Post #3

Wednesday’s class with Ms. McClure was very enlightening and brought up a lot of interesting sub-topics to the Arthurian legend. One I found really intriguing and that also relates back to something we have been discussing all semester, the body of the Queen, Specifically the body politic. In Morte D’Arthur, Arthur seems not to have any problem with the love affair happening between Lancelot and Guinevere. However, when Mordred and Agravaine formally accuse the Queen, Arthur is forced to react because the affair is treasonous and if Arthur is seen to accept his cuckold’s horns, he would have been viewed as an unworthy and weak King. This illustrates the point that the Queen’s body is not her own but belongs to the state, even before her husband. The affront Arthur is meaningless, it is the affront to the state that is high treason.

             Meanwhile, Arthur does things that do not portray him in a very positive light, (the killing of all first born sons and the illegitimate son, Bors, he fathers) but his deeds seem overlooked or passed over lightly in the text. It seems as though the King himself is allowed to be imperfect, immoral or even murderous but the only consequences he is faced with are from indiscretions committed by those around him. It seems to me that this goes back to the body politic as well. The fact that what actually brings Arthur down are the people around him, even though he has done plenty that should have been his own un-doing.