#2 - Flores: The behavior of the character Gawain in

[Administrator]

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[studyhelp20]

Dear Power Score Help,

Can you please provide me an explanation of the correct answer for this question along with explanations of the incorrect answers? Thanks in advance for the help.

Sincerely,
Brennan

[gwlsathelp]

I prephrased an answer that would explain why Gawain is acting incoherent or where his incoherence is sourced, but found that none of the answers but B were the closest. The correct answer is marked as A "Malory's portrayal of the character of Gawain in Le Morte D'Arthur is incoherent"; however, I don't see where the two authors disagree. I see that Piro acknowledges the "variation" in behavior and that it "might stem from the different times", but never denies the incoherence.

[Adam Tyson]

Happy to help you both here! Flores takes the position that Malory's portrayal of Gawain is incoherent. In other words, it makes no sense. He attributes this incoherence to Malory's use of different sources that treated Gawain differently.

Piro defends Malory by pointing out that his portrayal of Gawain actually does make sense. Gawain's behavior isn't changing at random, without apparent reason. but based on a the cirrcumstances. Gawain's behavior is, according to Piro, at least internally consistent, changing based on some clear criteria.

Thus, the prephrase here should be exactly what answer A says: that Gawain's behavior is incoherent. Flores clearly would say yes, since he said exactly that, while Piro would say no, it is coherent in that it follows certain rules.

[gwlsathelp]

Thank you, Adam for making that clearer. My perception of the question and stimulus hinged on my understanding of how their usage of the word "incoherence".

[MeliXi]

I understand why A is correct & I got this question right.

However, I'm a bit uncertain about the explanation for choice E. My inclination is that both Flores and Piro would agree with E? Would someone be able to confirm?
I think Flores would agree with E because he discusses how Malory based his book on various sources, making it incoherent, which would therefore mean that the sources vary significantly.
I think Piro would agree with E because he acknowledges Flores's point that there's variation from Malory's sources. Or would the word "might" here mean that we don't know Piro's take on this?

Thanks all!

[Paul Popa]

Hey Meli,

I would agree that both Flores and Piro mostly agree on this point. Flores' agreement is perhaps more clear; Flores states in their argument that Malory based his book on earlier sources from different eras, and that Gawain's role has changed over time. This supports the idea that the sources offer differing interpretations of Gawain.

Piro's agreement is perhaps somewhat less clear, but still present: Piro doesn't deny that there might be variability in the interpretation of Gawain from these earlier sources, but believes there is a legitimate reason for the antithetical behavior of the character.

Overall, yes, I would say they mostly agree, and as this is a disagree question, they disagree more on (A) than (E). Hope this helps!