Knighthood in the Morte Darthur

Book excerpt: `A lucid and rich analysis eminently suited to students at undergraduate and graduate levels.' CHOICEBeverley Kennedy puts Malory's concern with knighthood at the very heart of the Morte Darthur. She identifies three types of knight: the Heroic (Gawain), the Worshipful (Tristram and Arthur), and the True (Lancelot, Gareth and the Grail Knights), and argues that this knightly typology creates the thematic unity of the Morte Darthur. It also allows Malory to develop two quite different contexts, one pragmatic and political, the other religious and providential, within which the reader may judge why Arthur's reign ended in catastrophe.BEVERLEY KENNEDY is Professor of English at Marianopolis College, Canada.