Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Idylls of the King, Part I: The Coming of Arthur

I think there is a lot of intended ambiguity in this section. While the language Tennyson uses to talk about the coming of Arthur is grand, there are other characters that come along and challenge the legitimacy of his rule and the truth of the story about his ascension. The queen observes his fairness, and remarks that Gorlois and Uther and she herself were all darker of complexion. Later she asks Merlin if the story is true and he merely answers with a riddle...So is the story true? Is Arthur's rule legitimate? This is all pretty ambiguous...But he does seem to have the respect of his knights, who defend him from "slander," and he does get to mary Guinevere. It will be interesting to see how his character develops.

Idylls of the King is available for free as a kindle book from Amazon.com, or through Google Books.

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