The question of how the knights may prove themselves as Christian men of might and lordly loyalty yet negotiate courtly love ethics is important to Malory, rather than the Camelot kingdom's ethics and laws as in Tennyson. Also, the French tales adapted by Malory for his story were more fascinated and focused upon the character of the French Lancelot and Lancelot's relationship with Queen Guinevere. These were seen as embodying Christian courtly love ideals as well as being adulterous. The noble French Lancelot...

This is seen as somewhat sublime albeit foolhardy by the author Malory. But this act provokes mostly outrage and nationalist pride in Tennyson instead. Tennyson crafts poems that give greater significance to the coming of Arthur at the earlier parts of the saga, and the implications of Arthur for England. Above all, the "Idylls of the King" are a tale of Arthur and England, while Malory, despite the name of the Englishman's saga, is not about "The Death of Arthur" but how Arthurian ideals impact the lives of Arthur's knights.