The Puer and the Symbolism of the Sword

Abstract

In this article I examine the symbolism of the sword from the perspective of the knights of the romantic period, in particular, the depictions in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. My contention is that such figures provide an extremely detailed and enlightening depiction of the male puer, the eternal male child figure who has problems relating to the world in very specific ways. In such an investigation the sword is an essential theme in illuminating the central features of the puer orientation, and it can serve as the main symbol in resolving the essential neurotic tensions involved. It is a general point about symbols that their study in isolation from the relationships that are required to ground them is largely unpsychological and dry. My intention is to show how the sword symbolism is crucial in understanding the puer psychology precisely because the sword is a symbol that requires a certain relation, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than in Malory's Arthurian legends.