Thursday, September 13, 2012
Malory: Sir Launcelot Du Lake
During this section as in others i noticed hat Malory often gives small hints of religion within his stories. Some of these are outright others however are more subtle. While reading this particular passage i began to notice that during the tale there are points where the author decided to be extremely descriptive about a journey or occurrence. I noticed briefly that the number 12 happened to be referred to a lot, which got me thinking that it was more of a symbol than a fluke thereupon the novel. On pages 121 and 122 the number twelve is given in somewhat strange context that made it jump out to me more than usual. "When she had led him through the twelve doors of the abby, she gave him his horse and armor, and directions for finding the abby." The mentioning of 12 to me does not exactly fit so the question arises is Malory trying to convey something about that number and if so what? My conclusion rests with religion, 12 referring to the 12 apostles. The number continuously shows up right after in fact on page 122 "King Bagdemagus castle was twelve miles away, and his daughter sent for him as soon as she settled Sir Launcelot." So the reader is left with the question is twelve significant? and how so.
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This is a very good point because it seems as though Malory uses "religious" numbers often throughout his writing. He is also very descriptive at times that may seem random to the reader, saying things like "12 nights gathered for the tournament and Knight A fought Knight B, who then killed Knight C." Now that you have made this point about the numbers, I wonder if what seems random in his writing actually had some greater significance to him at the time.
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