Ancient Mythology: King Arthur - Essay Example

Ancient Mythology No one really knows whether King Arthur was a man or a fantasy, but his will live forever as thegreat king whose battles, trials and tribulations along with his Knights of the Round Table have been famous for almost a thousand years (Thomas Green, 1998 - 2004). In 1133 A.D., Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh cleric, penned the first complete story of King Arthur, sparking the imagination of many more writers over time. Over time, other writers added the Round Table and the Quest For the Holy Grail. But it wasn't until 1485 when William Caxton published the first printed edition of Le Morte Darthur that the legend of King Arthur developed, as we know it today (www.caerlon.net, n.d.). We come now to the year of 1982 when Marion Zimmer Bradley published her astonishing book The Mists Of Avalon. We will compare Bradley's work with the original tales, to demonstrate that while the myth of Arthur was and is still powerful, the women in Arthur's life took center stage and became legends in their own right with Bradley's book. In the original legend, Arthur was born to Uther Pendragon and his wife Igraine. Arthur had an older half-sister Morgaine, also later known as Morgan Of the Fairies. Merlin the Magician was originally known as Taliesin, a Druid High Priest who transformed over time and many authors. The original tale of Arthur's destiny is kept true to form in Bradley's book, where Arthur winds up with a fatal wound at the hands of his son, Mordred. Some claim that Mordred was the son of Arthur and the golden-haired Guenivere, and others claim that Mordred was a bastard child of Arthur's who later attempted to lay claim as Arthur's heir to the throne since Arthur had had no other sons. Bradley's rendition of the Arthurian legend centers on the women of Arthur's life and court. Igraine was married to Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, with whom she had a daughter, the dark-haired, solemn-eyed Morgaine. Igraine loved her husband but felt a powerful draw to the beautiful, blonde Uther Pendragon. They were in love with each other, but could do nothing about it. Finally, Gorlois was killed in battle and Igraine married King Uther Pendragon, taking little Morgaine into the royal household with her. Later, their son Arthur was born, rightful heir to the Pendragon throne. This story took place in the early Christian times, when the pagans still held their festivals and Christianity had not yet dominated the land. When Arthur came of age, after having been tutored in the arts of kingscraft and druidism, he was to defeat the King Stag at the Beltain Fires and make love to the Maiden, representing Mother Earth. Arthur went to battle with the King Stag and won, then was led to the fires where he bedded with a prepared young virgin priestess. He later found to his horror that he had bedded his half-sister Morgaine. The child of Beltane would be Mordred. Bradley's book goes into a deeper explanation of the old religion, where the Isle Of Avalon was the place where the Lady Of the Lake (the High Priestess) was head of a special school for maidens who had the potential to become priestesses. In those days, unwed girls either went to nunneries or to the Isle Of Avalon. Viviane, the Lady Of the Lake, was Morgaine's grandmother with a vested interest in keeping the pagan traditions alive and defeating the Christian priests with their dirges and liturgies that oppressed women and insulted the Goddess. Morgaine trained under Viviane and did her bidding, like it or not. The first betrayal to Morgaine was the Beltane ceremony; Viviane knew full well that the royal blood of the Goddess must continue, and Morgaine and Arthur were the only two people possessing Viviane and Taliesin's bloodlines. Where the original legends portray Morgaine (Morgan Of the Fairies) as an evildoer determined to undermine Arthur's efforts, Bradley's Morgaine is the actual heroine as she struggles to keep the realm of the Goddess alive under the continued intrusion of the Christian priests and bishops. Bradley's portrayal of Arthur's court isn't so much of a warrior king and his brave knights battling the Saxons, it is the battle of the Old Religion to maintain its rites and dignity during the onset of a new and politically powerful religion that is taking over the entire world. One of the great battles of Morgaine's in Mists Of Avalon is the battle over the standard which Arthur will carry into a great battle. Guinevere, an established Christian queen, has long deplored Arthur's Pendragon tatooes obtained at his kingmaking. Guinevere so hated the pagan faith and Druids that she shuddered at the thought of Arthur's ugly priestess half-sister who was always at hand to advise Arthur in the place of a priest or bishop. So resentful did Guinevere become that she eventually blackmailed Arthur into carrying the Christian standard into battle instead of the Pendragon standard that would rally the Pictish fighters with their elf-arrows and bodies painted with blue woad. These were fierce and loyal fighters, and they were children of the Goddess. The pagan flag of Pendragon was where their loyalty laid. All during the time of Arthur's kingship, when Morgaine had gone to court, Viviane, the Lady Of the Lake, kept abreast of the news and events to come through the method of scrying (using a mirror and water for seeing into the future). The relationship between herself and Morgaine was bittersweet; Viviane was the mother Morgaine had always longed for, and Morgaine was the true daughter of the Goddess that Viviane had hoped for; her two daughters (one of them Igraine, Morgaine's mother) were unsuitable to carry on the role of Lady Of the Lake. Through enormous struggles and illnesses, shattered hopes and faltering loyalties, the court of Arthur eventually turned Christian, and this saw the end of Arthur's true spirit, for he was, in truth, a pagan. He wished, as Taliesin did, for the Christians and the Druids to live peacefully together side by side as they had done, but that was not to be. Even the story of Excalibur, the famous sword, takes on a new light with Bradley's authorship. Forged of metal from an asteroid, Excalibur held tremendous power, but without the magical scabbard made by Morgaine, Excalibur could not protect Arthur against bloodshed. In a meditative ritual, over the course of three days, Morgaine wove the magical scabbard embellished with symbols so ancient even she didn't know the meaning of them. Thread by thread, Morgaine put magic into the scabbard and when she pricked her finger with the awl, her blood was incorporated into the magical work. The Mists Of Avalon threw an entirely new light on Arthur's Britain, and like the tales of old, Arthur lived and died true to form (Erin Ogden-Korus, 1997). Yet with the emphasis on the power of the women of the court and the Holy Isle, a new style of pilgrimages was spawned to Arthurian sites in Great Britain and popularity of pagan talismans and jewelry grew to enormous proportions. It seems that a truly good myth or legend never dies; it simply rises from the ashes of its earlier existence and again takes its place in the imaginations of the people who enjoy it and find a sense of identification with it. References Green, Thomas. "Arthurian Resources: The Historicity and Historicisation of Arthur." Arthurian Resources. 12 July 2004, 1 December 2005. http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/historicity/arthur.htm "How the Legend Developed." Caerlon.net. n.d., 1 December 2005. http://www.caerleon.net/history/arthur/page3.htm "King Arthur." Brittania. N.d., 1 December 2005. http://www.britannia.com/history/h12.html Ogden-Korus, Erin. "Origins Of Arthurian Legend." The Quest: An Arthurian Resource. October 1997, 1 December 2005. http://www.uidaho.edu/student_orgs/arthurian_legend/origins/arthur.html Read More