A picture from the Camelot Page of "Sir Mordred the Traitor".
Another neat picture--of the "Combat of Mordred and King Arthur"
You can find more Mordred art at our own Arthurian Art Gallery.
In the 54th triad of the Triads of the Isle of Britain, a Welsh document, we see a hint of Mordred's adultery with Guinevere, as well as Arthur's consequent revenge:
"Three Unbridled Ravagings of Britain: The first of them, when Medrawd came to Arthur's court in Celli Wig in Cornwall; he left neither food nor drink in the court he did not consume, and he also pulled Gwenhwyfar out of her chair of her state, and then he struck a blow upon her. And the second Unbridled Ravaging, when Arhtur came to Medrawd's court; he left neither food nor drink in either the court or the cantref [district]. And the third Unbridled Ravaging, when Aeddan the Treacherous came as far as Dumbarton to the tourt of Rhydderch the Generous, and he left neither food nor drink nor animal alive."
After a great battle, Modred's army is put to flight, and Arthur
pursues it. Guinevere hears of this and flees to a nunnery (the story
should be starting to sound familiar). Arthur is not a wimpy cuckold in
Geoffrey of Monmouth; he humiliates Modred in battle, chasing him down
until the final battle, where Modred falls. The rebel allies do not flee
in despair, however; Geoffrey generously gives them the glory of a last
stand. Arthur is mortally wounded, and he goes to Avalon to be healed.
It is interesting to note that Arthur and Gawain are much less
lenient and much more powerful than they are in later centuries-- there is
no pathetic hope of a Lancelot to come rescue Guinevere from the stake, no
powerlessness in the face of one's own law. Arthur abandons the war
against Lucius and goes back to "kill cunning Mordred and torch the queen
/ And destroy all those who are tied to this treason" (14,065-66).
Walwain (Gawain) also is angry; he insists on pulling her to pieces.
The queen is also portrayed differently here than in later
centuries. She is indeed a traitress against King Arthur, for Mordred has
become her "dearest consort." She even counsels him against the king. In
later versions of the tale, her guilt in this instance is partially
cleared by the fact that Mordred tells her that the king is dead. Here,
she is just as blameworthy as Mordred.
The war between Arthur and Mordred is terrible, but it gives
Layamon an opportunity to show how wicked Mordred is, having the traitor
sneaks away from his own supporters so as to stall Arthur's finding him
and leaving them to be needlessly killed by Arthur. The queen hears of
Arthur's fierce onslaughts, and predictably steals away and takes holy
orders. Arthur, the "angriest of kings," hunts Mordred down and kills him
and all his cowering companies. Arthur's valorous life is cut short by
fifteen terrible wounds, but Merlin the magician prophecies that he will
be healed and return to Britain.
At this point, Mordred has a rare moment of remorse; he stands up
and declares how wonderful Gawain was as a knight--bold, blessed, humble,
lordly and well-praised. Mordred breaks down in tears and bewails the
fate that made him cause such a tragedy--to kill his own kinsman and one
of Arthur's best knights. He rides off remembering the glories of the
Round Table which he has destroyed; "he railed and he rued all his ruinous
works" (3894). But this is the only time we see Mordred in a sympathetic
light. There is no begging for Arthur's forgiveness, no manifestation of
repentance to the people he hurt. Arthur refuses to give up the fight
until Mordred is dead. They kill each other, and thus ends the reign of
Arthur and his nephew Mordred.
He becomes a knight and goes out and jousts with other knights from time
to time, but he is usually defeated soundly. Other knights do not love
him; it is often only for Gawaine's sake that they spare him. Once
Dinadan rescues Mordred and Agravaine from Sir Breuse Sance Pitie, but
they end up fighting about Lamorak, and Dinadan knocks them both down
again. Later on, Agravaine and Mordred kill him "cowardly and
feloniously" while he is on the Grail Quest.
Mordred is also capable of nasty tricks on other knights. On one
occasion, he takes advantage of Sir Alisander, leading him about on
horseback while the poor knight is gazing on his lady and not paying
attention to anything else. A damsel arms herself and gives him a great
blow to shake him back to his senses, and when Alisander realizes how
Mordred would have shamed him, he is angry that he let Mordred escape.
But Mordred's reputation as a false knight is growing.
In Camelot, he is about as popular as Sir Kay; they both love to
mock and scorn new knights. Sir Percivale, as he is out on a quest, sends
a bitter message to them, saying that he hopes someday to be as worthy as
either of them, that he will never forget how they treated him when he was
knighted, and he will someday return to Camelot when he has more glory
than either of them. The messenger twists the message into flattery, but
Kay's and Mordred's response is still mocking--Percivale will never be a
good knight.
He is seen as somewhat of a spy--crafty and very shrewd. He is
not an open rebel, for his personality is not strong, but his hatred is
deep. He maliciously and cunningly destroys the dream of Camelot and his
father Arthur through the two people Arthur loves best: Lancelot and
Guinevere.
Lancelot and Guinevere know that the court is aware of their love,
and they also know that Mordred and Agravaine are just biding their time.
These two can do great damage to the Queen's reputation, so Lancelot tries
to find a way to protect it without compromising their love. Of course,
what happens afterwards is the famous story of the Death of Arthur, in
which Mordred and Agravaine lay a trap for Lancelot and Guinevere.
Gawaine had not wanted them to, for not only was Lancelot an excellent
knight, and not only had he rescued Mordred and Agravaine, but also he
knew that this act of betrayal would destroy the Round Table. Despite his
opposition, they force Arthur to help them catch the adulterers.
While Arthur is away hunting, Lancelot goes to visit the queen.
Mordred and his band of twelve Scottish knights catches him there, and
Lancelot, though initially unarmed, kills all but Mordred. Agravaine and
two of Gawaine's sons meet their deaths here. Mordred immediately goes to
find the king, who has no choice but to burn her at the stake for her
treason.
Guinevere is taken to the stake, and as Gawaine and Arthur had
predicted previously, Lancelot comes to her rescue, and he accidentally
kills Gareth and Gaheris. Sir Gawaine, who loved them dearly, especially
Gareth, is inconsolable. Mordred eggs him on in his desire for revenge.
Arthur cannot get out of it; the law demands that the Lancelot and the
queen pay with their lives.
Mordred is set up as regent and given charge of the king's lands
and household while the king and his knights are away besieging Lancelot.
Even the queen is put under Mordred's authority. But Mordred sets up a
Parliament and gets himself crowned king. He desires to marry Guinevere,
though he acknowledges that she is his father's wife. He has some letters
made as if they were from the battlefield, saying that Arthur was dead.
Guinevere, faithful queen that she is, speaks fair to Mordred and then
tricks him into letting her go to London, where she shuts herself up into
Tower of London and defends herself.
Mordred, in the most unknightly fashion, uses cannon on his
enemies, even on Guinevere's fortress. A bishop warned him against
committing the crimes he sought to commit, including the false story of
Arthur's death, his desire to marry his uncle's and father's wife, and his
shameful conduct as a knight. Mordred disregards the old bishop, who
proceeds to place the curse of the church on him, whereupon Mordred seeks
the bishop's life.
When Arthur hears of the mischief at home, he comes back to set
everything straight. Mordred somehow gets the people to believe that with
Arthur everything is war, but with him, all is joy and bliss. So the
nobility turns to Mordred--"the people were so new fangle," observes
Malory (475).
In the first battle between Arthur and Mordred, Mordred's army is
put to flight. Arthur discovers Gawaine nearly dead. Gawaine, with what
strength he has left, writes a letter to Lancelot informing him of his
death and asking him to come help Arthur take Mordred off the throne.
At the final scene between Arthur and Mordred, the two armies
agree to have a parley. Each warns his armies not to trust the other; if
they see any sword drawn, they must rush forward to help. Unfortunately,
one of the soldiers is stung by an adder, and when he draws his sword to
kill it, the armies see it and rush at each other. The fight lasts all
day, and all of Arthur's faithful knights are killed. Arthur, when he
finds Mordred, kills him, but not before he himself receives his tragic
death-wound.
Guinevere, when she hears of their deaths, repents of all she did
to undo Arthur and takes holy orders. Lancelot receives Gawaine's letter
and comes to help, but finds both Arthur and Mordred dead.
Mordred the traitor is dead, but so is the Round Table, and
nothing can be done to bring it back. Lancelot and Guinevere die in
grief, and that is how Malory's tale ends.
A shadow is, as LeGuin days, "the other side of our psyche, the
dark brother of the conscious mind. It is Cain, Caliban, Frankenstein's
monster, Mr. Hyde . . . it is the serpent, Lucifer. The shadow stands on
the threshold betwen the conscious and the unconscious mind, and we meet
it in our dreams, as sister, brother, friend, beast, monster, enemy,
guide. It is all we don't want to, can't admit into our conscious self,
and the qualities and tendencies within us which have been repressed,
denied, or not used" (qtd. in Spivack 115). It is not evil, but it can
only unmake. It is the animal side of human nature.
Not only is Mordred the product of incest (certainly a part of the
dark side of Arthur's nature), but he seeks another incestuous
relationship with Arthur's wife. He is filled with a hatred that Malory
never really accounts for. He is malicious and vicious, yet without the
rationale that the conscious mind would require. Though he does have
reasons to desire revenge, the impetus to merely destroy is powerful in
him. Nowadays, Arthurian authors are beginning to give him the benefit of
the doubt, yet all through the ages, Mordred has been presented as pure
malice and viciousness. Arthur refuses to acknowledge Mordred, for he
cannot face him. In the end, Arthur does not get rid of Mordred
permanently; instead, they kill each other. Without the Shadow, a person
has only two dimensions, and that is why, figuratevely speaking, Arthur
and Mordred could not exist apart from each other.
Woodcut from Aubrey Beardsley, Le Morte D'Arthur (London, late
19th century), rpt. in Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D'Arthur
(Avenel: Gramercy Books, 1995) 261. Mordred in Geoffrey of Monmouth
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's work, Mordred is even more familiar to
us. He is the brother of Gawain; their parents are Arthur's sister and
King Loth, King of Norway (the Orkneys are ruled by Gunvasius at this
point). When Arthur and his vassals go off to war against the Romans
under Lucius, Arthur makes the mistake of leaving the kingdom in the care
of Guinevere and his nephew Modred. Before long, Modred has taken the
crown and the queen of Britain for his own: "it was announced to [Arthur]
that his nephew Modred, to whose guardianship he had entrusted Britain,
was wearing its crwon in tyranny and treachery, and that Queen Guinevere,
having broken the oath of her prior nuptials, had been joined to him in
unconscionable lust. Geoffrey of Monmouth will not speak of this, my
noble duke" (91). He goes on to describe the allies Modred had
treacherously won, especially the clans of the north who hated Arthur.
Mordred in Layamon's Brut
Layamon's Brut conveys the pain that Arthur felt at the betrayal of
Mordred, and the narrative sometimes reads like a chorus echoing Arthur's
sentiments. He has dreams foreshadowing the disaster, and when he hears
of Mordred's treachery, he responds with despair and anger. Mordred in the Alliterative Morte
Arthure
The anonymous author of the Alliterative Morte
Arthure takes as much pleasure in demonizing Mordred as Layamon did.
He betrays the king, taking his castles, his crown and his wife. Arthur
does battle with him just as in the other stories. Mordred is proud and
insolent in his new-found power, which enrages Gawain and Arthur. Gawain,
who throughout the ages is hot-tempered and fierce both with words and
with weapons, curses and pursues Mordred ruthlessly. The author recounts
much of Gawain's heroic fight with Mordred, but with Mordred's sly stroke
of a knife, the brave Gawain
meets his end. Mordred in Malory's Morte Darthur
In Malory's Morte Darthur, Merlin
prophecies Mordred's birth. Arthur and his sister are his parents. To
hide the shame of incest, Arthur tries to kill Mordred by sending every
baby born on May-day out to sea. The babies all drowned except for
Mordred, for a good man saved him and took care of him until fourteen
years later, when it was time to present him to the court. This little
story appears at the very beginning of Arthur's reign, giving Mordred an
understandable reason to hate Arthur. Mordred as Shadow
Charlotte
Spivack and Roberta Lynne Staples see Mordred not as an
evil villain, but as the Trickster figure, and at worst, the Shadow of
Arthur. He becomes more complex when he represents a psychological aspect
of Arthur. I am not sure about this idea, but it's an interesting one.
Here it is, for what it's worth. See The Company of Camelot for a
complete devepment of Staples and Spivack's ideas. A vindication of Mordred? Can it be possible?
Perhaps yes,
perhaps no. Take a look at Tyagi Nagasiva's essay and collection
of quotes about Mordred" The
Case of Sir Mordred: Research/Comment.
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