The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend

“When the men heard of the adventures of Arthur, they wondered why he had put himself in such jeopardy. But the wiser among them realized that it was good to serve such a king, who put himself at the same risk as his warriors.”

Though Arthur is a king, he is also a knight; as such, he must uphold a standard of character equal to the knights in his service. He is their equal in a certain sense, which also explains his adoption of a circular table: Everyone and no one is at its “head.”

“Ah, lady, fine clothes do not make an honest man. I have within me that which passes show. I have strength and sincerity. Many good knights go through the world unknown.”

Sir Balin delivers this line to the lady from Avalon who questions his abilities as a knight because he is dressed in rags. The statement establishes that true knighthood is an internal rather than external quality—something important to clarify early in a narrative in which many men and women will conceal their true identities.

“I grant you that she is the loveliest. But if you waited a little, I could find you another lady of beauty and of wisdom. But once a man’s heart is set, there he will abide.”

Merlin says this to Arthur when Arthur tells him he wants to make Guinevere his wife. Read carefully, the statement seems to imply that Guinevere lacks wisdom; Merlin says that if Arthur waited, another woman could be found who possesses both beauty and wisdom (begging the interpretation that Guinevere, who is indisputably lovely, lacks the latter). Merlin’s warning casts a shadow over the rest of the narrative and in particular over Guinevere’s decisions, which may or may not be wise.

“‘We have spent too much time in games,’ he said. ‘Now we must ride into the world and seek out strange adventures.’”

Lancelot’s statement about going out into the world to seek adventures helps distinguish different stages in a knight’s advancement in rank. Tournaments primarily served to showcase a knight’s armor and abilities as a horseman. What Lancelot wishes for is a true test of his abilities as a man out in the world, apart from the domestic comforts of contests at home.

“May Almighty Jesus protect and preserve you, for you are the meekest and most gentle knight I have ever met.”

This line is spoken to Lancelot and characterizes him in a significant way. Lancelot, the greatest in battle, is also superior in gentleness and manners—equally essential characteristics for a worthy knight to possess.

“Lancelot mounted his horse, and rode off. He journeyed through many strange countries, through waters and woods, along dark paths and evil ways. He crossed desolate heaths and marshes where the wild things dwell.”

This quote catalogues Lancelot’s journeyings in almost lyrical fashion, capturing both the epic and romantic quality of the adventures of the greatest knight of them all. Every location listed entails some danger, qualifying Lancelot as supremely brave for being willing and able to face all these threats.

“In those far-off days, murder was considered to be a form of treason; so King Angwish had to fight the charge in his own person or find a champion.”

This statement comes in the middle of Tristram’s mission to retrieve Isolde; in the process he is enlisted into the service of King Angwish, who requires his help. By calling Tristram’s era “far-off days,” the narrator employs nostalgia to further romanticize and glorify the age of chivalry in which Arthur reigned. Also noteworthy is the fact that most crimes, even personal ones, could be considered offenses against the king and therefore forms of treason; Malory is describing a system in which the law and the monarchy were even more intertwined than they were in his own time.

“You will go to the court of King Arthur, and there send my greetings to Lady Guinevere. Tell her from me that there are only four lovers in the world—Guinevere and Lancelot, Isolde and Tristram.”

Isolde passes this message on to Palomides. Her statement is hyperbole; she does not literally mean that only four lovers exist. She is expressing that those four lovers’ affections are so intense that, by comparison, hardly anyone else seems to fit into the category of lover at all. This portrays the chivalric age as an era of the highest emotions—the pinnacle of loyalty and love.

“In the Perilous Forest there were always strange chances and meetings, magical encounters and mysterious vanishings.”

Throughout the narrative, forests feature as places of testing in which the amorality of undomesticated nature and magic pushes knights to the limits of strength, bravery, and loyalty. One of the reasons the Perilous Forest is so perilous is that it brings out the worst in the knights themselves.

“No tongue can tell, no pen define, no heart reveal, the joy between Tristram and Isolde. No book can begin to describe the love between them.”

This sweeping statement captures the epic tone that Malory employs to portray the lost age of chivalry as superior to the present time. Tristram and Isolde’s love is described as so vastly superior that no author could ever come close to expressing it. This is one of several self-reflexive comments that appear throughout the text—moments when Malory engages in discourse with the reader as if in conversation and (in this case) implicitly comments on his own writing.

“There is no good knight that does not take a fall. No knight is ever so brave that he may not be beaten.”

Presides says this to Tristram after he has bested Tristram during a contest. It is a reminder that even though many of the story’s characters are supremely strong or virtuous, every knight risks failure because they are all human. Only their commitment to courage and the tenets of chivalry, love, and religion strengthen and protect them; apart from those high ideals, they are only men.

“But the old books tell us that Morgan le Fay was in love with Lancelot, and resented the devotion of that knight towards the queen.”

Malory frequently makes vague reference to source texts and older manuscripts from which he supposedly draws his content. The legends of King Arthur are old stories, so his references are necessary in context; however, Malory often adopts a tone of revisionist retelling, as though his were the more authoritative document.

“In the old days you never used to dine until you had seen an adventure.”

Sir Kay tells this to Arthur at a feast on the eve of the great quest to find the Holy Grail. Knights frequently insert commentary on the customs of chivalry in the middle of the story’s action, indicating to their listeners (and Malory’s readers) the sovereignty of the code above any character’s choices and adventures. Here, even the routine enjoyment of a shared meal must not precede a test of knightly honor and skill.

“Take comfort from the fact that we go on a great and noble cause. All men must die, sire, but we will die in glory.”

Lancelot encourages Arthur with these words at the last meeting of all the knights of the Round Table before the quest for the Holy Grail. Arthur mourns the loss of his fellowship, but Lancelot reminds him that the cause is supreme. Since death is inevitable, it is better to die gloriously than without renown. This is the grandeur and responsibility of every knight.

“Only a righteous and worthy knight may see the Grail. When you took up the crown of gold, you were guilty of greed and of theft. That is not the behaviour of a true knight. The two men you fought, Sir Galahad, were the emblems of these two mortal sins. They could not defeat you, because you are not spotted by deadly sin.”

The quest for the Grail is an allegorical journey into the heart of every individual knight. Galahad realizes this here, when he learns that the two men he recently fought against were in fact human incarnations of abstract concepts. He was fighting a spiritual battle for his own soul. These sorts of encounters occur throughout the narrative and demonstrate that much more is at stake in the course of the knights’ adventures than mere earthly treasure.

“You have fought in wars for the sake of your own glory. Pride, not truth, has been your tutor.”

In Lancelot’s vision this line refers to King Ban, Lancelot’s father, but it applies to Lancelot as well. The warning for every knight who seeks greatness and glory is to check his own motivation. Even though it would not appear externally, a corrupt motive can poison the heart; the knight’s deeds would then flow from selfishness and arrogance, not pure commitment to the chivalric code. Lancelot, as the greatest of all knights, must combat pride with truth or else be expelled from the order of knights.

“You must vanquish yourself before you will see the Holy Grail.”

No knight undergoes more introspection during the quest for the Holy Grail than Lancelot, and here he is told that the only thing holding him back is himself. This comes at a significant moment in the narrative; Lancelot already feels remorse over his longstanding affair with Guinevere. His greatest challenge will be to overcome all forms of wickedness in his own heart, and as Lancelot is the greatest knight of all, he also makes for himself the greatest opponent.

“You who board this ship must have perfect belief. I am the token of faith itself. If you are not steadfast in belief I cannot save you.”

Written on the prow of a boat that rescues Galahad and Percival, these words indicate that the mission to find the Holy Grail is ultimately a quest to obtain faith. This drives home the recurring message that the Holy Grail adventure is a spiritual quest, requiring each knight to search inwardly and fight his own proclivity for selfishness. Faith looks outward to greater realities than one’s own rank or status—for example, towards truth and goodness.

“He asked me to remind you that life on earth is very brief. We have no certain city.”

Sir Bors tells Lancelot that Galahad has died; before perishing, Galahad wished to pass along this message to his father, Lancelot. Galahad’s dying words highlight the transience of Camelot and the need to serve a greater reality than a temporary, human king. Ultimate allegiance belongs to God, whose kingdom is unearthly and eternal.

“You must not allow your heart to rule your head.”

A hermit speaks this to Lancelot after he has been wounded at a tournament in which he fought for sport against the other knights of the Round Table. The hermit seems to suggest that Lancelot’s actions were rash and devoid of careful thinking. This reminds Lancelot, greatest of all knights, that in his loftiness he can easily fall prey to over-impassioned folly when mature thought would serve him better.

“Love must spring from a loving heart. It cannot come from compulsion.”

Courtly love must be pure and free from artificiality. Lancelot says this to Arthur after the tragic incident of the Fair Maid of Astolat (Elaine, daughter of Sir Bernard), who died of unreciprocated love for Lancelot. This perspective suggests that love is not a choice but rather a higher force, like God or the king, to which the knight owes his allegiance.

“All is brittle and untrue, worthless and unstable. Love is soon hot, and sooner cold. Summer gives way unseasonably to winter.”

Malory writes from a point of view in the present, looking back mournfully to the lost grandeur of Arthur’s era. Statements like these indicate his pessimism about the increasingly modern world, which does not abide by the same principles at play during the (idealized) age of chivalry. Part of the legend of King Arthur is the nostalgic faith that in those days, politics, love, religion, and life itself were more magical and wonderful.

“Here lies Arthur, the once and future king.”

At the end of the story, Arthur’s death is left in question, though he does get a tomb with these words written (in Latin) on it. Malory leaves open the possible interpretation that Arthur is still alive and will return, like Jesus Christ, to rule England again.