Loyalty is a virtue that is being tested in Morte Darthur story. This has been expressed in very many ways that include revenge, betrayal, war and pardon. This is a reflection of the life that a king with more enemies than friends are has to go through. Being a leader and more especially in a hereditary kingdom can be quite challenging. Morte Darthur has to face the challenge of trusting his Knights enough as well as handling the issue of hereditary kinship. This is an environment where a king lives in a polygamous family yet has to choose an appropriate person to inherit the kingdom after him. Even though the first son always qualifies to be a heir, this is not always the case as another test has to be passed. Jealousy and greed that usually accompanies such families usually makes members to try out other means that will ensure a person of their choice becomes the ultimate heir.
The stories take us through all the wars within the family as mothers and sons battle out for a position that is yet to run vacant. Being king was one of the most desirable things. This is because of the privileges and the powers that came with the position. However, a king had to prove himself capable and worth of handling the challenges around (Mahoney 88). This was to be facilitated by ensuring that he was surrounded by the right people. In many times however, it has always happened that once a king is on the throne, he forgets about many issues of loyalty among his men as he concentrates on other issues. It has always been common for a new king to especially marry more wives just to satisfy his ego. This has always formed the basis on which many kingdoms have fallen.
A woman has been considered to be the most dangerous person that determines whether a man will succeed or fail in his reign. Even in societies where a woman is not given a chance to speak, they usually have a charm that is likely to confuse or motivate their husbands. This becomes quite challenging when a man marries many women from diversified backgrounds. Kings are mostly charmed by the beauty of a woman not realising that they could be having other hidden agendas that may jeopardise their leadership. Furthermore, having many wives implies a lot of rivalry among them as they employ all they can to win the favour of one man they all call their husbands. With each woman having sons, they all expect that their own son will gain the much needed favour and ultimately inherit the kingdom. This has always marked to be the beginning of revenge even as both wives and sons plot murder against their kin just to inherit the much coveted throne.
King Arthur found himself in a situation where by he had Knights who served at his round table yet they were not to be trusted. He is a king who had many issues with other kings and therefore had to fight more often. War was one of the ways through which kings in the roman culture used to flex their muscles. Superiority was not defined by a kings character but rather by how man territories he was able to subdue. The more wars a king won, the more he was recognized and even appreciated. However, the work of kings was not necessarily to be in the battle field and fight. They were mainly to issue command and what needs to be done and given results of how the battle went. In rare occasions however, kings were made to battle out among themselves to find out who among them was the most powerful.
War in roman culture was more about strategy rather than vitality. This is a work that was not just done by the king but the men that sat around him. In the story, the round table signified the high delegation that the king used to succeed in his battle. Culturally, this were the most trusted and confidant members of the king most of whom were his family members. Since a win for the king implied a win for the family and ultimately the kingdom, the knights were expected to display a high level of integrity, honour and loyalty to the king. On this round table, was also the queen who helped him monitor his men and give the necessary advice (Kennedy 80). Considering the issues of family battles and rivalry in the kingdom, there a rose issues where a member became disloyal to the king. Such a simple issue, which was not taken care of on time became a crack in the king’s dignitaries, which ultimately led to several issues.
The king failed in his responsibility to tame the knights and left the entire responsibility to the queen who messed things up. It should be noted that kings married some of the most beautiful women in the community. These women were admired by other men and would do anything to win their favour. Women on the other hand would always be attracted to the men, irrespective of the positions they hold, that show great loyalty and responsibility to them (Kennedy 55). This became the case of the queen and one of the knights who developed a love affair. It is unfortunate that even though the king knew about the breeding affair of his wife and the knight, he failed to act on time. This led to a series of issues that complicated the life of the king.
The most difficult test that has faced kings is to know whom to trust and whom not to. It has always happened that those closest to the king are the ones who ultimately lead to their downfall. It is ironical that all this happens in the most unsuspecting way. The man that show great chivalry to the king by serving and responding to them faster are the ones who ultimately turns against them. It should be noted that kings did not just allow anybody close to them. It took quite some time before a king would ultimately trust a man with his household. Such a man had to display a noble character by proving that he was not even interested in the wife of the king or even his vast wealth (Moorman 98). He was also made access to some of the privileges that only the close family members of the king were access to. Amidst all this, the closeness becomes intense that many other things happen behind the king’s back without any suspicion.
Even though Arthur suspected some mischief on his trusted knights, he was yet to come to terms that the two people that he trusts the most, his wife and the knight could be having an affair. This was only later after the issue had been blown out of proportion (Radulescu 55). At such a stage, nothing much could be done as the two had advanced to the next level. The king must have found himself in a situation where he had to choose between his family and reputation. Whichever action he would take, it would negatively affect the kingdom. His efforts to get rid of the wife were thwarted when she was rescued and ambushed by the knight. The loyalty of the knight was once more tested, as he had to prove how much he loved the king’s wife.
With the breeding love affair between the knight and the queen, jealousy and betrayal again props up when the knight gets into another affair and has a child with another woman. This angered the queen and used her powers to discontinue him from the service of the king. However, fate brings them back together as they continue being good friends. All this time, the king is furious yet all his efforts to completely sort the issue are thwarted. This incidence interferes with the heredity of the kingdom as it becomes apparent that there are many sons eying the king. Unlike in other similar stories where hereditary is accompanied by deaths and revenge, Arthurs kingdom can only be inherited by a person who is able to pull out the sword, either from stones or from water.
Being in any position of leadership requires high level of integrity, which will ultimately command respect from the subjects. Integrity is a virtue that some leaders fail to recognize and end up wallowing in greed. This becomes even worse in a hereditary kinship where by a king knows that nothing can remove him from the position apart from the death. The bigger consolation also lays in the fact that it is his next of kin that will inherit his throne. This has invited a lot of dictatorship and jealousy among communities where the rightful people are denied the chance to take up leadership positions. Cases of kings being killed by their very own sons who cannot wait for the old man to dies for them to inherit the throne were common. Stepbrothers and even co-wives plotted the deaths of their husbands or even their stepsons’ juts to ensure their preferred candidate takes up leadership position.
The main cause of revenge and rivalry among different families of the king was because of greed and selfishness. There was no end to bloodshed in the roman empires as the killing of one person and more especially in relation to heredity lead to a series of other bloodsheds (Benson 64). The issue of the king’s wife and their admirable beauty also became a bone of contention especially among the king’s kin. For instance, in cases where the king did not have a son to become his heir, or his son was still too young to be king, the brother of the king or any close male relative would ultimately inherit the throne. This was even a worse scenario, as it was a strategy to divert leadership from one family to the other. With the beauty that the queen was always adorned with, such wars were inspired by the need of such a male relative not only to inherit the vast wealth but also the wife. With the attitude that the society had on women, they were simply part of a man’s wealth, which would be inherited by the next male relative once the man died.
Illicit romantic affairs in the king’s palace were a common occurrence that mostly spurred up hatred. Sons would hate on their uncles when they realised that the uncle killed their father just to marry their mother. A man could kill his brother just because he admired his wife and was interested in a romantic affair with them. Whenever there was death in the palace, another death would follow just to revenge on the previous death. It so happened that in the process of scheduling revenge, many more people were killed either as mistaken identities or as parties to the previous death. War, death and murder were the only way through which people solved their grievances (Greenblatt 490). There was no room for dialogue as strength was tested on how best one can retaliate on their enemies. Behind each kingdom that engaged in frequent wars, there was a bitter story of how someone was killed because of greed, selfishness or a romantic affair.
Even though it was apparent that revenge did not heal the pain but diversified hatred, children were born knowing that war was the order of the day. Children were in fact brought up being caution against certain families or communities because of what they did to their fathers. Such an impartation at a young age therefore makes them develop much bitterness and a need to revenge on what they were told was wrongfully done to them. Knowing that a certain community of family is responsible for their misfortunes, they will always try their best to revenge and cause more misfortunes to the other family or community. The issue of revenge was so serious that when two men had any issues, a battle was organised for them. They were cheered and jeered by their supporters and opponents respectively, and the winner deemed to be right. So serious was the battle that at times it involved poisonous arrows that ultimately led to the death of those involved in the fight.
The Roman Empire is one of the ancient forms of governments that had interesting stories of revenge that never yielded the much-needed fruit. War was however part of their culture and any king knew that he will have to shed more blood and risk his life and that of his family members. The fact that such a culture was also a spiritual in that the men had to pay allegiance to their gods. It was considered that whenever they fulfilled a revenge mission, they showed gratitude to their gods and ancestors (Wilhelm & Laila 76). The spiritual aspect that was attached to such missions was in fact what motivated the men to fight on and on. They were afraid that if they failed to revenge on the wrongs done to their forefathers, they will be disobeying their gods and therefore inviting a curse for themselves. War and death was hence inevitable.
Looking back to the developments that have been made so far in Rome and Greek. The stories of conquest that have been told remain significant as the tombs and literature work remains as a reminder of a strong culture among people. The Roman Empire has produced some of the most memorable stories of romance, revenge and war, which serves as a big lesson to the readers of literature. This also proves how much impact religion can have in culture in relation to the decisions that are made by people. Culture came before any personal needs of a person. This implies that even if a man failed to see the need of revenging on past enemies, he would ultimately be compelled by culture to do so. A person who could not live as per the cultural norms, he would be considered a social misfit.
There was no much difference between the kingdoms of Rome and other cultural communities. The issues of revenge and hatred have always been associated with communities yet they choose a different outlook on things. It is usually some of this battles that test the loyalty that people have towards their families and friends. Families have always battled out among themselves on who is more influential or capable. Competition and the need to be powerful has always been associated with many communities. The biggest lesson that we learn from the story is that revenge is never a solution to a problem. Dialogue and forgiveness does a lot in helping the grieving parties accept what happened in the past and therefore working towards a better and fulfilling future. This also makes the families to work towards building meaningful relationships that will positively influence their economic development.
Most of the stories about the Greek and the Roman Empire may be considered a myth especially by the current generation. This is because of the stories of war and revenge which are simply too much that they appear to be exaggerated. Even though such allegations may not be confirmed, there is a lot of truth especially considering historical facts and biblical accounts. The Roman Empire was one of the strongest kingdoms of the time due to the high esteem that the kings were given. They were governed by strong cultural and religious laws, which made them more committed. A king was the highest symbol of authority in the land and people had to recognize his superiority and supremacy. The empire was also composed of other smaller kingdoms that made the kingdom even stronger. The challenges that were faced in the various territories even made the kingdoms more cautious and experienced in their own undertakings. This was a strategy that was ultimately used to determine the man that had the capacity to rule the bigger kingdom.
Works cited
Benson, Larry Dean. Malory's Morte Darthur. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1976.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Meyer Howard Abrams. The Norton anthology of English literature. WW Norton, 2012.
Kennedy, Beverly. "Adultery in Malory's" Le Morte d'Arthur"." Arthuriana (1997): 63-91.
Kennedy, Beverly. Knighthood in the Morte Darthur [sic]. Vol. 11. Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1992.
Mahoney, Dhira B. "Narrative Treatment of Name in Malory's Morte D'Arthur." ELH 47.4 (1980): 646-656.
Moorman, Charles. The book of Kyng Arthur: the unity of Malory's Morte Darthur. University of Kentucky Press, 1965.
Radulescu, Raluca. The Gentry Context for Malory's Morte D'Arthur. Vol. 55. DS Brewer, 2003.
Wilhelm, James J., and Laila Zamuelis Gross. The Romance of Arthur. Vol. 1. Encyclopedia-Ga, 1984.
