85 pages • 2 hours read
Roger Lancelyn GreenKing Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Book 4, Chapters 1-3 and EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 4: “The Departing of Arthur”
Book 4, Chapter 1 Summary: “Launcelot and Guinevere”
After the quest for the Holy Grail, no new knights arrive to replace the deceased knights. Launcelot, remembering why he failed the quest, stays away from Guinevere as often as he can, which angers the queen. In rashness, she sends him away. Regretting her actions, Guinevere searches for him in the woods under the guise of an a-maying party. As they ride in the forest, Sir Melliagraunce attacks Guinevere with a large company and wounds her unarmed squires, wanting to take the queen as his own. Guinevere agrees to go to his castle to spare her squires from death.
Meanwhile, the wounded Sir Urry arrives to Arthur’s court with Nimue, and Launcelot—the worthiest knight—heals Urry at Arthur’s command. Rather than celebrate, Launcelot cries remembering the prophecy of Logres’s descent following his healing deed. The court hears of Melliagraunce’s ambush, and Launcelot rides away without waiting for Arthur. A band of archers kills Launcelot’s horse, so he continues on foot. Launcelot persuades Melliagraunce’s woodsman with threats of violence to carry him to the castle on his cart. Launcelot arrives in a fury, but Guinevere persuades Launcelot to wait for a formal duel with Melliagraunce at Camelot in one week.
Launcelot stays in Melliagraunce’s castle in good faith, but Melliagraunce traps Launcelot in his dungeon for the week. A woman tends to Launcelot and offers to free him in exchange for a declaration of love. Launcelot refuses, but on the final day, the woman relents to a single kiss. Launcelot rides away to the duel where Melliagraunce had been mocking Launcelot’s dishonorable desertion on the battlegrounds. Launcelot reveals the trick and slays Melliagraunce in battle. Guinevere meets Launcelot alone in the garden to thank him personally. They declare their love for one another and decide to have an affair. Launcelot, overcome by love, agrees to meet Guinevere in her room. The evil Sir Mordred and Agravain overhear the couple, seeing an opportunity to bring ruin to Logres.
Book 4, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Plots of Sir Mordred”
Gawain doesn’t believe Agravain and Mordred’s story about Launcelot, and he warns them to not cause needless trouble. Arthur allows the knights to confront Launcelot at Guinevere’s door, and he cries hoping they are wrong. Bors tries to prevent Launcelot from going on his secret errand, but Launcelot won’t be persuaded. Mordred and Agravain surprise Launcelot and Guinevere with a company of knights, loudly declaring their dishonor. Unarmed, Launcelot kills the first knight to attack and puts on his armor. Launcelot slays all the knights except for Mordred, and he flees with Bors and Lionel.
Gawain defends Launcelot and Guinevere, not wanting Arthur to make rash judgments, but Arthur lawfully sentences Guinevere to death. Gawain refuses to lead her to the stake, so Gareth and Gaheris agree to Arthur’s command. The two brothers lead Guinevere to the pyre, but before it is lit, Launcelot arrives to save the queen. He kills many knights in the process, including the unarmed Gareth and Gaheris. Launcelot and his followers create a stronghold in North Wales. Gawain forces Arthur to go to war for the queen and his brothers’ honor.
Arthur unsuccessfully lays siege to Launcelot’s castle. Launcelot tries to make peace, but Gawain’s thirst for revenge is too powerful. Bors smites Arthur off his horse, though Launcelot doesn’t allow him to kill the king. Arthur, remembering Launcelot’s deeds and thankful for his mercy, declares peace. Guinevere returns and Launcelot leaves to live in exile in Armorica. Gawain promises to hunt Launcelot until one of them is dead.
Gawain gains many supporters and forces Arthur to break the peace with Launcelot. Arthur takes his company to France where Launcelot and Gawain fight three times—Gawain falling each time to worse wounds. Mordred rules in Arthur’s stead, lying about Arthur’s death and usurping the crown. Guinevere sends word to Arthur and the Archbishop of Canterbury curses Mordred’s unholy actions. Arthur’s legions return to Britain where Mordred ambushes them in Dover. Gawain falls to his wounds while Mordred’s rebels flee. With his dying strength, Gawain writes to Launcelot for forgiveness and begs him to help Arthur.
Book 4, Chapter 3 Summary: “The Last Battle”
After Mordred flees, he travels through Britain conscripting men to join his rebellion. Arthur and his followers camp near the Plain of Camlann where Merlin foretold of Logres’s final battle. In the sleepless night, Arthur sees a mirage of Gawain surrounded by the ladies he helped in his lifetime. Gawain advises Arthur to make peace with Mordred while Launcelot travels to Britain, and in the morning Arthur sends Sir Lucan and Sir Bedivere to make the truce. Arthur and Mordred meet, each warning their men to fight at the first sight of a sword. The two leaders agree to peace and feast. Mordred’s knight drunkenly kills a snake with his sword, prompting all the knights to begin fighting with one another.
The deadly battle on the Plain of Camlann sees almost every knight slain except for Arthur, Lucan, Bedivere, and Mordred. Lucan warns Arthur to trust in God’s divine justice, but Arthur—distraught at the carnage—charges Mordred. He mortally wounds Mordred and Mordred returns the blow before dying. Lucan and Bedivere carry Arthur to a nearby chapel, where Lucan dies from the effort.
Arthur commands Bedivere to throw Excalibur into the nearby lake—from whence he received the sword—and to return with the tale of what he sees. Bedivere, thinking the task wastes a good sword, twice lies about discarding the weapon. Bedivere finally throws the sword into the lake, where the mysterious hand catches it and disappears. Bedivere brings Arthur to the lake and onto a magic boat. Lady Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, the Lady of Avalon, and Morgana await to take Arthur to Avalon where they will heal his wound. Arthur comforts Bedivere that he will return when Britain needs him most to rebuild the realm of Logres.
Epilogue Summary
Launcelot returns to Britain after a month. He finds Guinevere—now a nun—and she tells him about the final battle. He leaves her for the last time and travels to Glastonbury, where he becomes a monk with Bedivere. After some time, Guinevere and Launcelot both die. The few remaining knights of Logres live out their lives on pilgrimage, and Britain falls to the Saxons.
The legend of Arthur’s return endures in Britain, though some claim to find his bones to bring themselves fame. One story claims that a shepherd found a cave beneath a hazel tree wherein Arthur and his knights all slept among piles of treasure. The shepherd accidentally wakes the king but entreats him to go back to sleep until it is time for his true return.
Book 4, Chapters 1-3 and Epilogue Analysis
Book 4 concludes the legendary story of Logres and shows that the downfall of God’s kingdom on earth is due to sin and the breaking of oaths. The central sin that causes the collapse of Logres is Launcelot and Guinevere’s unholy love. In Chapter 1, Launcelot and Guinevere’s love moves beyond a silent loyalty to one another and becomes a worldly, physical connection behind Arthur’s back. By moving their love outward from thought to action, their relationship becomes truly sinful and allows for “evildoers” like Mordred to manipulate them to “bring shame and ruin upon King Arthur and the whole realm of Logres” (351). Mordred’s envy latches onto Launcelot’s sin, and he causes the civil war to usurp Arthur’s crown for himself. In the historical era of the original stories, usurpation directly went against God and the divine right of kings, so Mordred breaks not only his vows to Arthur but to God. The text visualizes these sins creeping into Logres using the symbolic image of a snake. The snake slithers in and causes a man to violently react to it, leading to the final battle of Camlann. The text directly connects this snake to an animal “as evil as the serpent which tempted Eve” (371) in the Garden of Eden, as both of these “devilish” creatures break the peace and release chaos.
This final book furthers the theme of The Overpowering Nature of Sin, as even the noblest characters fall to hateful behavior. Arthur, in his sadness about Launcelot and Guinevere’s betrayal, hastily believes Mordred over Gawain and sentences Guinevere to death. Though Gawain warns him of seeking justice without all the facts, Arthur rashly punishes Guinevere for hurting not only her honor but his as well. Arthur realizes too late that he “condemned Queen Guinevere to the flames so speedily” (361), and his wrathful actions lead to Gaheris and Gareth’s deaths and the division of the Round Table. Uncontrollable revenge is most visible in Gawain, as the deaths of his brothers trigger his impulsive violence. He acts like he is possessed “with wicked pride and anger” (367) for Launcelot. Despite Arthur’s decree of peace, Gawain’s bloodlust makes him declare, “The King may do as he will […] but never while we live shall I make peace with you” (363). Arthur’s flaw of violently defending his knights’ honor causes him to disregard Lucan’s warnings that “if you leave [Mordred] now this wicked day of destiny is safely past” (373), as Mordred’s wounds are already fatal. Arthur, wanting justice for all the knights who died under Mordred’s rebellion, ignores Lucan and recklessly attacks Mordred, getting mortally wounded himself. After Launcelot’s first sin, the sins of the others compound on one another, creating a frenzy of violence, and chaos, resulting in the total downfall of Logres and its eventual takeover by dark forces.
The end of Chapter 3 and the Epilogue firmly establish the narrative’s legendary quality, connecting to the theme of British nationalism. As Arthur leaves for Avalon, he tells Bedivere that he will return to Britain when “the realm of Logres shall rise once more out of the darkness” (377-78). He entreats Bedivere to spread this story throughout Britain. This declaration instills the idea that the Britain of the reader’s world could see Arthur come back if the conditions of good behavior and piety are met, and Arthur himself was the man to make this promise. The Epilogue—while wrapping up the stories of the remaining characters—connects the mythic narrative to real-world history. By revealing monks and kings of the 1200s were desperate to quell the legend that “King Arthur might return any day and release [their subjects] from their new overlords” (383), the text places Arthur’s reign on a historical timeline that had real-world implications for real kings. Such revelations blur the line between legend and reality, and they place a morsel of hope in the young reader’s mind that the legend could really be true.
