Launcelot's Swoon: Mourning and Memorial in Malory and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur

Abstract

Abstract: Launcelot's embodied expression of grief at Gwenyvere's funeral is condemned by the Bishop in Malory's Morte , but the ideological basis for this condemnation is obscure. Linguistic, cultural, and doctrinal analysis provide useful interpretive context, but a close comparison to the Stanzaic Morte Arthur reveals more concrete evidence of Malory's amplification of the earlier poem and characteristic affinity for the secular.