day, while he is in class, he gets hit on the head and finds himself transported back to England’s Medieval Ages.

There he meets Mordred, the King’s nephew, who thinks that Hank is a wizard and wants to kill him. However, when he arrives at the castle, Princess Sarah saves his life.

After that, Hank gets to know King Arthur and becomes Sir Boss, Knight of the Round Table, and Prime Minister. Then with the help of technological advances, he helps save the Kingdom from the evil Mordred and can then return to New York.

B-Now, read the summary of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).

Hank Morgan has a particular aptitude for making and inventing mechanical things. He is from Connecticut, where he works as head superintendent in a munitions factory. One night, in a fight with one of the factory workers he gets hit on the head and he awakes in Camelot in the year 528.

Morgan uses his knowledge of a solar eclipse that year both to escape execution and to achieve status as King Arthur’s ‘perpetual minister and executive’. He chooses Clarence to be his assistant and together they set out to modernise the kingdom. Morgan makes it clear that his goal is business, not altruism: he quickly becomes known as ‘The Boss’.

He introduces gunpowder, schools, the telegraph and telephone, soap, advertising, the sewing machine, a newspaper, the phonograph, the typewriter, steamships, baseball, electric lights and Bessemer steel.

Morgan has a series of adventures as he travels through England, first with Demoiselle Alisande la Carteloise, whom he nicknames Sandy; and later with King Arthur himself. Twain uses the opportunity to describe horrible poverty, brutal cruelty, and the dignity with which the common people endure them.

After a few years Morgan, now a family man, is tricked into taking his wife and daughter to France. Suspicious, he returns to England secretly to discover that the Round Table has been torn apart by internal fighting. Morgan, Clarence, and 52 young men, the only ones loyal to him, hide in Merlin’s Cave, which is fortified with electric fences and Gatling guns. They successfully defend themselves against the assault of the knights but find themselves trapped in their fort. They can’t leave safely, and they can’t stay amid the bodies and disease. The conquerors, Twain writes, became the conquered.

A dying knight stabs The Boss. Merlin, disguised as an old woman, pretends to dress his wound. Instead he casts a spell which will cause him to sleep 13 centuries. The narrator seeks out the stranger and finds him delirious, dreaming of Sandy and Camelot, and dying.

WHAT DIFFERENCES CAN YOU SEE BETWEEN THESE TWO VERSIONS?

3-WORKING IN PAIRS, DEFINE THE FOLLOWING WORDS FROM THE PLAY:

1. NEPHEW
2. KNIGHT
3. WARRIOR
4. TIDY
5. WHISTLE
6. FIGHTING
7. DIZZY
8. BE  HUNG
9. DISLOYALTY
10. WIZARD
11. KIDDING
12. STAKE
13. KINGDOM
14. GEAR
15. BLANKET
16. FAINT
17. THRILLED
18. TRAITOR
19. PLEBEIANS
20. CAVALIER
21. SLANG
22. GET RID OFF
23. SORCERY
24. BANGED
25. KNOCKED OUT

4-MERLIN:

One of the most fascinating figures in Welsh mythology and Arthurian legend is Merlin, the great wizard, prophet and adviser to several kings, including King Arthur. Here is some information about the wizard: http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/merlin.html.

5-THE KINGDOM OF CAMELOT.

Here’s a map of the Kingdom of Camelot. Explain what your life would be like in it. If you need to, search for information online.

6-WRITE A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE PLAY.

7-WRITE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH CHARACTER:.

1. Hank:
2. Princess Sarah:
3. King Arthur:
4. Merlin:

8-READ THE ARTICLES AT THESE LINKS AND WRITE THREE QUESTIONS. THEN SWAP THEM WITH YOUR PARTNER AND ANSWER THEM.

http://www.quest4camelot.com/legend/history.html

http://www.caerleon.net/history/arthur/page12.htm

9-IMAGINE.

 Some people dream of ‘time travelling’ to witness a historic event. Others just want to satisfy their imaginations. Name two places in the past and in the future where you would most like to ‘time travel’:

In the past:

In the future:

10-SAXON GENITIVE:

 Write three sentences about the play using the Saxon genitive. For example: How can I tell the King his nephew’s plans?

11-CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

 Write sentences about the play using the first and second conditional: Remember: The first conditional is used to talk about the possibility of somethinghappening in the future. We use (if + present simple, will + infinitive). The second conditional is used to talk about the future; however, it refers to situations whichare often unreal. It is used to talk about dream situations. We use (if + past simple, would + infinitive).

First conditional:

a.

b.

Second conditional:

a.

b.

12-DISCUSS

A. In the play the King says: ‘Oh, my sweet daughter, nothing that should bother you. All that is worrying me is a matter for men’. Do you think there are things that only concern men?

B. What flaws do you see in the Yankee’s character?

C. Some slang words are used in this play. Can you write some of them?

D. What does the ending of the play mean?

13- MAKE A POWER POINT OR A PREZI ABOUT THE PLAY AND PRESENT IT TO YOUR MATES.