The question of King Arthur's power and personality is one that kept jumping into my mind as I was reading Malory's text. Assuming that the stories he writes take place in mostly chronological order (as they appear to), chapter 5 or Arthur and Accolon takes place not very long after Arthur has become king. Even if he did rule for many years previous to this occurrence, Arthur's authority over those around him--both his own knights and absolute strangers--is remarkable. At least for the time being, Arthur seems to continually have the upper hand on all situations, regardless of his loss of Merlin or even his magical sword (although he does struggle without it). His power and strength are so tremendous that he is able to overcome Accolon in battle with a broken sword, and although he does not kill him, he certainly proves his worthiness. Where did Arthur's power originate from, and how is he able to maintain it for so long? Similarly, Arthur's power in battle and throughout his kingdom leads to his authoritative nature. Many times throughout the novel he makes demands of other kings, knights, or seemingly important figures that he does not know or that do not know him. Although this is something that all of the knights do, Arthur does it best, and most often. For example, in chapter 5 after he has battled Accolon, he instructs those around him. He begins with Accolon, granting him forgiveness but swearing off Morgan Le Fay. Then he moves on to Sir Damas, saying he must "yield to your brother not only his rightful estates, together with all their appurenances, but all of your own estates as well."(77). After throughly covering Sir Damas he addresses Sir Outlake, offering him a place in his kingdom. Arthur consistently not only wins battles within these first few chapters of Malory's text, he also becomes such a strong, authoritative figure that he can command a room full of strangers to his will. It is unclear whether this quality of Arthur's is a device used by Malory, similar to other instances of exaggeration (such as the knight's horses falling dead beneath them from riding), or intended to be more sincere and legitimate.
I personally had the same question that you stated in the beginning of this post. "Where did Arthur's power originate from, and how was he able to maintain it for so long?" To me it seemed that other than his nobel heritage he really was not all that extraordinary and would have grown up to be quite average had Merlin not stepped in and basically raised him to be exactly what he believed the England needed. I would say even that it was Merlin who first gave Arthur the power to rule, but it was done in a very inadvertent way. Also i believe that Arthur's commanding authoritative nature is closer to being sincere than it is to being a device used by Malory. However that being said it was quite perceptive of you to to make that connection where i had not pondered the idea that Arthur's behavior could indeed be a device at all.
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