63 pages • 2 hours read
Thomas Malory, Peter AckroydThe Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1485A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 6: “The Death of Arthur”
Book 6, Chapter 1 Summary: “The Strife Begins”
One year later, Agravain and Mordred are angrier at Lancelot and Guinevere than ever and conspire to speak about the love affair with the king, despite Gawain’s warnings not to. When Arthur is told, he admits it is a treasonous act but nevertheless regrets learning of it because he loved Lancelot more than any other man. Agravain and Mordred concoct a trap for Lancelot. When he is alone with Guinevere, they assemble to arrest him, but Lancelot kills Agravain and the others (except for Mordred) and escapes.
With the help of Sir Bors, Lancelot rallies a group of knights with whom he plots to rescue the queen, who now faces charges of treason. At the trial, Gawain tries to defend Guinevere but is unsuccessful. The king pronounces judgment, reluctantly sentencing Guinevere to death. On the day of her execution, Lancelot arrives with his knights and saves Guinevere, but in the process he also accidentally kills Gaheris and Gareth, Gawain’s two brothers, who were unarmed. Lancelot takes Guinevere back to his castle stronghold, Joyous Garde.
Book 6, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Vengeance of Gawain”
Arthur laments the war between Lancelot’s army and the Round Table fellowship. After learning that Lancelot killed his two brothers, Gawain joins Arthur in plans to besiege Joyous Garde. Arthur’s army surrounds the castle, and Gawain shouts angrily at Lancelot, who, though remorseful, is ultimately offended and decides to fight Gawain alongside Lionel and Bors. Gawain beats Lionel, and then a general battle ensues. Bors has the opportunity to kill Arthur, but Lancelot prevents him. Bors and Gawain are both wounded.
The Bishop of Rochester commands Arthur to reconcile with Lancelot and Guinevere. Lancelot and Guinevere return to Arthur’s court, convened at Carlisle, and are reconciled, but Gawain will not forget his vendetta against Lancelot. Lancelot departs for France and renames his castle Dolorous Garde.
Book 6, Chapter 3 Summary: “Lancelot and Gawain”
Led primarily by Gawain, Arthur’s army arrives in France to make war against Lancelot and his countrymen. Arthur joins the war too, leaving his realm temporarily under the governance of Mordred. Gawain and Lancelot agree to single combat. They fight for hours, but eventually Lancelot wins. After Lancelot refuses to kill his opponent, Gawain leaves and is nursed back to health, at which point he challenges Lancelot again. For a second time, they fight and Lancelot wins. Just as Gawain, again recovered, is preparing to challenge Lancelot a third time, Arthur receives news of trouble back in England.
Book 6, Chapter 4 Summary: “The Day of Destiny”
Mordred, governor of England in Arthur’s absence, forges a letter claiming that Arthur has died and announces his intention to marry Guinevere (his stepmother). Guinevere barricades herself in the Tower of London, but Mordred even refuses to listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who pleads with the wicked knight not to marry Guinevere.
Arthur hears the news of what Mordred has done and leaves the war with Lancelot in France to fight for his own kingdom. Gawain accompanies him and dies in battle; however, he writes a letter of apology to Lancelot before succumbing to his wounds.
Arthur and Mordred schedule a day on which to fight man-to-man. Before the contest, Arthur has a dream in which the ghost of Gawain tells him to sign a truce with Mordred, which will give Lancelot time to bring an army to Arthur’s defense. When he wakes, Arthur arranges for a treaty with Mordred but still warns his knights to be careful because he doesn’t trust Mordred. During the peaceful feast that both sides attend, a snake bites one of Mordred’s men, who reacts by pulling out his sword. This causes confusion, and a fierce battle ensues, leading to the death of 100,000 warriors.
Amid the carnage, Mordred spots Arthur and challenges him. Arthur kills Mordred but is also fatally wounded. Sir Lucan dies trying to help the king. Sir Bedevere, at the king’s command, takes Excalibur and tosses it into the lake, but only after Arthur twice catches him attempting to take the sword for his own. When Bedevere really does throw Excalibur into the lake, a hand reaches up from the water and grabs it.
Bedevere helps Arthur onto a barge where many women are waiting to take Arthur away to Avalon for healing. The next day, Bedevere finds a hermitage where he encounters the Archbishop of Canterbury, who claims some women brought a body there the previous day and buried it. Bedevere assumes this was Arthur and grieves over the king’s death. Upon hearing the news that Arthur is dead, Guinevere joins a convent and becomes a nun. The narrator speculates about whether Arthur is in fact dead or will return someday in the future.
Book 6, Chapter 5 Summary: “The Dolorous Death and Departing out of This World of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere”
Lancelot receives the letter of apology from Gawain and visits his tomb at Dover Castle. Then he rides to Amesbury, where Guinevere serves as an abbess. At the monastery, Guinevere decrees to Lancelot that it will be the last time they see one another, and the two lovers weep.
Lancelot rides to the chapel where Bedevere is staying with the Archbishop of Canterbury. He hears the story of Arthur’s death and grieves. He then receives communion and becomes a monk and a priest, as do a few other surviving knights.
Seven years later, Lancelot has a vision that Guinevere is dying. He rides to Amesbury but arrives just after she has died. Guinevere is buried next to the supposed tomb of Arthur. Six weeks later, Lancelot dies and is buried at Joyous Garde. Sir Bors delivers a funeral eulogy, praising Lancelot. Sir Constantine is named king of England. Many of the old knights of the Round Table leave England and travel abroad. Sir Bors and Sir Hector are among the few who stay. They fight many battles defending England against invaders and eventually die.
Book 6 Analysis
Besides Mordred’s longstanding hatred of his uncle/father, the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere is the primary cause of the demise of Arthur’s reign. Though Lancelot is the greatest knight for pushing the boundaries of courtly behavior, that proves to be unsustainable. Just as Arthur accumulated jealous enemies after pulling the sword from the stone, Lancelot, for being the best knight, garners the bitterness of Agravain and Mordred, who plant unrest in Camelot by exposing the Lancelot-Guinevere relationship.
Once again, Arthur cannot perform his husbandly role because he must act as a just and fair king in arresting his wife. However, this time Lancelot cannot come to the rescue without acting in defiance of Arthur and plunging the Round Table into civil war. That Lancelot chooses to rescue Guinevere both relieves and antagonizes the king, who has no choice but to go to war with his best knight (especially after the accidental killing of Gaheris and Gareth). Lancelot’s devotion to chivalry remains intact, and he spares Arthur’s life in battle; however, the fighting must continue to the death (particularly between Lancelot and Gawain). This marks the end of the era of the Round Table, which falls victim to its own ideals. Honor dictates, for example, that Lancelot must respond to Gawain’s insults despite having no real desire to prolong the conflict.
The war with Lancelot is interrupted, however, by a much bigger dilemma: the potential overthrow of England. Lancelot’s infringement contrasts favorably with Mordred’s takeover; though Lancelot oversteps his boundaries, his motives have been broadly good and his loyalty to Arthur unwavering. Mordred, on the other hand, is completely evil. His method of winning Guinevere is kidnapping her in defiance of the Church. Symbolically, however, Mordred’s coup is merely Arthur’s old sins finally catching up with him—namely, his affair with Morgause, his half-sister. Mordred fatally wounds Arthur, and Arthur departs in a boat for the mythical land of Avalon.
Excalibur’s return to the lake from which it was drawn marks the end of a great reign. Arthur’s kingship was not only good but also had the support of magical tokens; when Arthur departs, these magical tokens depart as well, signifying the end of an era. With the deaths of Lancelot and Guinevere comes the death of an old ideal of love, and the narrative highlights the final disappearance of the remaining knights of the Round Table as a way of marking the transition from one period of English history to another, more modern time in which the tenets of chivalry have mostly vanished. There are even echoes of the Biblical story of humanity’s fall—significantly, it is a serpent that breaks Arthur and Mordred’s fragile truce—underscoring the extent of what has been lost.
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