The first of the Idylls of the King, “The Coming of Arthur,” tells two different stories about Arthur’s origins and refuses to confirm one or the other as true. Arthur’s reality is therefore in question from the very beginning: is he a human or an otherworldly being from fairyland?
In this world of shifting truths, Arthur upholds the belief in himself and God as the only antidote to chasing after phantoms. The ability of other characters to believe in Arthur is compromised, though, by the scandals surrounding his marriage. In Camelot, you might say, nothing is as it seems.
Questions About Versions of Reality
- What are the varying stories about Arthur’s origins? Who tells each story, and how does the teller influence our and other characters’ perception of its truth?
- Why does Balin flee Camelot in confusion after witnessing a meeting between Lancelot and Guinevere? What clears up his confusion? What point does Balin’s experience make about the relationship between reality and perception?
- What does the gatekeeper say about Camelot’s reality? Arthur’s? Why does this make Gareth angry, and what is the gatekeeper’s response?
- What reality does Arthur uphold as an antidote to the shadow-chasing of the Grail Quest?
Chew on This
The shifting and illusory nature of Camelot symbolizes the impossibility of confirming the purity of Arthur and his knights.
Merlin’s conviction that reality is in the eye of the beholder plays out in the Idylls’ telling of Lancelot and Guinevere’s adultery through the rumors that circulate about it.