Tennyson's Idyll's of the King

In Tennyson's The Idylls of Arthur, we are given a poem that displays all of typical elements of Arthurian chivalric romance. In Tennyson's would-be epic, we are provided with the birth of a king in Arthur. We are witness to the building of the Round Table, provided with its history and view its disintegration. We also see the passing of King Arthur. Along the way we discover that Arthur's faith is sorely tested, by the lack of faith in him in his men and especially by the betrayal of his wife and friend. Arthur's experiences in war and in love have made him come to doubt his faith or God's benevolence and power, "The Idylls can be interpreted as a series of allegories on the theme of unrepentant sin's bringing down an ideal. Fidelity, be it marital or martial, is on high trial throughout these poems," (King 2000, 4). However, Arthur's crisis of faith is resolved when he discovers that he will live after death, "Nay God my Christ I pass but shall not die," (Tennyson).

Arthur's tale is not one of tragic heroism but more of a Christ-like figure. In heroism it is the hero's character flaw that brings him down, such as Caesar's hubris or Othello's pride. However, Arthur maintains faith from the beginning though he comes to doubt his faith after the betrayal of those closest to him. In one of the sections of the poem, Arthur's passing is revealed to us. In this section we most see how Arthur is not tragic hero but Christ-like figure. This is

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questioning of his faith, but it does not resemble the character flaws typically associated with the downfall of most tragic heroes. We see that Arthur is also Christ-like in the way that he treats his men. His faith has been crushed by their lack of faith in him and his inability to unite them in goodness. He understands that within the individual there is both the capacity for truth and falsehood. This is what makes him fear that God has abandoned him during his passing. However, despite the fact that he voices his doubt about a supreme power being responsible for such conditions as he finds in reality, Arthur refuses to abandon his faith. Instead, he comes to a different perspective of belief. He imagines that there is not so much anything wrong with the capacity for evil in the world but rather the inability of men to maintain ideals. As he expresses, "The world were wholly fair, / But that these eyes of men are dense and dime, / And have not power to see it as it is: / Perchance because we see not to the close" (Tennyson). Arthur's expressions here are very similar to Christ's experiences and expressions. This is particularly true in that the Will of God is not to be known by men and men must have faith in God until

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