14.

pdf

Anónimo

Estudios Culturales en Lengua Inglesa I

1º Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filología
Universidad de Sevilla

Reservados todos los derechos.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 Arthurian Myth: Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur, XXI (1485)

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
We are in front of a fictional text written in prose. Le Morte D’Arthur was one of the 8 books
in which was divided the nouvel of the history of King Arthur. The text was written in Middle
English by Sir Thomas Malory. He was an author, but he was also a sheriff, escheator and he
participated in The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 English king Edward III against the Aul
Alliance) in Gascony (1337), where he acquired a wide knowledge of south-west. He was
jailed for a long list of crimes including the attempted murder of Buckingham, and he wrote
Le Morte D’ Arthur in prison. The book was written in the years of the War of the Roses
(1455-1485) with the confrontation between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

Reservados todos los derechos.

Malory's Book of King Arthur and of his Noble Nights of the Round Table was finally printed
in 1485 when the War of the Roses (1455-85), between the House of York (white rose) and
the House of Lancaster (red rose), ended with the battle of Bosworth (1485). The cause of the
war was the deposition of the previous king Richard II (1377-99 a York) by Henry IV (the
father of Henry V who was a Lancaster). When Richard III from the House of York was
defeated and killed in this battle, the war finished, and the dynasty of the Tudors begun to
reign in England under the rule of Henry VII (1485-1509 a Lancaster who married Elisabeth
of the House of York to secure his position in the crown). Malory’ book was one of the first
books printed when the printing press was introduced in England. It was very popular, a best
seller because now more people could afford a book. Malory wanted to tell the whole story of
King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.

Therefore, the protagonists of this text are them, highlighting the figure of the semi-legendary
hero Arthur. He was born In Cornwall (South-west of Britain) and despite his father was
Pendragon, Merlin was who raised him as his own child. Tradition presents two different
versions of his accession to the throne. In the first version, the sword Excalibur was placed in
a stone and only the person who could pull it out could become the next king; Arthur did it
and was crowned. In the second version, and the version which this text makes reference, the
lady and the lake.
History presents him as the British king who led the resistance against several invading
forces, including the Saxons and Jutes (Battle of Mount Badon in 490-517 for example, which
the Britons won under his leadership. This was shown in Gilda’s text, De excidio Britanniae),
around the 5th and 6th centuries. The historical origin of the hero was Wales that belonged to

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4630710
 Britons in the Anglo-Saxon period. However, legends and romances placed him later in time,
but he was also characterized as a fierce warrior and successful in battle. As the author said
(Chapter VI, l.17-18) he collected the legend of King Arthur from other books. Those books
were De excidio Britanniae by Gildas (c.540), Historia Brittonum by Nennius (9th c.), and
Historia Regum Brittannia by Geoffrey of Monmouth (1130-36)
Stories portrayed him as a good king who defended Britain not only from humans but also

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
from supernatural enemies. King Arthur was canonized as the model of chivalry and the good
way of government by the nobility. He became a political topic since the Tudors monarchs
were associated with Arthur. His popularity has reached today that artistic or cinematographic
works are still made on his figure.

The text itself talked about Arthur’s death, his bury, and the opinion of society before his
death. However, the cultural topic of the text is chivalry. In the medieval ages, born a literary
genre of high culture. It was chivalric romance, which could be written in prose or verse. The

Reservados todos los derechos.

chivalric stories were fantastic narrative set in a courtly world and an enchanted ground. Their
protagonists were knights, noblemen or not, who were good soldiers on horsebacks and they
sought adventures in wars, tournaments, or courtly games. They fought in the name of the
love they professed to one lady (their hearts were loyal to only one woman). The knights were
supposed to be adventurers who wanted to live numerous feats to tell. That is why when
Arthur was about to die and Sir Bedivere did not know what to do after his departure, Arthur
said, “do as well as thou mayst” (Chapter V, l. 63). As errant values established, Bedivere now
had to find his own way.

All of these knights-errant had in common several heroic qualities: they were portrayed as
skillful and brave people: Sir Lucan and Sir Bedivere fought together to protect his lord.
Despite Sir Lucan’s death, they showed ability and valor in combat. (Chapter V, l. 3-4).
Besides, the intelligence as an ability is showed in the text when Arthur knew twice that Sir
Bedivere lied about the sword and when he knew he said the truth: “That is untruly said of
thee” (Chapter V, l. 28), “thou betrayed me twice.” (Chapter V, l. 36).
They also represented the virtues of a courtly world and the purity in their actions. They were
compassionate: Arthur mourned Sir Lucan's death when he said “this noble duke so die for
my sake” (Chapter V, l. 9) or “now Jesu have mercy upon his soul” (Chapter V, l. 11) and
loyal too. Loyalty is quite important in these warriors. They served a lord, usually a king or
nobleman, whom they had to obey. In this case, Sir Bedivere had to obey King Arthur when

Descarga la app de Wuolah desde tu store favorita

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4630710
 he ordered him to take his sword Excalibur and throw it into the water. However, Sir Bedivere
disobeyed him, and Kind Arthur reminded his noble position. To be noble he had to be loyal
and he was not being loyal (Chapter V, l. 37 “and thou art named a noble”.). Nevertheless,
when Arthur died, Sir Bedivere swore to spend the rest of the days of his life together with his
lord. He would be loyal to his lord also after his death (Chapter VI, l. 15-16.) The nobility
appropriated the term and the model as the representation of its own class. They used this

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
against the growing bourgeois class in order to distinguish themselves from them.

The point of view is important. The speaker shows the beliefs of the protagonists through
their words. Arthur, Sir Bedivere and Sir Lucan acted moved by the order of chivalry. This
also happens with Charlemagne and the twelve peers of France and Alexander the Great King,
Troilus and Criseyde of Rome. Furthermore, the protagonist of the text were Christians and
that was the religion which predominated in English society, which thought that “by the will
of our Lord Jesu” he could come back one day and “win the holy cross” (Chapter VII, l. 3). Its

Reservados todos los derechos.

influence is also visualized in the text because Arthur’s body was buried in a chapel and he
said “now Jesus have mercy upon his soul” (Chapter V, l. 11).

Not only does Arthur represent a medieval role model, but also Richard the Lionheart (1189-
1199) just like King Arthur was modeled after chivalry. Both were Christians and they
defended their religion in holy wars and Britain from the enemies who tried to conquer them.
The nobility will take them as their role model and as the model of the king that they would
like to have on the throne in contrast to the tyrannical King John, who was the prototype of
the opposite of what Arthur and Richard represented. Specifically, the Tudor monarch
appropriated of the figure of King Arthur and presented themselves as heirs to his ideal of
good government.

Descarga la app de Wuolah desde tu store favorita

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4630710