The story of King Arthur has been told in many different forms over the centuries. Two of the core seminal works are Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long poem from the 14^th century by an unknown author, and Le Morte d’Arthur, a prose work from the 15^th century by Thomas Malory. King Arthur is significant different in both works, being more carefree in Sir Gawain, while in Le Morte he is more mature and dutybound: this reflects how the former story is about a game while the latter is a tragedy about human nature. This is why the former work has a happy ending, while the latter one has a tragic ending for Arthur.

King Arthur is carefree and frivolous in the former work. It starts in a banquet in Christmas, which lasts a long time: “For there the festival lasted the whole fifteen days / With all the feasting and merry-making that could be devised” (SGGK lines 44-45). Arthur and his court are shown as constantly partying day and night and never stopping. They are “in the flower of youth” (SGGK lines 54-55). King Arthur is described as being “so lively in his youth, and a little boyish: / He hankered after an active life, and cared very little / To spend time either lying or sitting, / His young blood and restless mind stirred him so much” (SGGK lines 86-89). Arthur refuses to eat until he is told “a curious tale about some perilous thing, / Of some great wonder that he could believe” (SGGK lines 93-94). Either that, “or some knight begged him for a trustworthy foe / To oppose him in jousting, in hazard to set / His life against his opponent’s” (SGGK lines 96-98). There is a sort of game here where the king has to be entertained, either by being told a marvellous tale or seeing a joust, for the banquet to begin. Arthur is a restless young man who always wants adrenaline and entertainment, and the words used clearly show that he is not mature. The court is completely unsuspecting of the entrance of the Green Knight.  When he arrives, his marvelous nature shocks the entire court. They have been cut off from the world in their celebration, like they have fallen asleep, so they do not understand the Green Knight. The Green Knight taunts Arthur’s court: “Now the revelry and repute of the Round Table/ Are overthrown with a word from one man’s mouth” (SGGK lines 313-14). The Green Knight is pointing out how the Knights of the Round Table are petrified by him. This is because their gluttony has made them weak. They are afraid of the Green Knight’s challenge, as simple as it sounds. The famed qualities that the Round Table seem to have disappeared. Arthur and his court are angered, and Arthur himself takes up the challenge and says “Sir, by heaven, what you ask is absurd, / And since you have asked for foly, that you deserve. / No man known to me fears your boastful words” (SGGK lines 323-25). Arthur shows his arrogance through ridiculing the Green Knight’s demand, and also lies that no one fears him, as just a few moments before everyone had been petrified by the Green Knight. So in this Arthurian legend, Arthur is young, immature and carefree.

In contrast, Arthur is mature and dutybound in Le Morte d’Arthur from the beginning. Arthur is raised away from his father King Uther so that he doesn’t develop a craving for power and instead develops maturity. Arthur is a loyal young man: on New Year’s Day Arthur goes to get Sir Kay’s sword. Although the house is locked, Arthur said that he would “take the sword with me that sticketh in the stone, for my brother Sir Kay shall not be without a sword this day” (Malory 39). Sir Arthur went to the sword and “lightly and fiercely pulled it out of the stone” (Malory 39). He will eagerly grab any sword for his brother. Kay wants the sword for himself, but when it is put back, he cannot pull it out. Arthur pulls it out again easily, proving that he is the rightful king. The sword is symbolized his divinely sanctioned kingship. Even so, Arthur wonders: “Alas! My own dear father and brother, why kneel ye to me?” (Malory 40). Arthur does not want the power to be king, which is why he is most ready for it. The whole reason he went to get the sword was for his brother, not himself. When Ector requests that Arthur be his good lord, Arthur replies that “else were I to blame, […] for ye are the man in the world that I am most beholding to, and my good lady and mother your wife that as well as her own hath fostered me and kept. And if ever it be God’s will that I be king as ye say, ye shall desire of me what I may do, and I shall not fail you” (Malory 41). Even as king, Arthur recognizes his father Sir Kay as his overlord and is bound to him. The barons challenge Arthur multiple times to pull out the sword: at Candlemas, Easter and finally Pentecost, and he is able to do so each time. Thus the commons insist that Arthur is their king, and the barons ask for forgiveness. Arthur forgives them and is crowned king (Malory 42). Through his humility and his sense of duty to the people, and taking up his challenges, Arthur has proven that he is worthy to be king. The story also tells us about Arthur’s exploits, as he “won all the north, Scotland, and all that were under their obeisance; also Wales, a part of it, held against Arthur, but he overcame them all, as he did the remnant, through the noble prowess of himself and his knights of the Round Table” (Malory 43).  So in one story Arthur’s carefree and boyish side is emphasized, while his sense of duty and maturity is emphasized in the other.

King Arthur does not grieve for the future in Sir Gawain. Arthur is swayed by Gawain and the nobles to let him take his place in dealing a blow to the Green Knight. Arthur calmly agrees, telling Gawain to “strike one blow, / And if deal it aright, truly I believe / You will wait a long time for his stroke in return” (SGGK lines 372-74). Although Gawain is virtually going to his death, Arthur is not swayed by this. He maintains a cheerful and optimistic mood with faith that Gawain can deal damage to the Green Knight. After Gawain decapitates the Green Knight, who then leaves, Arthur is astonished. However, he does not show it, and courteously tells Queen Guinevere:

Dear lady, let nothing distress you today.

Such strange goings-on are fitting at Christmas,

Putting on interludes, laughing and singing,

Mixed with courtly dances of ladies and knights.

None the less, I can certainly go to my food,

For I have seen something wondrous, I cannot deny. (SGGK lines 470-75)

King Arthur is saying that the marvellous event that just happened is fitting for Christmas. He is integrating it into the festivities of the event and pretending that its nothing to be astonished about. It is just an interlude to the festivities and the initiation of the banquet’s actual meal. Arthur is satisfied at the entertainment the Green Knight has provided. Christmas itself is an event about a miraculous, unnatural birth of the Son of God. Arthur hangs up the ax over the dais on a tapestry “where everyone might gaze on it as a wonder, / And the living proof of this marvellous tale” (SGGK lines 479-480). Arthur has turned the artifact into a trophy and relic for people to gaze at it, fitting with the banquet’s theme of entertainment. Arthur moves on with the banquet and forgets about Gawain’s quest. On Christmas the next year, Arthur cordially says goodbye to Gawain, with he and his court escorting Gawain out of the castle and “commending him to Christ” (SGGK line 596). When it was finally time for Gawain to leave at Christmas, Arthur’s court was upset with him and wondered why “a king [would] take such foolish advice / As knights offer in arguments about Christmas games?” (SGGK lines 682-83) They think that it is ridiculous for Gawain should risk his life in such a futile quest and see King Arthur as playing a game with his knight’s life. But King Arthur does not seem to feel too bad about Gawain.  

In Le Morte d’Arthur, Arthur sees his dark future ahead. That is why he is upset when Gawain and the majority of the Knights of the Round Table vow to go on the quest for the Sankgreal. Arthur tells Gawain: “ye have nigh slain me for the avow that ye have made, […] For when they depart from hence, I am sure they all shall never meet together in this world, for they shall die many in the quest” (Malory 121). Arthur knows that the Knights of the Round Table cannot survive the quest, but he is helpless to stop it, because it is an unbreakable vow. He attempts to stop the quest from going forward and asks Sir Lancelot to help him in that (Malory 123). Arthur can see that it is a pointless quest. Arthur understands that the quest for the Grail involves the negation of all knightly ideals, so it cannot just be taken through brute force or combat. Only by its opposite, humility, can the Grail be taken, and only Galahad has those qualities. Indeed, “many of the knights of the Round Table were slain and destroyed, more than half. And so three of them were come home, Sir Ector, Gawain and Lionel, and many other that needeth not now to rehearse” (Malory 150). And out of Galahad, Percival and Bors, only Bors comes home in the end (Malory 159). Later, the king has a suspicion that there is an affair between his wife Guinevere and Lancelot, but he does not want it to be revealed publicly, as it would bring shame to him, Lancelot and Guinevere. Arthur still wants to know, so he allows Agravain and Mordred to take 12 knights to go out and catch Lancelot and Guinevere at night (Malory 248-51). All the knights but Mordred were slain (Malory 252-53). Arthur is upset: “me sore repenteth that ever Sir Launcelot should be against me, for now I am sure the noble fellowship of the Round Table is broken forever, for with him will many a noble knight hold” (Malory 259). Arthur’s prediction comes true. The law requires Queen Guinevere to be executed. But Lancelot frees her and kills several knights, including Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth, angering Gawain (Malory 259-65). Arthur follows Lancelot to Joyous Gard. Arthur would have reconciled with Lancelot and taken his queen back, but Gawain would not let him (Malory 266-270). Arthur was in a dilemma: if he had tried to stop Gawain, Gawain would have left him, and he would lose another of his prominent knights. Arthur wants to keep as much of the fellowship together as he can. Arthur then follows Lancelot to Benwick in France (Malory 285). King Arthur sees that it only takes some events to destroy the Round Table that he had worked so hard to bring together. This shows how fragile it is. Circumstances and fate prevent Arthur from doing anything about it. Arthur is not under any illusions of a game like in Sir Gawain. Because ultimately Le Morte is about ugly truths.

Fundamentally, Sir Gawain ends well because it is about a game. Gawain returns from his quest, which had been a test for him from the Green Knight. Because Gawain had used the woman’s girdle to save his life, he is dejected as he felt he had cheated, and he had received a wound for that. But King Arthur does not feel the same way, as he

Consoles the knight, and the whole court

Laughs loudly about it, and courteously agrees

That lord and ladies who belong to the Table,

Each member of the brotherhood, should wear such a belt,

A baldric of bright green crosswise on the body,

Similar to Sir Gawain’s and worn for his sake. (SGGK lines 2513-18)

Arthur and his court are still jolly and carefree, and do not hold Gawain’s use of the garter against him. Arthur is essentially telling Gawain that he succeeded in his quest and has nothing to worry about, as it is just a game, and arguably a rigged one as Bertilak was immortal and had hidden this. Gawain could not win without the garter. Arthur understands this, and by laughing at this, he defuses Gawain’s personal shame. If everyone wears the garter, it’s meaning changes. It is no longer a symbol of shame as Sir Gawain believed it was, but it is now a courtly symbol of solidarity among the Round Table. The garter can also be seen as a symbol celebrating Gawain’s success in the quest and his survival. It has become another trophy and heirloom like the Green Knight’s axe. Arthur is also satisfied that he has been told an entertaining story. The last line in Sir Gawain says “hony soyt qui mal pence”, which is French for “shame on him who thinks badly of it” (SGGK pg. 141). Arthur spends the entire poem in his castle with his court and does not leave it at all. Arthur shows good conduct as a king through his adoption of the garter, as he understands Gawain and recognizes its value. This story is not meant to be taken seriously, and Gawain should not be condemned for doing the only thing he could do in the game. That is why Arthur decrees that those who judge Gawain should be ashamed of themselves. Arthur’s optimism and faith in Gawain paid off. Because it is ultimately about a game, a spectacle that Arthur had asked for at the beginning of the poem, this poem ends happily.

The ending of Le Morte d’Arthur is very different, as it is a serious story about the flaws of human nature, and King Arthur reflects this. Arthur has a dream where “he saw upon a chafflet a chair, and the chair was fast to a wheel, and thereupon sat King Arthur in the richest cloth of gold that might be made. And the king thought there was under him, far from him, and hideous deep black water, and therein was all manner of serpents and worms and wild beasts, foul and horrible. And suddenly the king thought that the wheel turned up-so-down, and he fell among the serpents, and every beast took him by a limb” (Malory 300). Arthur is dreaming of the Wheel of Fortune, which is turning around and will send him to the bottom. Once again, there is the theme of fate and inevitability: no matter how much Arthur tries to remedy his kingdom and the conflict with Mordred, it is doomed to fail. Arthur is also doomed to fail morally, as the snake is a biblical symbol of temptation, connected to the Biblical idea of original sin and the flaws of humanity. Indeed, Arthur has a dream where he sees Gawain. At his bidding, Arthur makes peace with Sir Mordred and offers him Cornwall and Kent, and then the whole kingdom after his death (Malory 301-2). However, when the knights meet, one of them is stung, “and anon he drew his sword to slay the adder, and thought none other harm. And when the host on both parties saw that sword drawn, then they blew bemes, trumpets, and horns, and shouted grimly, and so both hosts dressed them together” (Malory 302-3). The dream was prophetic: a serpent causes the dissolution of the peace and the arrival of chaos. It was a fragile peace that was ruined by even the smallest thing, which makes it even more tragic. The battle destroys the armies of both King Arthur and Mordred. In the end, King Arthur goes after Mordred, despite Lucan’s pleas to “let him be” and to “pass this unhappy day” (Malory 303). Thus “King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield with a foin of his spear throughout the body more than a fathom” (Malory 304). In the end even King Arthur failed and gave in to vengeance, valuing that more than his own life. He also failed to keep his son Mordred loyal to him. Arthur also conceived him illegitimately through incest with his half sister Morgause (Malory 295). It can be seen as prophetic that Arthur’s illegitimate son ended up being his and his kingdom’s undoing. Arthur himself was conceived through deception and arguably through sexual assault: with Merlin tricking Igraine into sleeping with King Uther disguised as the Duke of Tintagel. The author Malory is making a point about humanity: if even the most perfect king of all failed, what hope do we have? After Bedivere throws his sword to the water, Arthur is taken to Avalon to heal his wounds (Malory 307). The wounds may represent Arthur’s vengeance which tainted him morally, so he must go to the otherworldly Avalon for healing. It also shows that the world is not worthy of a noble and almost perfect king like Arthur. This is Le Morte d’Arthur’s ultimate realistic message about the wickedness and flaws of human nature.

King Arthur is significantly different in Sir Gawain and Le Morte d’Arthur. In the former he is carefree and jolly, while in the latter he is mature and dutybound. He doesn’t fear for the future in the former, while in the other he sees tragedy ahead and can’t stop it. Ultimately Sir Gawain is about a fun rigged game, while Le Morte d’Arthur is about the flaws of human nature that even Arthur gives in to in the end. Sir Gawain is a poem whose themes and motifs are not very easy to interpret: so interpreting this poem is a sort of game for authors and critics. Meanwhile, Le Morte d’Arthur is clearer in its symbols and themes, so interpreting it is not as open ended.

Works Cited

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d’Arthur. Edited by Maureen Okrun. Broadview Press, 2015.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Edited and translated by James Winny. Broadview Press, 2017.