--- Mario Taboada <
matrxtech@yahoo.com> wrote:
> If Chandler was thinking of making Marlowe
an
> Arthurian
> hero, I wonder which model he had in
mind.
Well, the real problem is not even which character he had in
mind, but rather which incarnation of which character. The
Arthur Mr. T. describes is essentially Malory's Arthur, but
he is a much more active and heroic character in earlier
incarnations. Even with Lancelot's faults, Malory clearly
intended him as the model of knighthood--and there are plenty
of versions which paint Lancelot as either a better or a
worse man. I love Tennyson's version myself--it's the first
one I read--but Tennyson really didn't hold true to the
legends as they existed before his time, so I don't think of
him as "authentic," whatever that means.
Perhaps Chandler's collected letters offer some insight into
this question. If I had to pick a knight, I'd say Gawaine as
he appears in Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight--virtuous,
reckless, and even a little...I can't come up with the word.
Not naive, but something like that. He wears a token of his
own guilt back to court, and the other court members mock
him--good-naturedly--about it. Marlowe also sees in himself
shortcomings that most of the world would laugh at or ignore
in a man who is so worthly otherwise. That's not naive, it's
romantic. But I hate to use that word.
G.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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