Merlin’s Prophecies, Malory’s Lacunae Rachel Kapelle (bio) In The Tale of King Arthur, conflict between foreknowledge and the codes of behavior characters follow generates odd gaps surrounding prophecies of the inevitable. (RK) When reading narratives which revolve around prophecy, we are always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yet while readers anticipate a prediction’s inevitable fulfillment, when it occurs characters are usually taken by surprise. We are familiar with instances of rueful or terrified recognition, moments in which recipients of prophecy learn they have ignored or misinterpreted predictions. Oedipus finds to his horror that his attempts to escape the oracle’s doom misfired. Facing Macduff, Macbeth learns that the witches did not in fact promise him invulnerability. Macduff reveals that he was not ‘of woman born’ in the usual sense, and the king recoils: Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cowed my better part of man; And be these juggling fiends no more believed, That palter with us in a double sense, That keep the word of promise to our ear And break it to our hope. (V.10.17–22)1 These two examples do not follow precisely the same pattern. During the final scenes of Macbeth, the witches’ predictions materialize one by one, disheartening the king and signaling his impending downfall. The prophecies concerning Oedipus, in contrast, actually came about some time ago. He enacted the oracle’s words before the play even began. In this drama focused on the gradual uncovering of truth, it is the protagonist’s recognition of prophetic fulfillment that brings about the conclusion. For one tragic hero, fulfillment confirms the end is near; for the other, acknowledgment that a prophecy has come to pass constitutes the end. Despite this difference in sequencing, however, prophetic fulfillment and its recognition are important steps in the conclusion of both dramas. Though the structure of tragedy differs considerably from that of romance, moments of fulfillment serve as important narrative milestones within [End Page 58] romances as well. Prophecy plays a particularly vital role in Sir Thomas Malory’s The Tale of King Arthur, the first tale of what became known as the Morte Darthur. Prophecy gives, first of all, a sense of organization to a sometimes chaotic text. While the tale highlights beginnings rather than endings, a number of plotlines do conclude within it, including the story of Balin and the encounter between Arthur and Accolon. Predictions impose a structure of anticipation and completion that tells a reader what to expect and indicates when a piece of the story is over.2 They also connect Malory’s tale to other works. Whether or not Malory initially intended to write an entire history of Arthur, he clearly wished to situate his writing firmly within the Matter of Britain. Prophecy was an important tool in this undertaking. As Elizabeth Edwards notes, Malory ‘certainly had a conception of the wholeness of the story and the prophecies insist that the total signification of early events depends on later ones.’3 Merlin makes many predictions which do not reach fulfillment anywhere within the Morte; Malory does not relate Pellinore’s death, nor does King Mark learn Merlin’s name at the moment he uncovers his wife’s adultery.4 Prophecies like these are tendrils which reach out of the tale and link it to the greater Matter. Besides providing a framework and situating a text within Arthurian history, prophecy can, potentially, grant access to the inner workings of a narrative world. The Tale of King Arthur is notoriously mysterious. Cause and effect often lack a clear connection; sequences of events unfold according to obscure logics. Critics such as Jane Bliss have looked to prophecy for insight into causation—a logical strategy, as a number of predictions posit coming events as consequences of past ones. According to Bliss, multiple causal forces appear to operate in the tale—destiny, fate, chance, and God are all invoked. As a result, linking particular situations to particular forces proves difficult, but prophecy nevertheless reveals that certain rules do govern what happens. Malory omits, she argues, some of the emphasis his source, the thirteenth century Post-Vulgate Suite...