I just wanted to get in one final thought on the passage in Malory where Lancelot weeps. Honestly, I hadn’t given it that much consideration until we looked at the passage in class. However, the metaphor of Lancelot weeping “like a child being beaten” has been on my mind since we all talked about it. I found an interesting article on the subject by Stephen C. B. Atkinson entitled “Malory's "Healing of Sir Urry": Lancelot, the Earthly Fellowship, and the World of the Grail” (Studies in Philology 78. 4, Autumn, 1981, pp. 341-352). Basically, Atkinson lays out a few different readings of the scene: Lancelot weeps for mercy because his secret remains intact; Lancelot weeps for joy; Lancelot weeps because he is successful at this task, unlike the Grail quest; Lancelot’s weeping is actually Malory interjecting his own emotion into the text, crying over the forthcoming destruction of the Round Table society, etc.
In his own reading, Atkinson suggests that Lancelot weeps “like a child being beating” because he experiences a severe spiritual mercy. Lancelot demurs from healing Urry because he recognizes that it is a spiritual and not earthly quest, like the grail quest. Thus, he feels morally unworthy because of his secret relationship with Guinevere. As Atkinson writes,
“The real origin of Lancelot's concern lies in the Grail quest. If we recall the words of the recluse who interpreted for Lancelot the allegory behind the tournament of the black and white knights-which Lancelot, significantly, entered "in incresyng of hys shevalry" (931.25)-we can see that Lancelot's hesitation here stems from his recognition that this adventure demands spiritual, not earthly, resources. On the earlier occasion, the recluse told him: "as longe as ye were knyght of erthly knyghthode ye were the moste mervayloust man of the worlde, and moste adventurest. Now ... sitthen ye be sette amonge the knyghtis of hevynly adventures, if adventure falle you contrary . . . yet have ye no mervayle . . (933.9-14). Lancelot sees the healing of Urry not as a question of worldly fellowship but as a test of heavenly chivalry, and the presumption he seeks to avoid is not that of claiming to be the noblest of the earthly fellowship but of claiming to be a knight of heavenly adventures. Hence his speech to Urry: "For I shame sore with myselff that I shulde be thus requyred, for never was I able in worthynes to do so hyghe a thynge" (1152.13-15). The key here is the word "hyghe," which Lancelot used at the opening of the seventh tale to refer to the demands of the Grail quest-"the hyghe servyse in whom I dud my dyligente laboure" (1046.14-15)…. As evidence of God's mercy, both to Urry and to himself, the healing brings home to Lancelot the supreme benevolence of the power he has rebelled against.”
I find Atkinson’s interpretation of the scene convincing. Certainly, Lancelot experiences an intense, and intensely personal, moment in the healing of Urry. Reading Lancelot’s tears and the violent metaphor as a mercy from God that is so benevolent it hurts certainly elucidates the metaphor, and is in keeping with the other spiritual elements in the text.
Thanks for sharing that article, Amanda! I agree with you and Atkinson. I, like you, didn't think much of the scene upon first reading; I assumed that Lancelot was just piously faklempt; but for him to be sorrowful and full of penitent grief rather than simply overwhelmed is really a beautiful addition to the text.
ReplyDeleteI remember a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about Lancelot disguising himself so he could go around battling other RT knights and talking smack about Camelot, and Usha suggested that Lancelot was reacting to a great deal of psychological pressure (he is driven by all his ideals, inc. honor and reputation, to succeed, but every time he succeeds the inviolability of his reputation increases). My thought then was, yeah, that makes sense, but is Malory really going there? And now I think he totally might have been going there. I'm looking forward to rereading the Morte Darthur with a new appreciation of Malory's psychological subtlety.
I agree very much with Atkinson as well. It really is a nice take on the scene, and it really brings it to life.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I cannot help but think of how the scene was used in "The Once and Future King." The scene in the context of White's text made it much more heavy handed with the guilt concept. It seemed as if Lancelot wept because he did not feel he should have been forgiven and allowed to do this miracle. I also felt that the scene was suffocating in a sense, because Lancelot was trying to get away from it all. He did not seem to want to be forgiven because he knew what he was doing was wrong, and in that sense, I think there was some hostility there.
It is similar to what Atkinson was saying,but a little different...right?
Thanks for the post Amanda! I think this is one of the most beautiful passages in Malory. Of course there's the the biblical tie (Jesus wept) but there is something about it in it's own right that is moving. This psychological breakdown you've given us definitely helps pinpoint what iti is that makes it an important passage.
ReplyDeleteAshley, I am pretty sure it's not similar, it's the same. White loved psychology, but unless he was being cheeky he usually phrased it in terms the characters themselves could understand, like religion or ethics. Speaking for Lancelot's mind in that scene, White using the religious guilt to talk about how Lancelot feels (and it's quite beautiful too... I think you were the one who mentioned it quotes almost directly from Malory at this point?). But if that passage were "on the couch", as I think White hoped it would be, then the same psychological reading would emerge. The mercy from God is overwhelming and painful, Lancelot doesn't feel he deserves it but wants it very badly. He knows his downfall at this point, and yet receives a miracle anyway. It makes the remainder of the story, and the fall of the fellowship, even more painful I think.
Yeah, I guess you're right, Hannah. I really was just rephrasing, haha. But I think you're right. It really does make the rest of the story much more painful. Lancelot becomes the physical example of the court because he is torn a part by what he wants and what he feels is right. Is this not the premise on which a lot of the characters act? If you think of the court as a circle (ha), with Arthur at the center who stands for what is right, the other knights pull a part from him to follow that they want or feel they deserve.
ReplyDeletewhat a great image Ashley!
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