Couldn't he just kill them?

If Prospero has all of Ariel's powers at his disposal, why are the tasks he asks Ariel to carry out for him so small? Why put people to sleep to eavesdrop on your enemies' conversation, play mysterious music here and there, mimic voices to cause drama in a group, and threaten enemies in the form of a harpy? Why is that the lead-up to the perfect revenge plan? Wouldn't it be easier for Prospero to get his vengeance simply by killing his brother? Or maybe just stealing the boat and stranding him on the island? But, no. That would make too much sense.

Magic or Mystic?

Merlin got his ability to know the past from Satan, making him a witch who uses magic. However he then has the ability to know the future, which he got from God, making him a mystic. Since he has both abilities from different sources what would Merlin be? A witch or a mystic? What would he be tried as?

A 2-year-old lawyer....? Nah that's not weird or anything

Okay, so why did they just blow over the fact that Merlin was only 18-months-old when he started to defend his mother in court? That's just not a normal thing that happens and people are only a little bit surprised. Also they really just let a two-year-old be his own mothers lawyer, cool.

How Much Does Merlin Really Know?

Since Merlin is a prophet, did he know that the queen was going to ask him how the boy dies while changing the boy's appearance 3 different times? Is that why Merlin spilt the boy's death into three prophecies and not tell him all at once?

The Differences

With the extreme differences in their lives and revelations how were they similar leading them both to be classified as mystics?

How did the Christian faith impact Margery?

After Margery turned her back to God “forsaken her Christendom, her faith and deny her God…”(384) why do you think she decided to go back to the Christian faith? How do you think this decision impacted her later in life.

“daughter, why hast thou forsaken me, and I forsook never thee?”(385)

Why Live as an Anchoress?

After her series of visions, Julian decided to spend the rest of her life devoted to God, praying, and contemplating her visions. She also counseled many using her spiritual insight and book. It seems to me that she could have actively pursued spiritual life without living isolated in a small cell. What motivated her, and others, to live as an anchoress rather than out in the world as a member of society who shared God’s love?  

Fickle Convictions

The introduction prefaces Dr. Faustus as a symbol for the idea that "The tragedy is that in losing God the Renaissance was losing man himself" (Barnet, xviii). That, essentially, Faustus represents a man who is both a fool and a tragic figure.

My questions stem from this and Faustus's attitude within the play: (1) How does the concept of selling one's soul to the devil to obtain power over 'natural' phenomena mirror and echo our reading in the Kors/Peters texts? (2) Why is it that religion has steadily become the source of all power in our magic-centric texts (that miracles, foresight, transformation, etc can only be gained from worship to a higher power, whether that be God or Lucifer)? (3) Is Dr. Faustus's fickleness on whether he should or should not shun God in order to obtain immortal power representative of the rhetoric within our previous readings - that the weak are prey to the Devil and must repent? This seems possible considering the Good and Bad Angel characters.

The Devil is Overrated

Why does Faustus want to control Mephastophilis so bad? He is warned of basically eternal hell, because Mephastophilis is on earth but never apparently leaves hell, and knows that Lucifer is less powerful than God, but still is willing to give up his soul. Sounds like he's overcompensating for something.

How these documents influenced fiction

Did any details in the reading remind anyone of stories they've heard about witches?
(For example: the lamias in section 10)

Morality or Intuition?

While reading Parts 3 and 4, I couldn't help but keep thinking about how odd it was that a lady in the castle that had conveniently been so welcoming to Sir Gawain, goes into his room every morning and announces that he may do whatever he wants to her. Of course, since he is a noble and gentlemanly knight, he simply only talks with her and only kisses her when she makes the move to, but I found this situation to be really kind of ironic considering the fact that he and the lord of the castle had just had sex with a lot of women after he arrives. Despite going to mass and confession every day, he had no reservations about having sex with random women before, so what changed?
Why is his sense of morality suddenly different? Did he have some sort of feeling that he shouldn't sleep with this woman (since we later find out that she is the Green Knight's wife)?

Why spend so much time on butchering?

I'm just curious to why there was a whole entire page dedicated to describing the hunters butchering the deer they killed? I am not used to this amount of description for minor parts of a story but it was just gross. I know that there's been a theme for a lot of description, like I understand that it may be necessary to describe the Green Knight because he's a pretty big deal in the story and its nice to get a good amount of imagery. Or to describe Gawain's shield since it shows his religious character, but why take so much time talking about butchering the deer they just killed? I feel that the main goal was to creep readers out or want them to know how to properly butcher a deer. I just did not feel the deer butchering scene help enhance the understanding of the plot, but I could've easily missed something that made it completely necessary to be so descriptive about it.

The Lords wife, what`s up with her?

SO...we all see how the Lord Bertilak's wife acts around Gawain: she`s got an idea in her head and it`s like she`s set on a mission. I guess I`m suspicious of what she really wants. Does she really just want to "hang out" with Gawain for the clout since he`s a knight on the round table...or is there something else going on between her and her husband? I think it says a lot about the commitment of a married couple during this time. I think men had so much power it`s almost like the lord`s wife is just a tool to him that he can use when he pleases (or leave alone with a stranger in the castle all day). What do you think her motive is when she goes into the knights chamber? Purely sexual maybe...or something deeper?

Why It Gotta Be Green???

The Green Knight is very, well, green! There isn't much more about him so far that we know about the guy. But, what we do have so far from is that he's super GREEN. Why though? Why is the Green Knight green? What is so significant about the color green when he comes to the Christmas/New Years kickback of King Arthur and his Round Table buddies? Is there symbolism with the color green? What are they? We shall discuss ;).