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Gesture in art

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The aim of this thesis is to investigate the notions of Death and the Afterlife in French Arthurian Literature, analysing the possible influences of the Pagan and Christian mythologies in the conception of such patterns. Indeed, Arthurian literature is sometimes deeply affected by these different traditions and we can observe a process of evolution through the history of this literary world, linked with these influences. The particular questions of Death and the Afterlife appear as the most striking examples of these changes and the impact of these mythological perspectives. After a brief introduction on the notions of Death and the Afterlife in medieval society and culture, we dedicate a first section to the study of the Pagan tradition and its repercussions in the Arthurian romances. By doing so, we focus on different patterns, such as the notion of the border to the Other World, the particular island of Avalon and the spirits and faeries. A second chapter presents the Christian influences in some later Arthurian romances. We focus on specific notions which evolved due to the Christian perspective introduced into this literature. This is, for instance, the case of the After World and the perception of intermediary spaces, which gained importance in the Arthurian romances. As a consequence, the question of the salvation also becomes increasingly important and influences the consideration of Death. We will then introduce the funeral rites described in some main romances, emphasising the importance of Arthur's death as the best example of this evolution.Apart from this process of evolution linked with Christianisation, we discovered, through this analysis, the importance of the ambivalence remaining between these two traditions in most of the Arthurian romances. This is why we dedicate the last section of each chapter to an overview of this coexistence, presenting how the Christian perspective already influences the romances considered as linked with the Pagan tra...