As the Wheel Turns: the Fall of Camelot
...th, “now is this realm wholly destroyed and mischieved, and the noble fellowship of the Round Table shall be dispersed.” (p 297) Under the guise of concern for Arthur’s name and house, the traitorous knights break the news to Arthur that Lancelot, his dearest friend and most loyal knight, is having an affair with Guinevere. Arthur tells them to prove it. He says that Lancelot is the best of them all and he will not believe it until he has evidence. Although Arthur has suspected it, he doesn’t want to believe it. It is here that the Wheel of Fortune is set in motion. Arthur agrees to go hunting and make sure the Queen knows that he’s out of the way for the night. Mordred and Agravaine take twelve knights and lay in wait for Lancelot to come to the Queen. Lancelot does and he and the Queen are caught. Lancelot is without his armor, but he does have his sword. As the knights demand he come out of the Queen’s room, Lancelot and the Queen bid each other goodbye. Lancelot opens the door slightly and one man comes in. Lancelot kills him and takes his armor. After a speech where he promises to kill Agravaine, Lancelot opens the door, rushes forward and does just that. He also kills the rest of the knights and wounds Mordred. Mordred flees and Lancelot leaves to prepare to rescue Guinevere if he has to. Burning adulterous wives at the stake was the common practice to uphold the family name so that is what Arthur decides to do. He wishes there were some way around it but, after all, he has to have the respect of his knights and subjects. This is a change from the honor and chilavry we are used to seeing. Honor is changed slightly to mean instead: Pride. Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It is written, “Pride goeth before a fall.” But I don’t know how relevant that is to this text. He commands Sir Gawaine to: “bring my Queen to the fire, there to have her judgment and receive the Death.” (p 301) In another sharp turn of the Wheel, Gawaine refuses. Instead, his two brothers, Gareth and Gaheris are commanded to be there even though Gawaine warns that “chance occurrences are like to fall” (p 301) and they will not want to be there for this reason. As the Queen is led forward, Lancelot is given a signal and he rides in and rescues her. On his way through the throng, he manages to accidentally kill Gaheris and Gareth, who are unarmed at there own request. As Fate would have it, Lancelot is the champion of Gareth. Not realizing what he has done, Lancelot and the Queen ride away to his castle. The division of the Round Table is complete as some knights go to Lancelot and others stay with Arthur. When Arthur finds out that Gareth and Gaheris have been killed he breaks the news to Gawaine. Arthur also predicts that there is no way out of fighting Lancelot now that he has killed Gawaine’s brothers. He laments the breaking of the fellowship and the splitting of his knights. Gawaine vows to kill Lancelot. In astrology the wheel of fortune tarot card indicates a vision or a realization that strikes one with great power. A long time after the shifting of the wheel has been set in motion, Arthur dreams a dream about the Wheel. He is seated at the top of it, clothed in gold. Below him are serpents, wild beasts and dark water. As he watches, the wheel turns and drops him into the dark where all the beasts grab hold of him. When the King wakes up he quickly falls asleep again and dreams about Sir Gawaine returning from Death to warn him about his own death. King Arthur is offered a chance to change Fate by calling a truce for a month. After which Lancelot will arrive, rescue him with honor and slay Mordred. King Arthur makes a last attempt to recover his disappearing kingdom. He acts on this dream and makes a treaty with Mordred. As he goes to meet Mordred on the field and finalize the treaty, he warns his host to watch for any sword drawn. If they see one they are to “slay that traitor Mordred, for I in no wise trust him.” (p 306) At the same time, Mordred tells his host to watch for swords drawn as well. If they see any, they are to attack. As they meet and are drinking wine together, a snake crawls out of the brush and bites a knight on the foot. The knight draws his sword and kills the snake. A snake is an obvious representation of Satan. But a snake is also part of the Wheel. On the Wheel of Fortune tarot card, a snake descends on the left. He is the Egyptian god Typhon: and he represents evil. He also represents life force descending into th...