The Literary themes

The story of King Arthur is one of the most enduring tales in the history of British literature, and it has been reproduced in virtually every genre and variation possible. Hollywood has produced several versions, and is continuing to do so from swashbuckling romantic adventure to zany parody: books, films, plays even cartoons; all bear testament to its enduring appeal.

There are far too many examples of literature that encompasses the Arthurian theme. So this chapter will serve to explore the main form of the story of Arthur that most will be aware of the Morte d’Arthur.

The modern perception of the story originated in A. D. 1470, with the literary work of an aged knight, at the time wallowing in prison. His name was Sir Thomas Mallory, he had been indicted and imprisoned for a succession of crimes including; murder, rape theft and non-payment of debts. Not the most seemly of characters to be composing such a work, but his term in prison, spanning some ten years possibly gave him time to ponder over his lot. Drawing, possibly, on sources held in the famous library of Greyfriars, set up by the, almost legendary himself, Lord Mayor Whittington of London, close to Newgate prison where he was held, his work was entitled, "The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights". It was acquired after his death by William Caxton and printed under the title of "Morte d’Arthur". Originally a compilation in separate sections, though with some structural coherence, the work was joined together by Caxton, and published with the modified title.

This became the base of the modern tradition of Arthur, all the elements known to us are in this work, Lancelot, Excalibur (Caliburn), Guinevere and the round table. Malory drew heavily on existing traditions and accounts of Arthur in putting his work together. The motives behind Malory’s work is unknown, but it is clear that in presenting Arthurian tales, the Grail Quest in particular, Mallory was merely embroidering a theme, the meaning of which he did not fully understand. The Grail for example, has become the central motif of the story, could it be that perhaps Malory was looking back to a knighthood, to which he belonged and by his actions shamed, that was becoming a memory. The rise of administrative monarchy had displaced the position and functions of the knighthood. The perception of a past knighthood, however mythical, that was a model of loyalty, honour and Christian virtue must have seemed an attractive idea in the troubled times of the fifteenth century. There have been many attempts to sanitise and present knight service as an honourable and Christian thing to do. However, the function of a knight was to fight the enemies of his lord, be it noble or king. In effect the knight was a wealthy killer, who started to become not a little disenchanted with his role and the perception of it by those in power both secular and sacral.

A knight was caught in a dichotomy, his job was to kill, but his faith dictated that killing was wrong. Every time he went to war he was committing great sin, breaking one of the ten commandments. Facing time in purgatory and having to do penance, every time he did his job was not a pleasant consideration to a devout knight, and the psychological pressure must have been very great. The crusades saw the partial relief of this problem, the Church stated that killing the enemies of Christendom was penance in itself. This decision led to a huge, uncontrolled outburst of violence against enemies of Christ, real or perceived, unprecedented even at that time.

Was Mallory then illustrating the ‘fall’ of the knightly classes from his position in prison, whilst simultaneously, and possibly unconsciously, creating the conditions for the development of his subject to the realms of myth.

[Chapter 3 ]