Arthur King Reaction to \"Arthur

Arthur King

Reaction to "Arthur Becomes King"

The actual coronation of Arthur, though an essential part of the story of his kingship and the culmination of a larger section of the story of Arthur's youth and his rise to the throne, is surprisingly brief and understated compared to many of the other sections in the story, The portions that Mallory lingers over and the ones he seems to rush through seem to bear little relation to the modern conventions of storytelling and the emphases that modern culture and literature would find in the story of Arthur. The pomp and ceremony of his actually crowning, though mentioned and briefly described, takes up almost no room in Mallory's account, whereas several chapters of the first book of his Le Morte d'Arthur -- a section several times longer than that describing the actual coronation -- is devoted to the description of Arthur's pulling the sword from the stone and the circumstances leading up to this coronation. The differences in the ways these different parts of the story are told are perhaps reflective of Mallory's intent in telling the story.

The de-emphasis of King Arthur's coronation, especially in light of the length of time spent describing Arthur's repeated successful attempts at drawing the mythical sword out of the stone in the churchyard, seems to suggest that Arthur's humble origins rather than his royal qualities are the important aspects of his character. Although he is Uther Pendragon's son, he is not initially given over to the pride and other excesses of his position as a monarch, as his father was. He is entirely humble in his ability to draw the sword out of the stone, and is dismayed when his father and brother bow to him, reluctant to be King.

The brevity of the coronation description and its essential blandness -- there is little sense of the lavishness of the ceremony -- further reinforces the importance of Arthur's more humbled background. Merlin is also conspicuously absent from the coronation scene, removing the supernatural element of Arthur's rise to the throne and crown that is otherwise instrumental in much of the story. Arthur is shown not as singled out in this scene so much as he is surrounded by other nobles of a similar position, and though they are paying him obeisance and apologizing for the delay in bringing Arthur to the throne, there is a sense of collective endeavor and almost equality in this scene that makes it quite odd for the scene of Arthur's true ascension to power. The list of officers that Arthur creates immediately following his coronation really emphasizes this last point, making it clear that Arthur does not intend to rule single-handedly, but rather that he recognizes early the importance of both sharing power and having others to depend on.