Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D Arthur

Sir Thomas Malory’s world was falling apart. He, a 15th century knight, had been involved in a war, accused of crimes, jailed, shunned, and pardoned. Dutifully, he switched sides on the war, following his earl. During this tumultuous time, Malory collected all the random stories of King Arthur into one somewhat cohesive novel. Since he was writing the stories 1000 years after they took place, there are some cultural anachronisms, but Malory was the first person to successfully join all the loose ends of the stories that had been handed down for generations. What results is a riveting tale about kings; the knights of Arthur’s round table, and most importantly the moral society Arthur tries to establish. This tale is called Le Morte d’Arthur.

After the war with the twelve kings, he and his wife Gwynevere begin their ruling with peace. They establish a code of conduct for all knights to follow. “…[Queen Gwynevere] commanding that henceforth he should always spare those who begged for mercy, and always put the service of the ladies foremost.” (Malory p 47) Here Gwynevere, along with Arthur’s help, establishes the rules of the Round Table for all the Knights, as she reprimands Sir Gawain. Arthur is hopeful that if all the knights follow these two simple rules, there will be no more quarrels among his men, but peace and morality. Things start out well for Arthur’s society, but soon enough sin takes over and people fall to evil. Sir Launcelot, Arthur’s most trusted, skilled, and noble knight, has an ongoing affair with Gwynevere and does not repent until his deathbed. Eventually, there is revenge, adultery, lying, and killing among the once-united brothers of the Round Table. This moral society failed not because the rules were flawed, but because the people following the rules were flawed. Since all humans are sinful, a moral society set up on earth will never completely

By attempting this, he showed that he cared about being moral and the well being of his knights. Instead of giving up on rules and falling into sin, he made an effort. This is a perfect example for modern Christians. Arthur was not perfect. He was human. He sinned. This sin did not stop him from repenting and trying again to better himself. By setting up the rules, he was showing his determination to improve his maturity in faith, even though he often failed. King Mark on the other hand completely did away with rules and did not try to follow them. Christians should not imitate his example. Once a person is saved, he or she should have renewed energy and vigor to try to follow God’s rules because he or she loves him, not because he or she is trying to be perfect to get into heaven. A Christian knows that Christ’s redemption is all that was needed for their sins to be wiped away. As a Christian, King Arthur realized this and even though his human attempts were flawed his motivations were moral. Although a moral society is unattainable, and humans are sinful, Christians must try to always imitate Jesus and King Arthur’s examples, by attempting to set up rules and follow them as best as they