Sanico, Jay Anthonie A. World Literature Santos, Joseph Gapayo, Dominic Doarte Avila, John Glenn the passing of arthur from

The Characters


The Passing of Arthur presents two main characters. First is King Arthur, ruler of Great Isle of Britain, the leader of the Knights of the Round Table and the bearer of the legendary sword, Excalibur. Second is Sir Bedivere, the last surviving knight of the Round Table who helped King Arthur after the final battle.

Other characters mentioned in the poem were Mordred, King Arthur’s son who nearly killed him; the Lady of the Lake who took the Excalibur into her bosom; and the Three Queens who accompanied King Arthur in the barge towards their voyage to the Avalon.

The Summary

The last poem of The Idylls of the King opens with Sir Bedivere, the last of the knight of the Round Table who narrated the last of the moment he had with King Arthur.

Sir Bedivere recalled the last battle they had which happened at the coast of Lyonesse. Towards the end of the battle, a strange mist covered the field. The fog was so dense that no knight could see to whom he was fighting with. It was a terrific and tragic battle as he remembered, where all that was heard were the clashing of the swords and the screaming of the fallen. The mist eventually rose and revealed the three remaining knights in the battle – King Arthur himself, Mordred his son who cause the battle itself and Sir Bedivere. The King and his son struck each other. Mordred fell while King Arthur was deeply wounded. Sir Bedivere helped him and brought him to an abandoned chapel.

King Arthur asked Bedivere to take his sword, the legendary Excalibur and to throw it in the lake. However, the knight was reluctant to at first to obey the order for he saw the sword very valuable. Twice he lied to King Arthur; he told him that he threw it where in reality, he hid it. However, each time the king knew he lied. In the third time, King Arthur threatened to kill Bedivere with the sword if he would not follow his orders. The knight quickly obeyed and threw the sword in the lake. The Lady of the Lake caught it by her arm, brandished it thrice and took it down the waters with her.

Upon his return, Bedivere saw the Three Queens who were in black robes and hoods and golden crowns. They brought King Arthur in the barge or a boat and they were set to sail to Avalon. Bedivere bade good-bye to King Arthur and he believed that the Three Queens would heal the king’s wounds and that one day, King Arthur would return to rule once more the Great Isle of Britain.