The Origin of the Knight Standard
With the genesis of The Renaissance era, comes the creation of the knight standard. Although there are many benefits with being in association of the renowned round table, various trials are bestowed upon these brave men. In the fantasy fiction novel, The Once and Future King, the knights are depicted as highly chivalrous and barbaric simultaneously through T.H. White’s illustration of the flawed chivalric code and the unrealistic expectations of perfection from society.
T.H. White portrays the idea that all knights are morally obligated to live by a chivalric code. He idealizes this by making sure that “those who lived by the sword were forced to die by it,” and with that knights are committed to their
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White produces in the lifetime of King Arthur. The Holy Grail fundamentally delineates the perfection of a knights martial ability and the “perfection of spiritual capacities” (Collins). Once a knight successfully achieves this nature of perfection, he has nowhere else to go, so he dies. Since the knight reached the ultimate purpose of his life, he receives the greatest reward of being with god. In, The Once and Future King, absolutely all of the knights must strive to reach the perfection and direct their violence and power towards a spiritual end. Arthur sends his own knights out on a quest to find The Holy Grail in high hopes that the search may teach them to morality and justice, however out of the three knights that eventually discover the Grail, only one returns. The other two knights, Sir Percival and Sir Galahad, suit to be “too perfect” for life itself and are inadequate to apply their achieved perfection for justice in the realm (Collins). Thus, The Holy Grail, constitutes not only spiritual perfection, but also the human perfection Arthur presumes is fundamental to humanity. Arthur convinces not only himself, but society around him, that “the best knights had gone to perfection” and that “man is ultimately good” (Collins). This assumption turns out to be false, as a perfect man cannot exist. Sir Galahad and Percival’s death proves this when