The following essay was written for Professor Béatrice Laurent's seminar, "Myths and Icons in Victorian Britain," English 2MIAM25, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, 2023. Editorial guidance by Professor Laurent and Diane Josefowicz, with sub-headings, illustrations and links added by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on all the images to see larger versions, usually with more information about them.]
aught up in a period of tremendous social and economic change, Victorian writers and artists sought meaningful responses to the existential doubts prompted by those changes. Prominent among these responses was the reappropriation of the concept of chivalry. Brought to the forefront by new medievalist trends in general and by the Arthurian revival in particular, this updated concept of chivalry proved a way to address these questions.
Beginning at mid-century, the Medieval Revival renewed interest in the Middle Ages in "all aspects of Victorian life, including art and architecture, literature, philosophy, politics, and religion" while "serv[ing] as a mode of dissent from modern developments" (Kim). Within this movement, the Arthurian Revival, focused specifically on the myth of King Arthur and the Round Table, was notably influential. Following the initial publication, in 1859, of Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King, a collection of narrative poems about the Arthurian myth, references to King Arthur proliferated in Victorian publications (see graph). Several editions of this collection were published between 1859 and 1891, allowing Tennyson to rework and expand upon the initial narrative.
Generated using the application Google Ngram Viewer, this graph shows an increased frequency, in the second half of the Victorian era, of the word-sequence "King Arthur" across all currently available digitized books originally published between 1800 and 1920.
In this essay, we will endeavour to demonstrate that the increased popularity of the Arthurian legend in the Victorian era shows a desire to reappropriate the myth and adapt it to a new worldview and system of values developed in reaction to the anxieties of the time, such as the relative decline of the aristocracy's patrilineal power, with the gradual widening of suffrage through successive Reform Acts, and the far-reaching changes brought forth by the Industrial Revolution, such as the rise of the middle class and the emergence of a more urban society. We will begin by examining the notion of manhood in the new Arthurian canon and how it correlates with that of "Muscular Christianity" and the Victorians' dominant conception of gender roles. We will then analyse how "chivalry" became a political force and a symbol of British exceptionalism, further connecting the past and the present, before discussing the shift in attitudes towards the Arthurian myth over the course of the period and the criticism of its prevailing interpretations.
The Notion of Manhood in Idylls of the King
A quick search of the term "manhood" through the e-book of the Idylls of the King yields 15 results, whereas "man" yields 193 results (as opposed to 34 results for "woman"). While this does not, in and of itself, constitute definitive proof of the topic's centrality in Tennyson's work, several quotes show that the notion of masculinity – and its still debated definition – is far from an anecdotal concern to the author of the Idylls. As a matter of fact, the poems abound with definitions of the word, from Gareth's very first exchange with his mother Bellicent in the poem "Gareth and Lynette", first published in 1872:
Man am I grown, a man's work must I do.
Follow the deer? follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King—
Else, wherefore born? ("Gareth and Lynette")
As evidenced by the previous quotation, Gareth's vision of manhood is that of a life led in service to the kingdom, and a set of principles summarised in one short sentence: "Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King." As such, manhood is defined from a primarily moral angle and envisioned as the true purpose of one's life ("Else, wherefore born?"). This notion of duty is further emphasised in another of Tennyson's Idylls, "Enid" – first published in the Idylls' initial 1859 edition and later split into two poems: "The Marriage of Geraint" and "Geraint and Enid," in which Geraint's "happy ending" is to die in battle in service of the King, whereas his (momentary) inclination to eschew his peacekeeping duty to remain near Enid (his wife) sees him emasculated in her eyes, as illustrated by her words in "The Marriage of Geraint":
O noble breast and all-puissant arms,
Am I the cause, I the poor cause that men
Reproach you, saying all your force is gone?
I am the cause, because I dare not speak
And tell him what I think and what they say.
And yet I hate that he should linger here;
I cannot love my lord and not his name.
Far liefer had I gird his harness on him,
And ride with him to battle and stand by,
And watch his mightful hand striking great blows
At caitiffs and at wrongers of the world. ("The Marriage of Geraint")
This passage is interesting in several respects: because it establishes a clear link between masculinity and duty, but also because it is imbued with great physicality, emphasising physical strength and vigour in battle, therefore calling forth the ideal of "Muscular Christianity", which can be defined as "a reconciliation of Western religious doctrines with the need for national physical regeneration. It was inspired by novelist Thomas Hughes, historian Thomas Carlyle, and clergyman Charles Kingsley" (Fair). The attention of the reader is further drawn to the physicality of masculinity by the physical description that precedes it, in which Geraint is said to have "The massive square of [an] heroic breast, /And arms on which the standing muscle sloped, /As slopes a wild brook o'er a little stone."
Anonymously designed book cover for Tennyson's Geraint and Enid, in an edition illustrated by Byam Shaw.
However, the following Idyll, "Geraint and Enid," is rife with violence, committed both against Geraint (by bandits and by his wife's suitors) and against Enid (by her suitor Earl Doorm and, more indirectly, by Geraint himself, who orders her to stay silent, even when her goal is to warn him of danger, and refuses to ride in front of her for protection, thereby behaving in an "unchivalrous" way, which only leads to further misadventures and near-death). In "Tennyson's King Arthur and the Violence of Manliness," Clinton Machann argues that, although Tennyson defines manhood "primarily in terms of the warrior role," it is the taboo of violence against women that prompts the rigid roles we are presented with in his work, and that the portrayal of Arthur as a gentle character – which in turn attracted criticism from readers and critics who perceived him as lacking in masculinity (such as the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, who called Arthur "a wittol," or T.S. Eliot, who later dismissed the Idylls as "suitable reading for a girls' school") – is precisely an attempt to deal with the issue of "male bestiality," that is to say, a supposed predisposition to violence kept in check by moral ideals. Indeed, the character of Arthur is heavily sanitised in an attempt to present readers with a more suitable role-model. For example, "Tennyson discarded the traditional bond between Arthur and Mordred, making his King childless" and Mordred his nephew (Mancoff 62), whereas prior sources (such as Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, arguably one of Tennyson's main influences) often make him Arthur's illegitimate son, born of an incestuous relationship with his half-sister Morgause (named Bellicent in Tennyson's Idylls). Likewise, Tennyson remains elusive as to Arthur's origins and Uther's violence towards Arthur's mother Ygraine, which hints at an awareness of the problematic nature of such themes for Victorian readers. This can be tied to Machann's observation about the Idylls, in which "potentially destructive male energy is curbed and controlled by the rigid chivalric code instituted by Arthur, and its primary regulating instrument is woman-worship, a code which assumes the moral superiority of women and which places a premium on female life" (Machann 212). As such, "chivalrous" masculinity can only be defined in relation with femininity, with which it primarily interacts in the context of strictly regulated courtship and marriage.
The Woman's Role
Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale's depiction of Enid in the Hodder & Stoughton edition of the Idylls.
In this respect, another interesting aspect of Tennyson's "The Marriage of Geraint" and "Geraint and Enid" is its depiction of Enid, whose merits as a model wife are repeatedly brought to the attention of the reader. From her first encounter with Geraint, Enid is the very embodiment of Coventry Patmore's "Angel in the house", a passive and obedient female character who takes care of domestic tasks and attends to the well-being of her father, then her husband, which in turn makes her worthy of Geraint's love:
So Enid took his charger to the stall;
And after went her way across the bridge,
And reached the town, and while the Prince and Earl
Yet spoke together, came again with one,
A youth, that following with a costrel bore
The means of goodly welcome, flesh and wine.
And Enid brought sweet cakes to make them cheer,
And in her veil enfolded, manchet bread.
And then, because their hall must also serve
For kitchen, boiled the flesh, and spread the board,
And stood behind, and waited on the three.
And seeing her so sweet and serviceable,
Geraint had longing in him evermore ("The Marriage of Geraint"")
By contrast, Geraint wins her hand through martial prowess, by fighting in her name and winning back her father's lost property in a tournament in which he defeats her cousin Edyrn, which clearly puts forth different sets of desirable qualities in men and women in the context of romance.
Furthermore, when Geraint wrongly suspects her of adultery, she bears his accusations with obedience and resignation and claims to prefer death over a life without him. This highlights the importance of marriage as the sole purpose of her life, and evokes the system of coverture which granted women no distinct legal existence from their husbands and was only gradually repealed through the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882. In addition to this, Enid's "happy ending" is marital bliss and motherhood, as illustrated by the last stanza of the poem "Geraint and Enid," which clearly contrasts two distinct yet intertwined sets of ideals – one for the man, and another for the woman:
Thence after tarrying for a space they rode,
And fifty knights rode with them to the shores
Of Severn, and they past to their own land.
And there he kept the justice of the King
So vigorously yet mildly, that all hearts
Applauded, and the spiteful whisper died:
And being ever foremost in the chase,
And victor at the tilt and tournament,
They called him "the great Prince and man of men."
But Enid, whom her ladies loved to call
Enid the Fair, a grateful people named
Enid the Good; and in their halls arose
The cry of children, Enids and Geraints
Of times to be; nor did he doubt her more,
But rested in her fealty, till he crowned
A happy life with a fair death, and fell
Against the heathen of the Northern Sea
In battle, fighting for the blameless King. ("Geraint and Enid")
Here, Geraint and Enid, who have spent some time with Arthur's court and healing Geraint's wounds, return to their own land, on the shores of the Severn, where Enid dedicates herself to motherhood ("the cry of children") and marital life, allowing Geraint, "[resting] in her fealty" to enact the King's will and die in battle "[crowning]/a happy life with a fair death". While this portrayal would perhaps be seen by modern readers as an unmitigated endorsement of an abusive and constricting marriage dynamic, it is also worth mentioning that the reader is made to sympathise with Enid, whose morality is only ever questioned by Geraint himself, while the poem places her in a position of moral superiority relative to him.
"A scene from Tennyson's 'Enid' by Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse & by Rhine, consort of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse & by Rhine, 2nd daughter of Queen Victoria (1843-78)." 26 August 1860, given to Prince Albert on his birthday that year. © His Majesty King Charles. Royal Collection Trust.
While Enid embodies the perfect Victorian woman – one whose entire "mission" revolves around marriage, family life and the domestic sphere – we are also provided with other examples who – contrary to her – stray from this ideal and are punished for their transgressions: the young Elaine is too fanciful and unrealistic, clinging to unattainable hopes (being loved by Lancelot), Guinevere is unfaithful and presented as putting her own desires over those of her husband, while Vivien desires power (a "manly prerogative") for the sake of revenge (adapted from Mancoff 87-93). In King Arthur, A Drama in a Prologue and Four Acts, Guinevere is associated with life (despite being barren in the story) through the imagery of spring and blooming, but also with deception and a different form of violence, as she and the other ladies use the extended metaphor of hunting for seduction, all the while referring to themselves as weak. This introduces a degree of ambiguity regarding the supposed moral superiority of women and indirectly calls "woman-worship" into question. Furthermore, it places great emphasis on the Victorian standard of a successful marriage as the backbone of society, as Guinevere's infidelity gives Mordred opportunity to sow chaos and ultimately usurp Arthur's throne, which results in a violence that one could interpret as a breakdown of "civilisation". As such, the Idylls show a clear perception of women's duty in Victorian society: that of elevating men in the context of marriage, a position which grants them the considerable power to make or break men (as evidenced by Arthur's words to Guinevere in Tennyson's Idyll "Guinevere": "thou hast spoilt the purpose of my life"), but virtually no freedom. The prevalent concern with such a topic is highly consistent with the opposing forces at play regarding the issue of gender in the Victorian era: on the one hand, a strict set of expectations, enacted and exemplified by the Royal family itself, and on the other hand, a growing push for the emancipation of women, for example, with the Married Women's Property Acts or the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, which relaxed the conditions for women to petition for divorce, allowing the matter to be dealt with by civil jurisdictions, while still maintaining a double standard in the case of adultery (which was deemed insufficient cause for women to obtain divorce, but not for men).
Arthurian Ideals and the Social Order
As previously mentioned, the notion of chivalry was a key aspect of Victorian masculine identity, and it is worth examining how it gained traction among wider audiences. The fear of degeneration and perceived loss of moral values appear to be driving forces behind its appeal, and potential explanations for its impact outside of the realm of theory and within the political sphere. The notions of respect, morality, honour, religion and obedience - all closely associated with chivalry - were heavily influential among some political groups, and chivalry could be perceived as a guiding principle to maintain social order and stability, particularly among privileged classes who favoured "the feudal system and its intricate chain of social obligation" (Mancoff 39), which they perceived as a protection against the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. The Young England party, a coalition formed in the 1840s by the most radical young Tories, is a good example of this influence. The Young England Party valued authority and aristocratic leadership. Its members - the most famous of whom is probably the then-future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, an exception among this largely privileged group - were critical of the emerging industrial society and sought to defend the interests of the landed gentry and the Church of England.
John Everett Millais's The Knight Errant.
In this regard, their views – which "relied on Neofeodalism, linking the rich and the poor in a benevolent socioeconomic dependency while impeding the middle-class rise to hegemony" (Mancoff 38) – are in many ways an echo of the concerns made apparent in literary works centred on the concept of chivalry. Among those works, Kenelm Henry Digby's The Broadstone of Honour, published in 1822, testifies of a growing interest in chivalry even in the late Georgian era, fifteen years before Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. Throughout this work, Digby passionately extols the many qualities that embody the spirit of chivalry, attempting to inspire readers and promote his vision of what it meant to be a true gentleman. That the book was later divided in subsections and re-published multiple times through the following century demonstrates an enduring public interest for those topics.
Though Digby's lavish style was criticised, it conveyed a sense of grandeur that contributed to his near-religious framing of the concept of chivalry. In 1928, the Catholic newspaper The Irish Monthly published a piece about The Broadstone of Honour, in which the book is described as having "many digressions" and "much poetry that is out of place in prose, and an abundance of learning" (Barry 198). In the same entry, the journalist quotes the theologian Julius Hare, who declared that if he had a son, he would ask him to "love [The Broadstone of Honour] next to his Bible" (Barry 198). This is evidence of the lasting impact of Digby's work on at least part of his readership well into the twentieth century, and of the continued search for answers in an idealised past in the face of perceived moral and physical degeneration, which Barry successively refers to as "putrefaction" and "modern decadence", openly claiming that "the masses today are morally, physically and intellectually degenerate" (199).
However, chivalry was not merely a moral code for individual behaviour, but also a political symbol with strong ties to the monarchy and the notion of British exceptionalism. Starting in 1845, the House of Lords was redecorated, and paintings on the topic of chivalry were commissioned to adorn its walls. These paintings included Daniel Maclise's imposing fresco, The Spirit of Chivalry. The piece of art was intended to inspire awe and admiration in the viewer and to remind them of the importance of chivalry as a guiding principle for the nation. At its centre is a woman on an altar, dressed in white – which is highly reminiscent of woman-worship and the association between femininity and moral purity – surrounded by a variety of (mostly male) figures, including musicians, knights in armour and clergymen, as well as a young woman and a nun holding a child. All characters are facing in the woman's direction, emphasising her importance as a unifying element, almost a social cement of the nation. The presence of clergymen of various ranks calls the viewer's attention to the importance of the church, a central element in the ideology of chivalry, as was the monarchy itself, with which it remains intimately tied.
This connection was further reinforced through the commissioning of Arthurian paintings to decorate the monarch's Robing Room. One of the most notable examples of this is William Dyce's The Admission of Sir Tristram to the Fellowship of the Round Table, which was commissioned in 1857 by Prince Albert - to hang in the newly refurbished Robing Room. This painting depicts Sir Tristram, a knight of Arthur's court, being welcomed into the fellowship of the Round Table – the ultimate symbol of chivalry and knighthood. By commissioning this painting, Prince Albert was not only celebrating the ideals of chivalry but also reinforcing the connection between the monarchy and the Arthurian legend.
William Dyce's oil sketch for Hospitality: The Admission of Sir Tristram to the Fellowship of the Round Table, a fresco in the Palace of Westminster's Robing Room.
In addition to this, the British Empire often portrayed itself as a force for good in the world, bringing their ideals and their vision of civilisation to the far corners of the Earth. This narrative was consistent with the dominant view on British imperialism and supported the idea of British exceptionalism, which held that Britain was a uniquely moral and virtuous nation, with a duty to spread its values to other countries. Numerous quotations from the play King Arthur, A Drama in a Prologue and Four Acts (1885) and from Tennyson's Idylls reflect this notion, emphasising the importance of strength and the idea of a civilising endeavour. In the play, for instance, Arthur - in an attempt to motivate his troops - mentions an "unborn empire," which highlights the idea of expanding British influence beyond its borders. In another passage, Merlin describes Arthur's sword as being "forged beneath the sea" and talks about how a "sea-maiden-wrought its jewelled scabbard." This powerful connection between power and to the ocean is reminiscent of Britain's influence as a thalassocracy. In the Idylls of the King, Arthur wishes to "smite the heathen underfoot" ("The Coming of Arthur"), a violent phrasing that may remind one of some motivations behind colonialism. Another theme present in the poem is the notion of the "wilderness," which was perceived as requiring taming in the context of imperial expansion. Tennyson writes that before Arthur's arrival, there were vast tracts of wilderness where "man was less and less," implying that Britain itself was a lawless land in need of taming. As such, Arthur and his knights are portrayed as a civilising force, which creates a parallel with the idea of a "civilising endeavour," at the time still regularly used to justify imperial expansion.
In this context, the extensive use of King Arthur as a tool to promote a given political and social agenda appears as a logical development. According to Inga Bryden:
King Arthur was particularly ripe for remodelling in the context of Victorian chivalric codes because of his adaptability as a hero: artists and writers could fashion him as an imperial conqueror abroad; a just leader at home, the focus of patriotic interest; a stoical husband wronged in love; and the ideal Victorian gentleman, exponent of Christian manliness. [31]
The influence of the myth, like that of the Medieval Revival itself, was not limited to the ideological sphere but could also be witnessed in that of fashion. In her essay, Bryden studies Arthurian revivalism through the lens of clothing during the Victorian era; she argues that "there is no 'natural' dress; fashion can only ever be meaningful" (28). Contemporary western culture has often associated historicism with fashion as a way to retrieve the benefits of the past, and nineteenth-century Britain was no exception to the rule. The re-enactment of a medieval joust during the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, saw men embracing the garb of medieval knights, and the trend of costumed balls persisted well into Victoria's reign, with Prince Albert himself attending parties in armour.
Henry James Nixon's illustration of The Eglinton Tournament (London: Colnaghi, 1843), n.p., but p. 123 in the Internet Archive copy.
In Tennyson's poem "The Epic," this interaction between past and present appears to go both ways: Arthur and his knights metaphorically return to 1840s Britain, and although Arthur is described as wearing the "fashion of the day," he is presented as "a modern gentleman, ... (who) refashions historical and masculine models" (Bryden 37). By setting the story of Arthur's return within a contemporary frame, one can see that the relationship between heroic times and modern times is not only about "borrowing" past models, but also about integrating them into the modern world. One could therefore say that "Arthur exemplifies the impossibility of separating the old from the new, the past from the present" (Bryden 38). Having seen the impact of Arthurian revivalism in Victorian clothing through both an actual event and this piece of literary work, we can understand that, in order to fit a Victorian agenda, Arthur may be remodelled "in heroic, chivalric, or artistic dress" (Brydon 39).
One of the concerns of Victorian popular culture was the revival of a particular style, motivated by the fear of losing historical distinctiveness in a civilisation of increasing eclecticism. Megan Morris's essay – which deals with Arthur's return (from the dead) in nineteenth-century England – starts with an epigraph quoting W. Lucas Collins, a nineteenth-century English reverend, who mentions, in an issue of the Blackwood's Magazine published in 1860, the prophecy of the return of a long-dead British King to the world of the living, known as "Arturum Expectare." Such a prophecy introduced a tangible element connecting the world of the living and that of the dead: a historical body. The gradual introduction of more imagery in Arthurian literature alleviated "the Victorian middle-class sense of dislocation" (Morris 9), thus enlarging the audience and widening the impact of those works; but it also emphasised the strong drive of Victorian society to access England's past.
By positioning the body as an active agent of history, and granting imagination an important part of the historical discourses, nineteenth-century Britain saw the emergence of a prominent quest: locating and retrieving Arthur's body in order to "transmit its moral values to the weakened modern body" (Morris 6). In Aubrey De Vere's "King Henry II. At the Tomb of King Arthur" (1842), the tomb - supposedly located on the mythical island of Avalon - produces corporeal effects on nearby knights, as "the response of sword and armors to Arthur's tomb signifies the enhancement of the knights' masculine defences" (Morris 14). One can therefore argue that it reveals moral qualities (in this case, manliness), reinforcing the idea that "imaginative recreations of history almost invariably locate this history in a concrete body for the reader's perusal and subsequent imitation" (Morris 11). In other words, endowing it with a physical component made the myth more accessible to its audience.
Tradition versus Progress
Though interest in the myth remained strong throughout the Victorian Age, audiences gradually stopped viewing Arthur as a perfectly fitting model for the modern gentleman. Algernon Charles Swinburne dubbed Tennyson's Idylls the "Morte d'Albert" and "the Idylls of the Prince Consort" (a mocking reference to the barely concealed parallels between Arthur and Prince Albert), accusing Tennyson of portraying types rather than complex human beings.
Yet despite rising criticism and irreverence towards the Arthurian myth and chivalric ideals, the legend continued to provide moral reassurance, and "even at the turn of the century, as Arthurian popularity reached its twilight, the passing of Arthur endured as a powerful theme in literature and an iconic subject in art" (Mancoff 144). However, representations shifted away from realism, with more nostalgic and stylised book illustrations that "presented the reader with an ethereal and fragile Arthurian world" (Mancoff 141), expressing greater distance between reality and the myth and further anchoring the latter into the realm of legend. This coincides with the overall feeling conveyed by Edward Burne-Jones's monumental painting The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon, commissioned in 1880, which Burne-Jones kept delaying and perfecting to the point that the order was eventually rescinded, proof (if needed be) of Burne-Jones's dedication to the topic until the end of his life at the very end of the century (1898). According to Mancoff, The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon evokes the suspension of time, with Arthur lying sheltered in a cloister at the centre of the painting, surrounded and attended to by several women playing music to soothe him while guards protect the cloister from outside interference. In a manner of speaking, Arthur is thus shielded from change, no longer a stand-in for the modern man but one who remains safe in the time of legends.
The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon (1881-1898), by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, in the Museo de Arte, Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Ultimately, the Victorians' relationship with the legend of King Arthur can be analysed through a variety of lenses, all of which illustrate the paradoxes of the Victorian era itself, a time stretched by opposing forces, torn between the pull of tradition and the push for social and technological progress. Among the plentiful cast of the Arthurian canon, perhaps no one better than Bedivere illustrates the complexity of the Victorian mood and reaction to change as he watches the barge carrying Arthur to Avalon disappearing into the distance, a stand-in for readers and viewers - who can only watch the legend from a distance - while maintaining his principles and loyalty to the King. Bedivere, however, remains uncertain about the future and the possibility of Arthur's return. While the parallel may seem grim to some, Arthur himself, in Tennyson's Idylls, acknowledges and accepts the inevitability of change, therefore providing Bedivere - and the reader - with a form of reassurance and advice that may remind one of the Victorian concept of self-help:
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me? ("The Passing of Arthur")
Thus, nostalgia makes way for hope, as Arthur is finally released of his duty and passes it on to his last follower - and by extension, to the whole of British society.
Links to Related Material
- Tennyson and Victorianism
- Review of The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Medievalism, edited by Joanne Parker and Corinna Wagner
- Tennyson at Tintagel (site of what is reputed to be King Arthur's Castle)
- King Arthur's Halls, Tintagel
Bibliography
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Burne-Jones, Edward, "The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon", 1880-1898, Oil on canvas, 9'3" x 21'2", Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.
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Created 19 January 2024