Thematic Analysis of Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur - Essay Example

Thematic Analysis of Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur November 26, Thematic analysis of Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur Introduction. The King Arthur story is a complex story. The research delves on different themes of the King Arthur story. Specifically, the research delves on the Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur portion of the King Arthur story. The stanzaic King Arthur story incorporates destiny, women’s role, commitatus, Christian concepts, loyalty, trial, courtly love, and Journey old English literary themes. Destiny. Destiny is normally interpreted as what will happen to a person in the future (Korrel281). For example, one is destined to be a king. Another person is destined to be a president. Another person is destined to die young. In the current King Arthur story, Gawain is one of the loyal knights of King Arthur. After learning that Lancelot has betrayed King Arthur, Gawain seeks to avenge the traitorous acts of Lancelot. Gawain seeks to fight Lancelot and make him pay for stealing Guinevere from King Arthur. However, Gawain is not successful. When Gawain and Lancelot fight to the death, Lancelot proves he is stronger than Gawain in battle. As expected, Lancelot kills Gawain. The story shows that Gawain’s destiny is to die at the hands of Lancelot. Gawain’s destiny is to die in a fiercely fought battle. Lancelot successful kills Gawain in an evenly matched battle. In the evenly matched battle, Lancelot showed more fighting expertise, when compared to Gawain’s fighting prowess. Trial. When Guinevere was falsely accused of murder, she calls for Lancelot to defend her honor in battle. Lancelot wins the battle (Archibald 97). The winning makes Guinevere fall in love again with Lancelot. In exchange, Guinevere and Lancelot make up. The King Arthur story shows that trials during the King Arthur era are done through battles. Further, when one person questions the integrity of another person, trial is done by pitting one party’s champion against the opposing trial party’s selected champion. In the King Arthur story, Lancelot was able to participate actively in a trial. In the above trial, Guinevere would have been proven guilty for killing a Scotland knight if her champion loses the battle. However, Guinevere will be considered innocent if her chosen champion wins the battle (Archibald 97). Journey. Mordred feels that it is his destiny or journey to replace King Arthur as the new king. When Arthur leaves to find Lancelot, King Arthur leaves his wife, Guinevere at the hands of his trusted knight, Mordred. However, Mordred acts to take the throne from King Arthur. Mordred announces that he will forcefully marry Guinevere. Previously, Mordred was one of the knights who discovered Guinevere and Lancelot sleeping together, committing adultery (Clark 68). In response, Lancelot was not able to kill all the knights who saw the two lovers, Guinevere and Lancelot, sleeping together in tight romantic embrace, as shown in Line 62 stating “that Launcelot by the queen lay; (http://www.lib.rochester.edu)”. Only one of the knights survived. The surviving knight is Mordred. Courtly Love. The story of King Arthur shows that everyone must show politeness rules and etiquette (Schultz 159). Politeness means showing consideration for the other individual’s feelings. Politeness includes using tact when verbalizing one’s thoughts or intentions. In layman’s terms, politeness means avoiding saying words or doing acts that may hurt or insult the other person or persons overhearing the person speaking or seeing the person acting. In the King Arthur Story, Lancelot was not polite. Initially, Lancelot was polite (Schultz 159). Lancelot did not say anything or do anything that may hurt King Arthur’s feelings. However, Lancelot’s heart woke up and roared like a lion when he saw Guinevere. Lancelot could not keep his love for Guinevere a secret longer. In the same manner, Guinevere also could not hide her true uncontrollable love for the handsome, strong, brave, and younger Lancelot. Both Lancelot and Guinevere violated the politeness, tact, courtly love policy of King Arthur’s kingdom. However, the two lovers could not implement the required refined courtly behavior needed by the sovereign kingdom of King Arthur. With Guinevere’s Helenic or beautiful face, Lancelot’s heart melted into the quagmire of love. In the same manner, Lancelot’s handsome physique made Guinevere seek the eternally tight embrace of Lancelot, one of King Arthur’s trusted knights. In the same manner, King Arthur must implement the courtly love regulations of his kingdom. When King Arthur married Queen Guinevere, King Arthur never looked at another woman again. King Arthur remained steadfastly in courtly love. His courtly love for Queen Guinevere lasted until King Arthur’s death. King Arthur lost his life in the defense of his everlasting love for Queen Guinevere. King Arthur was willing to fight to the death for his love. King Arthur was not afraid to fight against a younger and stronger Lancelot. As a King, King Arthur never showed cowardice in all his kingly acts. In the battle, King Arthur successfully killed the traitor, Mordred (Takamiya 50). However, King Arthur suffered from several battle wounds. The wounds were huge enough to take away King Arthur’s life. To reiterate, the prior page’s line 62 (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/) shows Lancelot’s courtly extramarital affair with Guinevere triggers the downfall and untimely death of King Arthur (Ousby 214).” Role of Women The role of women is to fall to follow their heart. Guinevere followed her heart. She fell in love with Lancelot. Consequently, Guinevere is the wife of King Arthur. Lancelot is one of King Arthur’s knights. Guinevere commits adultery when she falls in love with Lancelot. After Arthur’s death, Guinevere and Lancelot part ways. Both lovers decide to repent for their adulterous acts. Consequently, Lancelot becomes a monk (Field 197). Line 3948 -3949 states “But with them all to dwell and lede, For Launcelot all his life to Pray (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/).” In the above story, the earl’s daughter falls madly in love with Lancelot. Consequently, the earl’s daughter goes out of her way to win the heart of her love object, Lancelot. However, Lancelot refuses to reciprocate the daughter’s love. An Ascolat maid commits suicide because Lancelot would not reciprocate her eternal love for Lancelot (Edwards 40). When women fall in love, they give their all. By doing so, the women are in danger of not being loved in return. Just like in the Ascolot maid situation, women should not place their heart over their head. The women must let their head control their heart’s desires for a male’s tightly embracing love. Further, the women’s roles are to serve the needs of the family (Das 1). The women’s roles are to help the husband in both happy and sad times. The woman’s role is to be a mother of the children. However, Guinevere failed to comply with her marriage role. Guinevere did not busy herself staying beside King Arthur in his times of happiness and in his times of misfortunes or sadness. Instead, Guinevere was busy flirting with the handsome Lancelot. Instead of cooking King Arthur’s food, Queen Guinevere is busy seeking the embrace of Lancelot in a secret lover’s hiding place. The two lovers tried their best to keep their undying love for each other from King Arthur’s knowledge. The two lovers were not successful in hiding their evil acts of love. Commitatus. King Arthur always implemented the commitatus principle. The principle dictates that the king, King Arthur in the story, should consult his knights or trusted subordinates before making any decision. The loyal Knights are members of King Arthur’s commitatus council (Goller 39). The king’s decision may either be small decisions or big decisions. In big decisions, the king has to consul t his subordinates on the feasibility of engaging in a war. Likewise, the King should ask the inputs or comment of his subordinates when the enemy insists that the king should surrender to the enemy. In the King Arthur story, King Arthur often consulted with Lancelot regarding certain kingdom affairs. King Arthur also consulted with Gawain regarding the possibility that King Arthur’s wife Guinevere and King Arthur’s trusted Knight, Lancelot, are having a secret love affair. Loyalty. The story revolves around loyalty. The story focuses on the loyalty of each knight for the safety and security of the group of knights. Loyalty includes willingness to die in battle together with the group’s other knights for the king and the Kingdom (Korrel 281). Mordred presented himself as a loyal subordinate to King Arthur. However, when King Arthur left to avenge Lancelot’s treachery, Mordred violated his loyalty pledge to protect King Arthur’s Kingdom. In addition, Mordred lost the trust of King Arthur when Mordred decided to usurp King Arthur’s throne while the King was busy travelling towards Lancelot’s suspected last location. In the same manner, King Arthur expected Lancelot to practice true loyalty to the King. However, when the King was busy focusing on other more important matters of the kingdom, Lancelot was busy courting the King’s wife, Guinevere. Consequently, Lancelot violated his loyalty pledge to King Arthur. Further, Gawain offered his loyalty to King Arthur. Gawain was willing to give up his life for the King. As a loyal knight of the round table, Gawain would avenge any attacks on the King and his kingdom. After learning that Lancelot had betrayed King Arthur, Gawain swore to take revenge on Lancelot’s adulterous treachery. Gawain sought to kill Lancelot for making King Arthur unhappy. Gawain’s unwavering loyalty to King Arthur causes Gawain’s life. Lines 2810 to 2017 states “Launcelot saw there was no succor;… and he straight in that stour, and gave Gawain a wounde wide; The blood all covered his colour and he fell down upon his side (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/).” Just like in any battle, contest, or game, there will always be winners and losers. If one party wins, then the opposing party loses. In an election for the city’s mayor, only one of the seven competing rivals for the vacant mayor position will win. Consequently, the six losers will feel sad after realizing that they did not win he people’s electoral vote. In the same light, there will be a winner in the fight to the death battle between King Arthur’s loyal knight, Gawain, and King Arthur’s traitor knight, Lancelot. Also, the story goes to say that Gawain lost the battle. Consequently, Gawain paid dearly for defending the king. Lancelot killed Gawain. Lancelot had to kill Gawain in order to prevent Gawain from vengefully pursuing the plan to Kill Lancelot. Since Gawain stated that Lancelot was a traitor and that Gawain was eager to kill Lancelot, Lancelot had to defend himself. Lancelot, just like any other person, would prefer to survive. Thus, Lancelot had no other choice but to save himself. To save himself, Lancelot took out Gawain’s life. Continuing with the Mordred story, King Arthur fumed mad when he learned of his trusted Knight Mordred’s disloyal act. King Arthur felt that Mordred’s disloyalty should not go unpunished. Line 2981 states “They made Mordred king with crown (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/).” Thus, King Arthur engaged the traitor, Mordred, in a battle to the death. The story states that Mordred’s power was no match against the overpowering strength of King Arthur. Consequently, Mordred was felled by King Arthur. King Arthur is happy to take back his beleaguered Castle from the clutches of the ungrateful and disloyal Mordred. By killing the new enemy, Mordred, King Arthur was able to save his wife, Queen Guinevere from the arms of the usurping Mordred (Stockwell 65). Lines 3392 -3393 states “He hit Mordred amid the breste and out at the backe bone him bore; There hath Mordred his life lost (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/),” Christian overtones. The story has Christian overtones. The Pope persuades King Arthur to take back his wife, Guinevere. The Christian Pope is only implementing the Catholic policy on marriage (Fenster 176). The Catholic Church espouses that a marriage contract is for life. The sentence means that divorce is not found in the Catholic dictionary. Since Guinevere and King Arthur are married, The Catholic Pope insists that the marriage between King Arthur and Guinevere is a lifetime contract. The marriage bows binds the two spouses together until one of the spouses dies. When one of the spouses dies, the surviving spouse is allowed to marry again. In the King Arthur story, the Catholic Church does not accept divorce as an alternative (Knox 515). Consequently, the Catholic Church does not allow adultery. The Catholic Church disapproves of married women having extramarital affairs. The Catholic Church Pope commands Lancelot to stop his illicit love affair with the married woman, Guinevere. The Pope prefers that Lancelot, a bachelor, seek another woman to love. Lancelot should have complied with the Catholic teachings. Lancelot should have reciprocated the woman who is madly in love with Lancelot. The woman is the maid who committed suicide. By reciprocating the woman’s true and undying love for Lancelot, Lancelot could have prevented the woman’s suicide. In addition, the King Arthur story ends with Lancelot metamorphosing from a knight to a man of God (Field 197). Lancelot decided to enter the monk state in order to seek forgiveness for his having an illicit affair with King Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. The story shows that when all else fails, one can always turn to God for help. In the story, Lancelot decides to be a monk in order to find divine peace. After realizing that Lancelot is the cause of King Arthur’s untimely early death, Lancelot shows repentance. The story shows that even the most evil men can repent for their illegal acts. Further, Guinevere also repents for her having an illicit affair (Ousby 269). After realizing that her being madly in love with Lancelot has caused King Arthur’s death, Guinevere implements a 180 degree love turn. Lancelot also does the same 180 degree love turn. The turn means that both lovers have decided to turn away from their illicit affair. By doing so, the two illicit lovers have decided to comply with the Catholic Church doctrine on marriage. Both Lancelot and Guinevere realize that no one should violate the Catholic policy that marriage is a lifelong affair. Summarizing the above discussion, the King Arthur story is a complicated tale. There are different themes in the King Arthur story. Specifically, the research centers on the many themes of the Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur portion of the King Arthur story. Evidently, the stanzaic King Arthur story espouses the necessity to implement chivalry’s Christian concepts, loyalty, trial, destiny, women’s role, commitatus, courtly love, journey and other related old English literature etiquette concepts. Works Cited Archibald, Elizabeth. The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. New York: University Press, 2009. Clark, David. Blood, Sex, Malory: Essays on the Morte Darthur. New York: Boydell Press, 2011. Das, Man. Gender Roes and Family Analysis. New York: MD Press, 1995. Edwards, Elizabeth. Genesis of Narrative Morte De Arthur. New York: Brewer Press, 2001. Fenster, Thelma. Arthurian Women. New York: Routledge Press, 1996. Field, Rosalind. Christianity and Romance in Medieval England. New York: Boydell Press, 2010. Goller, Karl. Morte Arthur. New York: Boydell Press, 1981. Knox, David. Choices in Relationships: An Introduction to Marriage and the Family. New York: Cengage Learning Press, 2010. Korrel, Peter. An Arthurian Triangle. New York: Brill Press, 1984. Ousby, Ian. The Cambride Guide to Literature in English. New York: University Press, 1993. Schultz, James. Courtly Love. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Stockwell, Anthony. A Companion to Malory. New York: Boydell Press, 1996. Takamiya, Toshiyuki. Aspects of Malory. New York: Boydell Press, 1981. Foster Edward, Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur, retrieved November 25, 2012 from Read More