How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
‘Queen? subject? but I see not what I see.
Damsel and lover? hear not what I hear.
My father hath begotten me in his wrath.
I suffer from the things before me, know,
Learn nothing; am not worthy to be knight;
A churl, a clown!’
(“Balin and Balan,” 276-281)
Balin has just witnessed a meeting between Lancelot and Guinevere that confuses him, although he can’t say exactly why. Was what he saw a proper interaction between a queen and her subject or a romantic liaison between a damsel and her lover? Balin feels like he knows and learns nothing. What we want to know is, why does he feel like this inability to interpret what he has seen makes him unworthy of knighthood?
Quote #8
She lied with ease; but horror-stricken he,
Remembering that dark bower at Camelot,
Breathed in a dismal whisper, ‘It is truth.’
(“Balin and Balan,” 517-519)
Vivien tells Balin a lie about witnessing a love-tryst between Lancelot and the queen. In contrast to the meeting Balin witnessed, Vivien’s account is straight up sexual. No ambiguity here, folks. It seems to confirm Balin’s worst fears, transforming his confusion to horror as his perception and understanding of what he saw crystallizes to align with Vivien’s account.
Quote #9
‘ “Where is that goodly company,” said I,
“That so cried out upon me?” and he had
Scarce any voice to answer, and yet gasp’d,
“Whence and what art thou?” and even as he spoke
Fell into dust and disappear’d, and I
Was left alone once more and cried in grief,
“Lo, if I find the Holy Grail itself
And touch it, it will crumble into dust!”’
(“The Holy Grail,” 432-439)
Percivale wanders through a land in which everything he encounters crumbles away to dust. Yet when he asks the old man in the ruined city where everyone has gone, the man questions Percivale’s own reality. These experiences lead Percivale to fear that even if he does find the Holy Grail, it will crumble into dust just like the land. And don't forget that Arthur, too, worried that his knights would chase phantoms if they searched for it, and even at the end of the Grail Quest, his knights question the reality of what they have seen.