Elizabeth Cameron "The Passing of Arthur"

“The Passing of Arthur”

A presentation by Elizabeth Cameron

Photo: Swedish National Heritage Board

Sir Bedivere, the last of King Arthur’s loyal knights, tells the story of the passing of Arthur as an old man, many years after the events take place.

The story opens with Bedivere overhearing Arthur moaning in his tent.

Photo: Dusica86

Photo: Nationaal Archief

Sir Gawain’s ghost appears to Arthur in a dream and tells him that he will die the next day and move on to an “isle of rest” (IV.35).

Photo: National Library of Scotland

Bedivere tries his best to comfort the King and reminds him that Modred and an army of traitors are advancing.

Photo: Powerhouse Museum Collection

Arthur and Bedivere travel west to fight Modred’s army, but a great white mist covers everything, resulting in a great deal of confusion.

Photo: National Library of Scotland

A strong northward wind blows the mist away

Only King Arthur, Bedivere, and Modred remain alive after the horrific battle.

Photo: Powerhouse Museum Collection

Arthur fights Modred and receives a mortal wound, but with one last swing of Excalibur he kills Modred.

Photo: National Library of Australia Commons

Sir Bedivere carries the dying King to a chapel that overlooks the sea.

Arthur tells Bedivere that he must throw Excalibur into the sea.

Bedivere fails to do so...

twicePhoto: New York Public Library

On his third try, Bedivere manages to successfully throw Excalibur into the sea.

A magical hand reaches out and grabs the sword.

Photo: Nationaal Archief

Image is from “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and is c/o Polygram Video

Three queens sail in on a barge to take King Arthur away.

Photo: Powerhouse Museum Collections

Sir Bedivere watches from a cliff while the barge that carries King Arthur sails off into the horizon towards Avalon.

“Tennyson’s profoundly personal quest for reunion with Hallam in In Memorium becomes, in Idylls of the King, a profoundly impersonal despair for the passing not only of a hero, but of civilization itself” (Rosenberg 144).

“As to Arthur, you could not by any means make a poem national to Englishmen. What have we to do with him?” – Samuel Taylor Choleric

“Victorian society was a fractious one torn between religious orthodoxy and religious apostasy, social reform, and social Darwinism. Scientific breakthroughs were balanced by an ever-deepening spiritual void that seemed to hound the most advanced intellects of the period” (Halloran 23).

“But I was first of all the kings who drew

The knighthood-errant of this realm and all

The realm together under me, their Head,

In that fair Order of my Table Round,

A glorious company, the flower of men,

To serve as model for the mighty world,

And be the fair beginning of time”

(Guinevere, 457-463)

“...the whole Round Table is dissolved”

Photo: Powerhouse Museum Collections

“Evolution is an idea with two faces. One is smiling and beckons us onward and upward to ever higher forms; the other face is death’s head, bones encased in stone, a struggle ending in extinction” (Rosenburg 149).

“...all my realm Reels back into the beast, and is no more” (Passing of Arthur 25-26).

“[Arthur] is the embodiment of the divine will...[he must] realize his highest calling in this world through an attempt to make humanity more aware of its full capability”(Staines).

“A theme – death and resurgence – [is] integral to Idylls of the King” (Lovelace, 25).

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new”

“And the new sun rose bringing the new year”

All photos were taken from the Creative Commons at www.flickr.com

The castle photos were all taken from the Library of Congress account on the Creative Commons at www.flickr.com.

Questions?!

It would seem that Tennyson somewhat reconciles the fact that he depicts the complete destruction of Arthurian society with the suggestion that it can be rebuilt...

do you think he suggests that there is any hope of salvaging a sense of the self, in particular, the Victorian self?

What other relevant similarities or differences might we draw between “The Passing of Arthur” and In Memorium?