Extollager
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Malory notes 8.
[FONT="]§ THE DEATH OF ARTHUR (pp. 468-527)[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The Morte began in a time of civil war. What had been the “movement” or development of the story since that time of Uther?[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Page 474: Malory says that Lancelot and Guenivere give one another rings. This may seem to modern readers to recall the exchange of rings in a wedding ceremony. And indeed, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the exchange of rings in marriage is ancient:[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The traces of the old betrothal ceremony in the modern nuptial Ordinals of different countries are many and varied. First the wedding ring itself, in accordance with the old Roman custom, seems to have been originally a pledge or arrha given at the sponsalia by the bridegroom as the earnest of the future fulfilment of his share in the contract. At a later date however it probably became confused with certain German customs of "morning gifts" after marriage and consequently was transferred to the nuptials proper. Further in many places it ultimately became and still remains the custom for bride and bridegroom to present each other mutually with rings as a pledge of fidelity, and this is in fact the symbolical meaning attached to the ring in the modern ritual of the Church, as the form for its blessing plainly signifies. Perhaps the first trace of the use of two rings occurs in the early Spanish Ordines. Furthermore, while the use of the wedding ring has been retained among most, though not quite all, the rituals of the West, the manner of putting it on varies considerably. The English custom that the bridegroom should place it, first, on the bride's thumb with the words "in the name of the Father"—then on the index finger—"and of the Son" — then on the middle finger—"and of the Holy Ghost"— and finally on the fourth finger—"Amen"—is found in medieval ceremonials in places as far separated as Spain and Norway, but it was by no means universal. In some places the priest puts on the ring, and elsewhere it was customary to place the ring on the bride's right hand. This was the case in the Sarum rite and it was retained among English Catholics until the middle of the eighteenth century. The reason so frequently assigned for the choice of the fourth, or ring, finger, [namely], that a vein runs from that finger to the heart, is found in early non-Christian writers like Pliny and Macrobius.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Page 476: For all Lancelot’s talk of avoiding shame, by cuckolding Arthur he has shamed his king.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Page 486: Lancelot’s remarks about the killing of Lamorak refer to incidents that were not included in our assigned reading. See pages 241, 259. Lamorak was caught in bed with Morgause, the mother of Gawain and several others by her husband, and the mother (by Arthur) of Mordred.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Page 494: What is your assessment of the validity of Gawain’s charges?[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Lancelot’s reference to the wheel of change (mutability) is one of a number of passages in the Morte, and especially in the Tale of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guenivere and this final tale, having to do with stability and instability. This doesn’t mean exactly that humans are the playthings of chance, but that (as we saw when reading the excerpts from Lewis’s The Discarded Image) due to both the instability of human beings because of their passions and sins, and to other factors, always below the sphere of the Moon there is change. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Pages 520-521: This scene with Guenivere and Lancelot is one of the chief scenes of the whole book. Lancelot’s words on page 523 are closely connected to it.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]§ THE DEATH OF ARTHUR (pp. 468-527)[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The Morte began in a time of civil war. What had been the “movement” or development of the story since that time of Uther?[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Page 474: Malory says that Lancelot and Guenivere give one another rings. This may seem to modern readers to recall the exchange of rings in a wedding ceremony. And indeed, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the exchange of rings in marriage is ancient:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The traces of the old betrothal ceremony in the modern nuptial Ordinals of different countries are many and varied. First the wedding ring itself, in accordance with the old Roman custom, seems to have been originally a pledge or arrha given at the sponsalia by the bridegroom as the earnest of the future fulfilment of his share in the contract. At a later date however it probably became confused with certain German customs of "morning gifts" after marriage and consequently was transferred to the nuptials proper. Further in many places it ultimately became and still remains the custom for bride and bridegroom to present each other mutually with rings as a pledge of fidelity, and this is in fact the symbolical meaning attached to the ring in the modern ritual of the Church, as the form for its blessing plainly signifies. Perhaps the first trace of the use of two rings occurs in the early Spanish Ordines. Furthermore, while the use of the wedding ring has been retained among most, though not quite all, the rituals of the West, the manner of putting it on varies considerably. The English custom that the bridegroom should place it, first, on the bride's thumb with the words "in the name of the Father"—then on the index finger—"and of the Son" — then on the middle finger—"and of the Holy Ghost"— and finally on the fourth finger—"Amen"—is found in medieval ceremonials in places as far separated as Spain and Norway, but it was by no means universal. In some places the priest puts on the ring, and elsewhere it was customary to place the ring on the bride's right hand. This was the case in the Sarum rite and it was retained among English Catholics until the middle of the eighteenth century. The reason so frequently assigned for the choice of the fourth, or ring, finger, [namely], that a vein runs from that finger to the heart, is found in early non-Christian writers like Pliny and Macrobius.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Page 476: For all Lancelot’s talk of avoiding shame, by cuckolding Arthur he has shamed his king.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Page 486: Lancelot’s remarks about the killing of Lamorak refer to incidents that were not included in our assigned reading. See pages 241, 259. Lamorak was caught in bed with Morgause, the mother of Gawain and several others by her husband, and the mother (by Arthur) of Mordred.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Page 494: What is your assessment of the validity of Gawain’s charges?[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Lancelot’s reference to the wheel of change (mutability) is one of a number of passages in the Morte, and especially in the Tale of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guenivere and this final tale, having to do with stability and instability. This doesn’t mean exactly that humans are the playthings of chance, but that (as we saw when reading the excerpts from Lewis’s The Discarded Image) due to both the instability of human beings because of their passions and sins, and to other factors, always below the sphere of the Moon there is change. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Pages 520-521: This scene with Guenivere and Lancelot is one of the chief scenes of the whole book. Lancelot’s words on page 523 are closely connected to it.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
