A Comparison Of Three Versions Of King Arthur

Throughout the three versions of King Arthur, Tennyson, Malory, and Boorman, Arthur’s story being told varies from detail to detail. Pieces of the story that are different in each version include Arthur’s dream and the treaty, the battle description, the fight between Arthur and Mordred, and the throwing of the sword, and the barge scene. Details and visualization plays an important role in telling a story and passing on a message to the reader or viewer. The three versions of the Arthurian Legend are “The Passing of Arthur”, by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Book of King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table, by Sir Thomas Malory, and Excalibur film, by John Boorman.
One of the first points of comparison is the dream. In the Tennyson,
the ghost of Gawain visits Arthur in his sleep. Gawain warns Arthur of the battle he will have with his son Mordred, then tells him he will pass into the Isle of Vain. In the Malory, Gawain appears upon Arthur with a number of ladies. Gawain then warns Arthur of his death, if he chooses to fight in the battle. Gawain says, “for to warn you of your death; for an ye fight as to-morn with Sir Mordred, as ye both have assigned, doubt ye not ye must be slain, and the most part of your people on both parties. And for the great grace and goodness that almighty Jesu hath unto you, and for pity of you, and many more other good men there shall be slain, God hath sent me to you of his special grace, to give you warning that in no wise ye do battle as morn” (486). Gawain then tells Arthur to make a treaty for a month so the battle can be delayed. If this is done, Sir Launcelot will come with his knights and help slay Sir Mordred. As Arthur awakes, Gawain and the ladies vanish. In the Boorman, Arthur has no dream of Gawain. Instead Merlin appears for a brief moment to warn him and says to Arthur, “I am dream to some a nightmare to others” then vanishes. The Malory version describes the dream with great detail. It gives a great description of Gawain telling Arthur why he should not fight in the battle. While in the Tennyson, Gawain appears for a longer time to explain to Arthur that he will die the next day if he fights. In the Boorman there is not much detail told. Therefore, the Malory is the best version for this scene.
The second point of comparison is the battle, which is an important part of Arthur's story.
The Malory is the only version with a treaty, so after the treaty is broken by one of Mordred’s soldiers a battle breaks out. They battle until the King only has two knights left, Sir Bedivere and his brother Sir Lucan. Arthur then becomes very angry and charges at Sir Mordred with a spear. The spear goes under Mordred’s armor and impales him, but Sir Mordred is determined to kill Arthur. He then thrust himself up the spear and strikes Arthur in the head with his sword. In the Tennyson, the two sides fought long and hard, until it was only Arthur, Sir Bedivere, and Sir Mordred standing. Arthur then says, “My house hath been my doom. But call not thou this traitor of my house Who hath but dwelt beneath one roof with me. My house are rather they who sware my vows, Yea, even while they brake them, owned me King. And well for thee, saying in my dark hour, When all the purport of my throne hath failed, That quick or dead thou holdest me for King. King am I, whatsoever be their cry; And one last act of kinghood shalt thou see Yet, ere I pass" (Tennyson). Arthur then turns to Mordred, but Mordred gives him a blow to the head. However, Arthur manages to slay Sir Mordred with Excalibur before going down himself. Lastly, in the Boorman, Mordred has the spear and impales Arthur. Arthur then thrusts himself up the spear and kills Mordred with the Excalibur. From the three versions, the Boorman
has the best descriptiveness of the battle scene. It shows great visual effects, which makes for a great scene. Another important part of Arthur’s story is the throwing of the sword. In all of the versions, Arthur is near his death. In both the Tennyson and Malory, Sir Bedivere is present while Arthur is in a critical state. The Tennyson and Malory do not have many differences in this scene. In both versions, Sir Bedivere is asked to throw Excalibur into the lake. Sir Bedivere does not do the simple task with ease, instead he struggles with it. He believes it should be a memory of Arthur when he dies, so he does not throw it into the lake the first or second try. He goes back to Arthur and tells him he completed the task, but Arthur knew he did not. Arthur then threatens him with death if he does not obey his order. Finally, the third try, Bedivere does it and the Lady of the Lake comes and retrieves it. In the Boorman version, Bedivere is not the one present with Arthur, instead it is Percival. Percival is asked by Arthur to throw the sword into the lake. The first attempt, Percival is not able to complete the task, but after going for the second time he throws the Excalibur into the the lake and once again the Lady of the Lake retrieves the sword for safe keeping. Out of the three versions, Tennyson has the best description of this scene. Tennyson goes into great detail and is able to let readers visualize the sword being thrown into the lake. The final scene of Arthur’s story that is important is the barge scene.
Like the battle scene, the Tennyson and Malory are very much alike. In these two versions, Sir Bedivere carries Arthur to the barge and the three Queens take him. In both of these versions the Queens are wearing black, while in the Boorman the queens are wearing white. In the Boorman, when Percival comes back from throwing the sword into the lake, Arthur is already on the barge. Out of the three versions, Boorman executes the best visual aspect of the barge scene. With the best visual aspect, it gives the viewers the best conclusion to Arthur’s
story. Telling a story has many important aspects to getting the message across to the reader. In order to do that, there has to be great detail and visualization. In all the of the three versions of “The Passing of Arthur”, there are good parts and bad parts in each. The Boorman has great visual aspects in the battle and barge scenes, while the Malory goes into great detail of the dream. Finally, the Tennyson illustrates the best scene for the throwing of the sword. With that, combining all of the great scenes from each version would make a great story, but out of the three versions, the Boorman is the best story told. It has great detail and visualization, it keeps the viewer interested and gets the message across to the viewer. Each version of the Arthurian Legend is very detailed and complex. The story of Arthur can be told many different ways, but still get the message across clearly. The dream and the treaty, the battle description, the fight between Arthur and Mordred, the throwing of the sword, and the barge scene, differ in each version in their own way. Between all the details in each, they all tell the story of the great king.