How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
[…] ‘ Seeing that thy realm
Hath prosper’d in the name of Christ, the King
Took, as in rival heat, to holy things,
And finds himself descended from the Saint
Arimathaean Joseph; him who first
Brought the great faith to Britain over seas.’
(“Balin and Balan,” 95-100)
The messengers make King Pellam’s conversion seem more than a little opportunistic: he sees that Arthur’s kingdom has done well under Christ and longs to get in on the action. Saying King Pellam “finds himself” descended from Joseph of Arimathea undermines the validity of his claim. It’s as though he kind of just decided to start saying he was a relative independent of any outside confirmation.
Quote #2
‘He boasts his life as purer than thine own;
Eats scarce enow to keep his pulse a-beat;
Hath push’d aside his faithful wife, nor lets
Or dame or damsel enter at his gates
Lest he should be polluted . […]
[…] after, when we sought
The tribute answer’d, “I have quite foregone
All matters of this world.”’
(“Balin and Balan,” 101-105, 112-114)
Pellam’s claim that his life is “purer” than Arthur’s sets up a contrast between their two brands of religiosity. Pellam embraces strict asceticism, chastity, and total withdrawal from the world, which causes him to forego his obligation to pay tribute to Arthur. By contrast, Arthur’s religiousness manifests itself as living one’s principles in the world, which also means that it encompasses political action, too.
Quote #3
Then turning to her squire, ‘This fire of Heaven,
This old sun-worship, boy, will rise again,
And beat the cross to earth, and break the King
And all his table.’
(“Balin and Balan,” 450-453)
Vivien has just sung a song describing her spirituality, which rejects the “mumbling” worship of monks and nuns and embraces the “fire within thy blood” (446). Vivien seems to ascribe to a kind of hedonistic animism, revering nature and all its processes—including sex—as desirable and good. The King and the Round Table, by contrast, try to live by principles that require them to control their animalistic impulses. This is why Vivien refers to her religion as breaking the King and his table (his knights).