Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Le Morte d'Arthur: The Beginning and the End of Things
As one of the most famous encyclopedias of Arthurian lore, Malory's text tries to do everything at once. If we examine the selections from the anthology closely, we see that fourteen books separate the tales of Balin and Galahad. Yet, readers are expected to follow the grail story throughout the work? I don't think so. In fact, I wonder if Malory really cares about the grail at all. Is there anything new about it? Does he imbue it with a new mysticism?
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2 comments:
Malory makes the grail sound as if it was some sort of cauldron of plenty, like the celtic myths. All it does is provide light and food, sweet meats. It heals, i think, but really who cares. The grail does sound more religious and holy than other versions, but thats it. There are more voices, more characters from the bible, and more light.
Of my 150 knights in Le Morte D'Arthur, only several knights throughout this legend encounter the Holy Grail, and only one is virtious enough to obtain it. Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur is essentially the Roman Catholicized version of the Grail legend. Mallory doesn't go much into detail on what exactly the Grail is other than a Holy relic. By the way "Its good to be the King" ;)..Peace Out
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