Ideas for essay #1

1. The manner in which a figure (e.g., Keie, Gawein, Arthur) is depicted in one or more of the histories and the romances.
2. The manner in which a recurring episode is depicted in different Arthurian tales.
2. Structural characteristics of the romances and their significance.
3. The treatment of chivalric violence in the romances.
4. Narrators and their function in the romances (or: a narrator and his/her function in one of the romances).
5. Marvels or the Marvelous in the romances: Origins and functions.  (The land of the fountain in Iwein, the grail and the grail kingdom in Parzival).
6. The role of God and religion in the romances.
7. A critical comparsion of two different grail quests (Wolfram's Parzival would contrast nicely with the Queste of the Holy Grail!)

Ideas for essay #2
All of the topics listed above!
also:
1.  The question of the narrative coherence, or lack thereof, in Malory's Morte Darthur.
2.  The social and political significance of Tennyson's Arthur depiction of Arthur.
3. Compare/contrast the treatment of sexuality, particularly female sexuality, as portrayed in Tennyson's Idylls and in Wagner's music drama Parsifal.
4. Discuss Bradley's Mists of Avalon as an Arthurian tale of the late twentieth century. There are lots of ways to do this-- make sure that you identify and focus on one aspect or another (e.g., contemporary issues [rape, euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality], "women and spirituality," the "return of enchantment," etc.)
5. Compare/contrast two or more significant episodes in Bradley's Mists of Avalon with earlier versions of the same episode(s) in other works we have read.  What
does Bradley achieve in her recasting (and possibly in her re-positioning) of these episodes?
6. Compare/contrast one or two figures as cast by Bradley with the same figures as portrayed in past works we have read, and discuss how Bradley's
recasting of these figures is consistent with the overall aim of her book.