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Excerpts from
Le Morte d’
Arthur
Arthurian Legend
by Sir Thomas Malory
The excerpt is part of the
Arthurian Legend comprising of
twenty-one books written by Sir
Thomas Malory in 1460-1470.
Legends are types of folk
narratives or stories handed
down over generations and
are believed to be based on
history, though they typically
mix fact and fantasy.
The first part of Le Morte
d’Arthur tells the story of
Arthur’s parentage, how he
became king, and how he
established the kingdom and his
knights of the round table.
It is irrefutable that the story revolves
around how the young peasant’s life changed
not only his fate but the fate of the entire
kingdom when he successfully pulled out the
“sword out of the stone” ----- which many lords
and gentlemen failed to do so. It was soon
revealed in the story that he is the long lost
son of the late King Uther who died years ago.
Therefore, he is destined to be the true king
to rule the realm.
The highlighted events
paved the way to discover
the theme of the story.
The theme serves as the
deeper layer of meaning
running beneath the
story’s surface.
Indeed, the story is
about destiny, and its
theme is
“Realizing one’s destiny
is accepting the
responsibilities along
THEME DEFINED
“What is the story trying to tell?”
observation about life/ human natur
the controlling idea set
by the author in his
literary piece
reveals the author's attitude in his/ her wor
here can be more than one theme in a story
DETERMINING THE THEME
A theme does not have to be a moral.
ASK: What does this story reveal? not
What does this story teach?
Determine what the story's central
purpose is, what view of life it
supports/ reveals.
DETERMINING THE THEME
The theme is comprised of both a topic and
an assertion about the topic. To create a
theme, you must add an assertion.
Ex of topic: "Joseph Conrad's Youth is about
enthusiasm of youth."
Ex of theme: "The enthusiasm of youth
lends glamour and romance to hardship,
danger, and calamity in Joseph Conrad's
Youth."
Note that THEME is different from
TOPIC.
The topic is the subject and may
be a word or a phrase while the
theme contains a complete
thought and is stated in a
complete sentence.
Topic: Destiny
Theme: “Realizing one’s
destiny is accepting the
responsibilities along with it.”
Theme?
The story is about destiny.
The story revolves around how a
young peasant’s life changed not
only his fate but the fate of the
entire kingdom.
The story is about a
chivalric hero who is
destined to be king.
Theme:
“Realizing one’s destiny is
accepting the responsibilities
along with it.”
Complete thought
Complete sentence
Central idea of the story
Not just the topic
While the surface story
entertains the readers, the
theme helps them to reach a
new understanding of some
aspect of the human
condition.
Source: English in Perspective 9;
https://www.novel-writing-help.com/what-is-theme.html
Thank
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