The Death of King Arthur

Author: Sir Thomas Malory

Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE

Country or Culture: England

Genre: Legend

PLOT SUMMARY

Written between 1469 and 1470, Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D'Arthur is the best-known and most influential version of the Arthurian legend. The entirety of the work traces the legend from before Arthur’s birth through the downfall of the once-famous king and his Knights of the Round Table.

The story of the death of Arthur begins with Sir Mordred and Sir Agravain stirring up dissonance between King Arthur and Sir Lancelot (sometimes spelled Launcelot). The two knights attempt to sway Sir Gaheris, Sir Gareth, and Sir Gawain (Gawaine), three of Arthur and Lancelot’s most honorable followers, to reveal an inappropriate relationship between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere (Guenever or Guenevere). Gaheris and Gareth refuse to interfere, citing loyalty to both the king and his strongest knight, while Gawain’s attempts to dissuade them fail. Mordred and Agravain convince Arthur to test Lancelot’s and his wife’s fidelity. Lancelot is warned, but believing in his own innocence, he meets Guinevere alone. When Arthur’s enemies break in on Lancelot and Guinevere, Lancelot trounces them and kills all except Mordred. This attack splits the Knights of the Round Table into two warring groups: those who support Arthur and Mordred and those who support Lancelot.

Arthur feels that he must burn the queen at the stake for treason, as her presumed adultery might produce an heir to the throne who is not the king’s progeny. While Gawain refuses to be a part of the execution, Lancelot sweeps in and rescues Guinevere, taking her to a safe hiding place. Lancelot’s rescue mission leads to the deaths of many more of Arthur’s knights. Gaheris and Gareth, unarmed and hidden in the crowd, are among the casualties. Though Guinevere is saved, the kingdom is torn apart.

Arthur’s grief at the deaths of his knights is devastating. He cries, “And much more am I sorrier for my good knights’ loss than for the loss of my fair queen” (481). Gawain’s woe is even stronger, and he vows to revenge the deaths of his brothers. Lancelot and Arthur begin to recruit armies to fight against each other, and shortly after, war commences. Eventually, Lancelot goes to Arthur and swears that he has never betrayed the king with a physical relationship with Guinevere. The war becomes one that seeks to defend Lancelot’s honor more than Guinevere’s, with Gawain fighting more staunchly than Arthur, who has lost his heart for the battle.

The war continues until the pope orders Arthur to take Guinevere back into his good graces. He does this, but Lancelot is exiled from the kingdom. Lancelot leaves for France, taking one hundred knights with him. The banishment does not cure Gawain’s desire for vengeance, however, and Lancelot is attacked in France. The battles continue back and forth until Gawain and Lancelot meet on the field, and Gawain is sorely injured.

While Arthur is occupied fighting with Lancelot, Mordred has taken over Arthur’s kingdom, spread rumors of his death, and attempted to force Guinevere to marry him. Arthur and Gawain return home to overcome Mordred, but Gawain, who has not fully recovered from the injuries Lancelot gave him, succumbs to further physical distress. On his deathbed, he writes Lancelot, asking the noble knight to seek out his tomb and requesting his assistance in Arthur’s conflict with Mordred.

Mordred and Arthur almost reach a truce, but a last battle ensues. King Arthur overcomes Mordred, but he is mortally injured as well. Knowing he is near the end, Arthur asks to be placed on a barge that will sail to Avalon (Avilion). Malory concludes his story with the likelihood that the female mourners on the barge bury Arthur’s body at a hermitage chapel; other versions of the legend leave open the possibility of Arthur’s return to glory.

SIGNIFICANCE

Malory’s Arthurian tale is one of the first recorded British versions, and it is based on earlier French and English poetic and prose sources. The depressing tone of the story may be the main reason Malory chose this format, since early tragic pieces tended to be prose. The numerous reprintings of Malory’s novel in the two centuries following its initial publication kept more attention on this work than on the many earlier versions. In part because of this, Malory’s work became the main influence on later versions of the tale after receiving renewed attention in the nineteenth century.

The final chapter of Malory’s work tells the story of Arthur’s death, which is the culmination of the broken fellowship between Arthur’s knights. The internal struggles are evidenced at the beginning of the chapter as Agravain and Mordred try to stir trouble between Arthur and Lancelot, effectively causing problems between Gawain and his brothers as well. The dissenting groups go their own ways, and Mordred and Agravain seek out the king to plant the seeds of distrust.

Cracks continue to fissure the Round Table when Lancelot kills thirteen knights, including Agravain, in his escape from Guinevere’s chambers. Arthur commands Gawain, Gaheris, and Gareth to aid him in the execution of his queen, but all three, torn in loyalty between their king and his most honorable knight, ask to be excused. Lancelot’s rescue of the queen, which includes the brief fight that leaves Gareth and Gaheris dead, leads to Arthur’s grief-stricken plea: “For now have I lost the fairest fellowship of noble knights that ever Christian king held together. Alas, my good knights be slain and gone away from me, that now within these two days I have lost nigh forty knights, and also the noble fellowship of Sir Lancelot and his blood; for now may I never more hold them together” (481).

The deaths of Gawain’s brothers result in the most devastating break in the fellowship. Gawain swears revenge on Lancelot. The ensuing wars between Arthur and Lancelot, in fact, become as much about Gawain’s anger as Arthur’s need to reestablish his honor. The Round Table is finally truly broken when Gawain and Lancelot battle, leaving Gawain with the wound that will eventually lead to his death.

King Arthur’s own gullibility in leaving Mordred as “ruler of all England” (505) is the last fracture in his rule. While Arthur fights Lancelot in a distant land, Mordred has taken over his kingdom, spread rumors of his death, and attempted to marry his wife. The knight who started the discord is the cause of its end, as well as the ends of Gawain and Arthur. Gawain dies after being wounded in battle, but a bright note appears as he writes Lancelot asking for reconciliation. The deaths of Arthur and Mordred at each other’s hands complete the rift in the kingdom that Mordred began.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Johnson, David, and Elaine Treharne. Readings in Medieval Texts: Interpreting Old and Middle English Literature. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Lupack, Alan. The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte Darthur. Ed. Stephen H. A. Shepherd. New York: Norton, 2004. Print.

---. “The Death of Arthur.” Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript. Ed. Helen Cooper. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. 468–527. Print.

Philip, Neil. Myths and Legends Explained. London: DK, 2007. Print.