The Once and Future King

In many tellings, White’s included, the rise and fall of Camelot marks the rise and fall of a noble ideology. When a young Arthur pulls Excalibur from the stone and ascends the throne, he is young and naïve enough to believe, with Merlyn’s prodding, that a nation of warring fiefdoms and brutal warlords can be united under a single banner and enjoy an unprecedented peace. For a time, it seems he is right. Soon, however, cracks appear in the façade. Arthur discovers that using might to enforce right—the entire basis of his new code of chivalry—is a premise built on a shaky foundation. Endowing armored warriors with the power to enforce justice at whim is a disaster waiting to happen: When England flourishes and his knights have no more wrongs to avenge, they turn on each other. Arthur course corrects by sending them on a quest for the Holy Grail, imagining the spiritual dimension of the quest is the proper medicine for their indulgences and infighting. That spiritual dimension, however, reveals his knights’ frailties and flaws, and many do not survive. Confronted with a splintering kingdom, Arthur clings to the rule of law to reign in humanity’s negative impulses.