The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [459]
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries we see the heyday of that greatest cycle of mediaeval storytelling, originally derived from British legend and set in an imaginary Britain of the dark ages, but developed to some of its highest literary expressions in France and Germany: the complex of stories centred round the life and reign of the fabulous King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. So rich was the imagery of chivalry and romance conjured up by these tales that they would continue to inspire poets, composers, painters and film-makers for centuries to come; not least through some of those subsidiary stories which grew out of the main narrative, such as the quest for the Holy Grail, the tragedy of Tristan and Isolde, the rebirth and redemption story of Parsifal. But the central story of the life of Arthur himself falls into three main stages. The first is the archetypal Rags to Riches story of Arthur's initial emergence from obscurity, until he is established in his role as an idealised `Good King: The second includes all the different stories centring on Camelot and that shining image of the Self, the Round Table, around which his legendary knights are drawn together, and from which they can then sally forth to perform their chivalric tasks, such as rescuing `damsels in distress' or seeking the Grail. But the closing stage of the story shows Arthur's kingdom beginning to decay and lose its unifying power. This includes the episodes describing how Arthur falls out irreparably with his most loved knight, Sir Lancelot, who has been locked in the long-standing love affair with Arthur's Queen Guinivere which is eventually to end for both on a note of wistful tragedy. Before this, however, comes the strange episode which marks the end of Arthur's own long, heroic life.
A shadow has intruded on the ageing king, that of his nephew Mordred, his name echoing that of death. In a premonitory fit of dread, Arthur had sought to preserve his kingdom by ordering that a group of children should be sent into exile on a ship, which is then wrecked. The only survivor of this wreck, unknown to Arthur, is Mordred, who grows up in secret until, now a man, he returns with a foreign army to seek vengeance. So successfully does Mordred win over the people that he is crowned king, forcing Arthur to retreat deep into the west of his island kingdom. In a final great battle, sometimes interpreted as the last stand of Celtic Britain against the advancing Saxon invaders. Arthur strikes down the usurper. But, just as Beowulf is mortally wounded in his victorious battle with the dragon, Arthur too is dealt a fatal wound. Just as Beowulf loses his great sword, so Arthur now orders the faithful Sir Bedevere to throw his mighty sword Excalibur into a western lake, where it is caught by an arm clothed in white samite and drawn down into the depths. Then in the mists across the lake comes a boat draped in deepest black, crewed by three weeping feminine figures. Arthur enters the boat and disappears from view into the mist and gathering darkness. The storytellers suppose that he passed from there into the mysterious Isle of Avalon, where it is eternal summer. But folklore also dictates that, when his nation again one day has need of its greatest hero, he will return.
The odd thing about this ending is that, although the story grows out of the heart of the Christian Middle Ages and is so full of Christian imagery, there should be so little that is overtly Christian about Arthur's death. Certainly, archetypally, the closing episodes of his life provide echoes of the death of Beowulf. Both are great heroes who, when full of years, are confronted by a treacherous enemy representing death. Each in his last great battle is mortally