How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
And Arthur said, ‘Man’s word is God in man.’
(“Coming of Arthur,” 132)
This principle, which Arthur first articulates to Lancelot when he swears undying love and trust for him, is the one that guides Arthur’s hand in everything. It means that a person’s word is an absolute and omnipotent moral code governing every little thing that he does. Arthur does not say that man’s word should be God in man; he says it is, reflecting his optimism about human nature. This belief causes him to structure his kingdom around oaths and vows and to trust his knights implicitly, perhaps more than he should.
Quote #2
Then the King in low deep tones,
And simple words of great authority,
Bound them by so strait vows to his own self,
That when they rose, knighted, from kneeling, some
Were pale as at the passing of a ghost,
Some flush’d, and others dazed, as one who wakes
Half-blinded at the coming of a light.
(“Coming of Arthur,” 259-265)
This passage describes how Arthur binds his knights to him by vows. What’s interesting is that it focuses not on the content of those vows, but on their effect on the knights who take them. It seems to be a profound spiritual experience for them, and they emerge either “flush’d” and “dazed.” Later Arthur’s gatekeeper will describe these vows as an “enchantment.” All of these words reflect an understanding of the vows as something not at all natural, perhaps because they force the knights to resist their natural instincts (read: lust).
Quote #3
Said Arthur: ‘Thou hast ever spoken truth;
Thy too fierce manhood would not let thee lie.
Rise, my true knight. As children learn, be thou
Wiser for falling! walk with me, and move
To music with thine Order and the King.’
(“Balin and Balan,” 71-75)
Since Arthur believes in man’s perfect honesty, he thinks Balin’s “fierce manhood” will not allow him to lie. We beg to differ, of course. But Another one of Arthur’s principles is that people have unlimited potential for improvement and can learn from their mistakes, which is why he takes Balin back into the court here. The “music” to which Arthur refers is the principles of the order of knighthood, by which he requires all his knights to live.
Quote #4
And Merlin call’d it ‘the Siege Perilous,’
Perilous for good and ill; ‘for there,’ he said,
‘No man could sit but he should lose himself:’
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat
In his own chair, and so was lost; but he,
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin’s doom,
Cried, ‘If I lose myself, I save myself!’
(“The Holy Grail,” 172-178)
Here Galahad expresses the principle by which he lives: “If I lose myself, I save myself.” This maxim is a paradox that expresses the heart of Christian mystical belief: the soul must entirely give up its attachments and individuality in order to be perfectly united with God. Galahad must be willing to “lose himself” to gain salvation.
Quote #5
>[…] ‘My God, the power
Was once in vows when men believed the King!
They lied not then who sware, and thro’ their vows
The King prevailing made his realm.’
(“The Last Tournament,” 643-646)
Isolt precisely expresses the reason faith in Arthur is essential to the continuation of his realm. When men “believe” the king, or hold him true, their vows are true. He serves, in other words, as a guarantor of the truth of all men.
Quote #6
[…] ‘The vows!
O, ay—the wholesome madness of an hour—
They served their use, their time; for every knight
Believed himself a greater than himself,
And every follower eyed him as a God;
Till he, being lifted up beyond himself,
Did mightier deeds than elsewise he had done,
And so the realm was made.’
(“The Last Tournament,” 669-676)
In response to Isolt, Tristram gives his “theory” of how Arthur’s kingship worked, stating that the vows with which Arthur bound his men to him somehow elevated him to the level of a God, enabling him to do godly deeds. But who is it that believes “himself a greater than himself”? Is it Arthur or his knights? Arthur believes his knights’ vows makes them better versions of themselves, so both meanings of “himself” are possible in this passage, although Tristram would probably beg to differ.
Quote #7
‘For feel this arm of mine—the tide within
Red with free chase and heather-scented air,
Pulsing full man; can Arthur make me pure
As any maiden child? lock up my tongue
From uttering freely what I freely hear?
Bind me to one? The wide world laughs at it.’
(“The Last Tournament,” 685-690)
Tristram questions Arthur’s authority to bind a man to vows that are antithetical to his nature, which he describes as “pulsing full man.” Of course, Arthur believes his vows make people more fully human. So what’s at issue here is not just Arthur’s authority to hold people to vows, but also the definition of what it means to be human.
Quote #8
‘I made them lay their hands in mine and swear
To reverence the King, as if he were
Their conscience, and their conscience as their King,
To break the heathen and uphold the Christ,
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs,
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it,
To honor his own word as if his God’s
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity.’
(“Guinevere,” 664-671)
Ironically, we only learn what the knights’ vows actually consisted of after they have all been broken. A lot of these seem pretty uncontroversial: of course you need to police your realm and make your knights swear to redress wrongs, obey their king as their conscience, and be honest. But the vow to neither speak nor listen to slander is interesting, especially since it’s the slander about Guinevere and Lancelot (whether true or not) that the Idylls show creeping throughout the knighthood and the realm and destroying it little by little. Earlier Tristram has questioned the fairness of a vow that prevents people from freely repeating what they’ve “freely heard.” In the end, the intention behind speech may be what makes it slander. Arthur’s vow may only seek to prevent maliciously inspired speech.
Quote #9
‘To love one maiden only, cleave to her,
And worship her by years of noble deed,
Until they won her; for indeed I knew
Of no more subtle master under heaven,
Than is the maiden passion for a maid,
Not only to keep down the base in man,
But teach high thought, and amiable words
And courtliness, and the desire of fame,
And love of truth, and all that makes a man.
(“Guinevere,” 472-480)
Arthur reveals the logic behind his whole monogamy requirement for his knights, which is founded on the way he idealizes women and a man's love for them. He believes that love for a woman inspires a man to tamp down his passions and embrace courteous behavior, honesty, and concern for his good reputation. Putting such a strong emphasis on the idealization of women is quite risky, of course. When Guinevere turns out to be flawed, the whole Round Table collapses around her.