Best Viewed: Internet Explorer

Part VI.  The Dream Falls Apart

                          

                         "King Arthur" by Innocenti                                                 "Lancelot Arms Himself in Guinevere's       

   [Arthur surrounded by deceit and ambition]                                                  Chamber" by Lancelot Speed.        

                                                                                                                                                  ["But still the knights cried mightily                   

                                                                                                                                       without the door, 'Traitor, come forth.'"]         

"Sir Lancelot Fights Sir Mador to Defend

Guinevere's Honor" by N. C. Wyeth

                        

     "She Made Her Face a Darkness                                                "Guinevere in the Nunnery"   

    from the King" by Florence Harrison.                                     by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale.   

[Guinevere pleads for forgiveness]                                                      [The final years of penance.]

Sir Mordred by H. J. Ford

[Arthur's son tries to usurp the kingdom in his father's absence.]

"The King ran towards Sir Mordred, crying,

'Traitor, now is thy death day come'" by N. C. Wyeth

"How Sir Belvedere Cast the Sword Excalibur

into the Water" by Aubrey Beardsley

"The Death of Arthur" by James Archer

"So like a Shattered Column Lay the King" by Florence Harrison

[The women of Avalon escort King Arthur to the Otherworld.]

Glastonbury Tor, the reputed entrance to the Celtic Otherworld (Annfwn or

Avalon). Arthur is buried or healing there, according to legend.

Links

For more on the tragic end of Camelot, see Arthur links at Part I and Guinevere links at Part 2.

Great photos of and commentary on the real Glastonbury Tor.

Read about Glastonbury and Glastonbury: Early Spiritual Center and Glastonbury: Maker of Myths.

Or try Traveller's Guide to Arthuran Britain:  Glastonbury by Arthurian specialist Geoffrey Ashe.

Here is a scholarly article: At the Tomb of King Arthur.

Read an interesting defense of Sir Mordred--provides a different reading of Arthur.

Resources on "Arthurian Literature and Art": Celtic-Medieval and Victorian-Modern.

Return to Nichols Home Page

NOTE: Students should be advised that there is no one standard version of the King Arthur legends. This "Arthurian Legends Illustrated" represents an amalgam of different artists' views.

Painting, top of page: "Attainment of the Holy Grail" (tapestry) by E. C. Burne-Jones