I have a couple questions concerning the actions that lead to Arthurs death. Towards the end of the story we see that Arthur has two dreams that deal with his death. In one he sits in a chair on a wheel, “…And the king thought there was under him, far from him, an hideous deep black water, and therein was all manner of serpents and worms and wild beasts, foul and horrible. And suddenly the king thought that the wheel turned up-so-down, and he fell among the serpents, and every beast took him by a limb” (300). In the other dream we see that Gawain visits Arthur and warns him of his death unless Arthur creates a treaty with Mordred. What do you think motivated Arthur to duel Sir Mordred even though Arthur knew through these dreams and visions that he was probably going to die? Do you think it has something to do with the death of Gawain and the fate of Lancelot/The Round Table? Or do you think it was a personal motivation for Arthur?
King Arthur & His World
ENGL 361 | Spring 2019 | Dr. Myra Seaman
During the final battle with Mordred, Arthur says, “Now tide me death, tide me life… now I see [Mordred] yonder alone, he shall never escape mine hands. For at a better avail shall I never have him” (304). From this sentence, we can deduce that at the ends of it all, defeating Mordred becomes more important to Arthur than his own life. Again, I think the value of honor in this society is what motivates this. Mordred dishonored Arthur; he took his kingdom and even tried to take his wife. Reinstating his honor by killing Mordred is his ultimate goal, even though he knows that it will likely result in his death. I do think that the other thing at play here is the sense of fate that runs through most of the Arthur legends. The wheel of fortune is a motif for a reason – what goes up must come down, and so Arthur must come down as well.
Fate playing a role seems to be repeated theme. Lancelot as well as Guenivere knew that she was going to die. Lancelot had dreams that told him Guenivere was going to die before he reached her. She did not do anything to cause her death, I don’t know if Mallory is saying Arthur would have died no matter what because thats fate. I think Arthur killed Mordred because so many of his men died. Mallory writes “Then was King Arthur wood wroth out of measure, when he saw his people so slain from him. And so he looked about and could see no more of all his host, and good knights left no more on live but two knights” (303) King Arthur is extremely angry but it is because his men have been killed in battle. It is ironic because he is ignoring advice told to him similarly to Sir Agravain. But similarly to Sir Agravain I don’t think King Arthur is necessarily wrong. He is displaying love for his fellow knights and it’s possibly even self sacrificing.
I agree with the responses before me in that Arthur was justifiably angry at Mordred, and that’s what led him to act, but I also think there’s more to it than that. Time and time again we’ve seen Arthur do what’s wisest for his people and court, while his knights are more driven by emotion. So to me, it doesn’t quite make sense that anger is his sole reason for this action. There is a moving scene right before Arthur and Mordred’s final battle when Arthur looks around him and “could see no more of all his host, and good knights left no more on live” (303). When Arthur looks up and sees Mordred, he immediately recognizes him as “the traitor that all this woe hath wrought” (303). He knows Mordred is responsible for not only this destruction on the battlefield, but also all manner of unholy things in Arthur’s rightful kingdom. Arthur claims that Mordred “shall never escape mine hands” (304) and yes I think this partfully due to his anger, but it’s also what he sees as his only path to protecting his kingdom further from this traitor. He claims “for at a better avail I shall never have him” (304), so he logically knows that this is the best time to kill Mordred and hopefully avoid further destruction to his kingdom. Arthur is again putting his kingdom first, even if it’s his final act.
I agree with the responses before me as well. Arthur surely remembers that it was Mordred who, together with Agravain, first raised suspicions about Lancelot and Guinevere. He is certainly intelligent enough to put together by now how the conflict has benefitted Mordred politically and that Mordred was likely acting out of self-interest all along. After all, Mordred stole Arthur’s kingdom and tried to marry his queen. While fighting to reclaim the throne, Arthur doesn’t speak of the good of the kingdom or of justice. He focuses on how he has been personally wronged. I think he believes he is in the right and that God will therefore be on his side. The warning was not to fight in the morning; it’s possible that just by waiting this long, he’d already avoided the fate from the dream. He knows Lancelot will probably come and could easily beat Mordred, but HE wants to be the one to face him, even if he could die. When the fight is first arranged “King Arthur was passing glad that he might be avenged on Sir Mordred” (300). Later, he refers to Mordred as “that traiter…that hath caused all this mischief” (303). I think Arthur realizes that Mordred deliberately provoked a war with Lancelot for his own political advancement. When he spots him, he says “Now tide me death, tide me life…he shall never escape mine hands” (305). I don’t think he’d make such a passionate statement if it was just about justice. It’s about all the pain he has caused to Arthur. Arthur has lost friends and his wife, and with his friends’ deaths he has lost military strength. Sir Lucan also speaks of Arthur being “revenged” upon Mordered (303). I think at this point Arthur has realized Mordred is to blame for everything, and he wants revenge for all that Mordred has taken from him.
My interpretation of the Reading was Arthur was motivated by the idea of trial by combat. If he was able to beat Mordrid in combat then all the world would know that he was God’s chosen ruler. Another thing that may have inspired him to go through with the fight is the weapon he chose to use. Spear almost always beats sword in one on one combat. This is a lost bit of common knowledge, but readers during Malory’s time would have known it. Therefore Arthur disregarded his two visions because he thought two things; God was on his side and he had the advantage. However, God was on neither side because both Arthur and Mordred ended up dead after hand to hand combat between the two men. What Malory might have been doing with the story is giving a critique on ideas of justice during the middle especially when considering the practice of trial by combat. I think Malory was trying to say there is more to right and wrong than just God’s will which is a highly compelling idea to hear from him since he wrote this story while imprisoned.