Romanticism in Idylls of the King
...to fight off Earl’s men. One of Percivale’s noble deeds is when he goes in search of the Holy Grail. He is gone for years and refuses to return until he has found the Holy Grail for Arthur. He knows that Arthur feels he needs the Holy Grail because he feels his empire weakening, and he feels that only by having the Holy Grail will England become stronger. Gallant love is also a characteristic of Arthur’s knights, and himself as well. Geraint said about his wife Enid when he first met her, “…here by God’s rood is the one maid for me…” It followed the cliché saying, Love at first sight. Another example of gallant love is Lancelot’s love for Guinevere. In the last tournament you find out that as a prize for winning the joust tournament whoever won received a diamond, one of eight that Arthur had been giving away as the prize for years. Lancelot had competed in all of these jousts and won every one of them to prove that he was the best knight, and to give the diamonds as a gift to Guinevere. Arthur’s love for Guinevere is also a good example, because he loved her so much, when he found out that she was being unfaithful to him with Lancelot, he spared her her reputation, and allowed her to go live in a convent. King Arthur was a Christian King, so the novel carries many Christian ideas, which means there are not many supernatural events that occurred except between Merlin and Vivien. In the story of Merlin and Vivien, she is trying to persuade Merlin to give her his charms, and in desperation she begins fighting with Merlin, but because he was getting old, it was harder for him to defend himself, so she ended up winning a lot of Merlin’s power. Most of Arthur’s knights we...