85 pages • 2 hours read
Roger Lancelyn GreenKing Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1953A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Book 3, Chapters 5-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 3 “The Quest of the Holy Grail”
Book 3, Chapter 5 Summary: “The Adventures of Sir Launcelot”
Launcelot seeks out Castle Carbonek, but he can’t find it in the Waste Lands. He finds a chapel in the woods that is locked, and he is unable to enter, so he sleeps nearby. Launcelot half-wakes to a procession of a sickly knight. Naciens exits the chapel with the holy silver candlestick and places it on an altar where the Holy Grail floats down to heal the knight. The knight takes Launcelot’s belongings and rides away. Launcelot wakes and laments how he couldn’t touch the Grail. Naciens invites Launcelot to stay with him in the chapel to confess his sins and learn spirituality.
After a while, Launcelot leaves and travels to the coast where he jousts with his son, Galahad. Galahad defeats Launcelot, and the two board the Enchanted Ship. When the ship departs, the knights and Dindrane tell their stories. The knights follow Dindrane to the Castle of the Maiden. The knights of the castle try to take Dindrane, as their custom demands that every maiden must try to heal their mistress. The knights, disliking the custom, prepare to defend her. As the fighting begins, the Golden Knight of the castle calls for a truce and invites the travelers in, promising no harm.
The Golden Knight explains the custom: The maiden of the castle fell under a wicked enchantment, and only the blood of a pure virgin can heal her sickness. Dindrane, moved by sympathy and destiny, offers her blood willingly. She heals the maiden but grows ill herself. The knights and the now healed lady bring Dindrane’s body back to the Enchanted Ship where she wants to be laid to rest. On the way, a knight rides past being chased by an evil knight, and Launcelot offers to save the man. Percivale, Bors, and Galahad deliver Dindrane to the Ship. Percivale, wishing to stay on the shore to pray for his sister for the night, sends the rest of the group on to Castle Carbonek. Galahad and Bors ride with the lady back to the Castle of the Maiden but find it incinerated in reparation for the deadly custom. The lady leaves and heads to King Arthur to tell the tale, but Galahad and Bors travel together to Costly Carbonek.
Book 3, Chapter 6 Summary: “How Launcelot and Gawain Came to Carbonek”
Gawain, on his fruitless quest, meets Sir Hector on the road and journeys with him. They come to the chapel in the Waste Lands and—unlike Launcelot—enter with ease. During the night, a magical arm without a body—which carries a candlestick and a bridle—approaches Hector and claims he will not complete the quest for the Grail. Hector leaves for Camelot while Gawain prays. Gawain sees the silver candlestick, but a magical hand extinguishes each of the candles. Naciens finds Gawain, hears his confessions, and advises him to remain virtuous even though the quest isn’t his to complete.
Gawain rides through the Waste Lands, coming across the lonesome Launcelot. The two knights arrive at Castle Carbonek, and, to their surprise, the inhabitants of the Waste Lands and King Pelles greet them for a feast. Launcelot indulges in the feast and the wine, but Gawain silently resists the temptations. While Launcelot sleeps, the Grail Procession passes by. Gawain follows the Grail Maiden, and Launcelot—still asleep—follows to the Grail Chapel’s door.
The door shuts before Launcelot can enter, which startles him awake. He prays, and the door opens enough to reveal Gawain, The Grail Maiden, and Naciens kneeling before the Holy Grail. Launcelot is forbidden to enter and drink from the Grail, and Gawain too cannot drink until the Grail Knight arrives. The Grail’s light grows and strikes Launcelot senseless. The knights stay in Carbonek for 24 days while Launcelot heals, though they never see the Grail again. Gawain’s resistance to the temptations lifts the Waste Lands’ curse and prepares the way for the Grail Knight. The two leave Carbonek and return to Camelot.
Book 3, Chapter 7 Summary: “The End of the Quest”
Meanwhile, Percivale finds Galahad and Bors, and after a month of travel the knights arrive at Castle Carbonek. King Pelles and his company invite the men to a feast, and they all resist the fine temptations. The Grail Procession occurs for a final time, headed by Blanchefleur—now the Grail Maiden. Galahad, carrying his sword like a cross, stops the procession and leads it to the Grail Chapel with Bors and Percivale carrying Pelles behind.
In the Chapel, Galahad drinks the Holy Wine from the Grail. Galahad releases Naciens from his long penance of being Priest of the Grail, and the hermit passes away peacefully. Galahad uses the Spear Longinus to drip its magical blood into Pelles’s wound, finally healing the Maimed King and laying him to rest. Blanchefleur presents Percivale with a broken sword; he prays and puts the sword back together. Galahad weds Percivale and Blanchefleur, and he gives them and Bors the Holy Sacrament from the Grail. With his destiny completed, Galahad dies at the altar. His soul, the spear, and the Holy Grail all ascend to heaven.
Percivale and Blanchefleur become king and queen of Carbonek, supplying light to Britain even after Logres’s fall. Bors sees Galahad, Pelles, and Naciens buried together before returning to Camelot. He, Gawain, and Launcelot tell the story of the Grail Quest to the sparse Round Table. Bors relays Galahad’s prayers for Launcelot to be free of the sins of the mortal world, but Launcelot still finds himself thinking of his love for Guinevere.
Book 3, Chapters 5-7 Analysis
This section further elaborates on why Launcelot isn’t one of the knights to achieve the Holy Grail even though he is Logres’s best knight. As Book 2 established, Launcelot is too focused on earthly adventures and has committed a mortal sin of lust that stains his honor. Chapter 5 uses physical barriers to show Launcelot’s lacking piety, such as how he cannot enter the chapel and cannot “stir or speak” (310) to touch the Grail when it is so close. Only after he confesses to Naciens and learns godly devotion can Launcelot board the Enchanted Ship, but he doesn’t make the full journey with Bors, Galahad, and Percivale because “[he has] committed the great sin which keeps [him] from the Holy Grail” (310). Launcelot symbolically leaves their company to save the wounded knight, proving he is still dedicated to his earthly honor.
The feast at Castle Carbonek in Chapter 6 juxtaposes Gawain and Launcelot’s behavior to show the difference between a truly pious knight and a weakened knight. While Launcelot indulges in the feast and “[drinks] from the goblet which the loveliest of the maidens offered to him” (322), Gawain refuses anything but water and remains silent in the face of the citizens’ taunts. Though Launcelot has confessed his sins, he still freely gives in to these temptations without a second thought. Gawain, knowing the devotion necessary to find the Grail, is properly humble and resistant. For his gluttony and carelessness, Launcelot sleeps when the Grail passes by—symbolizing his inability to achieve true godly devotion—while Gawain looks directly upon the Grail and follows the procession, even taking away the “Curse of Desolation” (325) with his virtue. Launcelot receives the small mercy of seeing the Grail in exchange for his past “pleasing” deeds, but he is still struck senseless by its light, showing that he is unable to withstand its true holiness. In being so close to the Grail but still so far, Launcelot descends into a self-vilifying mindset that leaves him weakened for the rest of the book.
This section again expands the theme of Fate and God’s Will. Merlin prophesizes in Book 1 that Galahad will achieve the Holy Grail with only the best knights. Although the Enchanted Ship accepts Galahad, Bors, Percivale, and Launcelot, the pursued knight leads Launcelot astray, showing that despite his recent repentances, Launcelot is not one of the chosen knights destined to obtain the Grail. Gawain also enters the Grail Chapel, but the reader soon discovers that he can’t drink from the holy vessel nor see all its miraculous sights because “no one may touch the Grail with their lips until the Grail Knight comes” (326). This event emphasizes the unchangeability of fate, as even though Gawain was pious and pure enough to enter the Grail Chapel and reverse the curse, the appointed timeline cannot be changed for anyone. Galahad’s appointment to Priest of the Holy Grail completes the prophecy once and for all, and without any further destiny on earth, Galahad, King Pelles, and Naciens all pass away. Galahad’s death at once shows the definiteness of destiny and the true glory of his achievement: As he has completed the highest honor on earth as it was foretold, the only greater glory he can experience is in the wonders of Heaven.
