Analysis: Betrayal in "Morte Darthur"

In the interests of keeping this blog alive, I have decided to start doing semi-regular updates. Since all my creative energy is spent writing up posts and essays for classes and thus being very much not put into my blog, I have decided that I shall kill two birds with one stone (not to be cliche or anything) and begin posting the most interesting of said posts and essays here to my blog. That way, I have a reason to revisit some of the thoughts and insights that I have surely forgotten in the interim, and my poor, lovely little blog gets updated more than once every three or four months.

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Betrayal in “Morte Darthur”
By Rachel Davidson
Originally written 17 September, 2009

When we read the words “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,” we tend to envision a band of men with a bond. They trust each other implicitly, having been in battle together, and they get along well in a ‘guy sort of way’. In the words of King Arthur himself, “…I am sorrier for my good knights’ loss than for the loss of my fair queen; for queens I might have enough, but such a fellowship of good knights shall never be together in no company (Malory, 307-308)” However, a reading of Morte Darthur gives us a very different perspective than what we would expect from the Round Table Knights. Not only are the men a bit less ‘macho’ than we tend to envision them (they seem to cry and faint a lot), but for a band of men that has traditionally been portrayed as having an unbreakable bond, the relationships between the Knights are filled with an inordinate amount of betrayal and subversion. Indeed, the main theme of the story is to warn against treachery and the subsequent mistrust that can only result in tragedy.

Within the first two pages, already we find that in their hatred, Sirs Agravain and Mordred have devised a plot to take both Queen Guinevere and the most-loved knight Sir Lancelot down by sowing seeds of mistrust in Arthur. They inform Arthur that Lancelot is Guinevere’s secret lover, and they convince Arthur to lay a trap for the two, a trap that Sir Bors, Lancelot’s nephew, tries to warn Lancelot about. “… I dread me sore of some treason…” Bors admits (Malory, 303). And indeed, these betrayals, both of Arthur by Lancelot in his relationship with Guinevere and of Lancelot and Guinevere by the two knights, have dire consequences. They result in the slaying of 13 of the Round Table’s number, the wounding of Mordred, and the retreat of Lancelot from the kingdom and the condemnation of the Queen to death.

These consequences in themselves would be drastic enough, but the effects are much larger and further reaching. Lancelot’s rescue of the condemned Queen results in the deaths of twenty-four more knights, including the inadvertent killing of two who were unarmed. This causes the King and Sir Gawain to plan revenge on Lancelot, who the King had once “loved… passingly well (Malory, 302).” Eventually, though a treaty is reached and Arthur and Lancelot part under peaceful, though strained, terms, Gawain remembers his vow to kill Lancelot and convinces Arthur to invade Lancelot’s new kingdom in France. While the King and his knights are away, Mordred once again plots a betrayal and takes the kingdom for himself, attacking the royal party on their return and killing Sir Gawain. Eventually a treaty is set up between Arthur and Mordred, and a meeting is arranged, but still neither trusts the other. Arthur warns his men, “Look ye come on fiercely and slay that traitor Sir Mordred, for I in no wise trust him (Malory, 310).” At the same time, Mordred states, “… in no wise I will not trust for this treatise… for I know well my father [Arthur] will be avenged upon me (Malory, 310).”

As it turns out, the tension between the two becomes too great, for now we see the pinnacle of Mordred’s traitorous acts through this entire tale. Both armies clash and all are killed, save Mordred, Arthur, and two of Arthur’s knights, both of whom are wounded. In his madness and against the counsel of his knights, Arthur rushes Mordred, and in the ensuing battle Mordred is killed and Arthur is mortally wounded. But as if a last insult is needed, in the end, even the most steadfast and heroic knight, Sir Bedivere, betrays Arthur by planning to keep Excalibur hidden away for himself instead of returning it to the lady in the lake as the dying Arthur has bidden. The simple action that Mordred set in place in the beginning of the story has now escalated and had incredibly far-reaching consequences, consequences that neither he nor Arthur could ever have expected.

This is the warning of Morte Darthur: the actions of one or two can take down entire kingdoms. A single act of treachery by one person against another affects more than just the two who are initially involved; it tears apart friendships and camaraderie, trust is forever broken, and relationships suffer. In the end, one or both may die, perhaps not physically, but something inside will be lost forever. And if we fail to heed this warning, just as when Arthur attacked Mordred despite the warnings and the counsel of his knights, the consequences could be devastating.

Reference:

Malory, Sir Thomas. “Morte Darthur.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen, and M.H. Abrams. 8th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2006. 299-318