MASCULINITY IN THOMAS MALORY’S MORTE DARTHUR

Malory’s Morte Darthur undoubtedly belongs among the most influential Arthurian stories in English Literature – kept alive by the best of British writers from Spenser to Tennyson and classics of the twentieth century such as T.H. White’s The Once and Future King. Many more lovers of the Arthurian matter have almost invariably read and adopted the lengthy prose narrative of this – for quite some time – mysterious knight.¹ Thomas Malory, who found himself in prison towards the end of the War of the Roses, summarized all the major Arthurian tales of his time, both Old French and Middle English.