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.