8 - Unforgettable or (Un)fortunate Romance

Summary

And so he rode tyll aftir evynsonge, and than he herde a clock smyte.

(Morte XIV.3.)

In the previous chapter, during the discussion of the three-day tournament in Ipomadon, the audience gradually came to expect what would occur each day: the departure of the hunter, Ipomadon changing into a coloured armour, his success in battle, the transformation back into a hunter, his return to the Queen of Sicily, a report of that day's contest, and finally, the presentation of a hunting trophy. Given such certainty, the audience almost became a narrator, writing (or expecting) events even before they had occurred, guided by memories of the previous day. Given such privileged foreknowledge, situations gained new interpretations such as the mocking Ipomadon endured from the queen's ladies (Ipomadon 4128–30). We, knowing him to be heading out to the contest again, refuted such criticisms. In this way, the events of the present were shaped by what we recollected from outside this situation. Yet can we extend our awareness beyond even the confines of the romance we are reading? With this in mind, now we will consider whether a narrator or audience's “exterior” memory of the tale (that is, one that has not been manufactured during the current romance, but has been brought to the tale from another source) can colour the actions of characters or the effect of situations.

We will begin by looking at the role of Merlin in Le Morte Darthur and compares his memory of the Arthurian legend to that of the author, Malory. Merlin repeatedly mediates between a memory of what has already occurred in terms of legend and the fact that, in the current tale, such events have actually yet to happen. It is not the case that immediacy or spontaneity is compromised by the surrounding legendary history; the characters still act with energy and according to their own free will (apparently). Yet at the same time a sense of expectation, even anticipation, is palpable beneath the surface as the audience is waiting for Malory to recollect the inevitable. In Chaucer's Troilus the situation is perhaps a little more restrictive. The political situation in which the lovers are trapped becomes synonymous with their role in a legendary tale of two figures who are deeply in love but for whom circumstance (and history) dictates can never be together.