Episode Three: ‘Strange Adventures’: Meaning and Modernity in Le Morte d’Arthur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail

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In this episode, we nose around in a loosely gathered suite of ideas arising from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and some modern interpretations, including the film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Malory’s book is a reworking of legends and tales of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Arthur may have been a war chief in the fight against the Saxons, but Malory’s gathering of the legends does not capture the sense of purpose implied by that mission and instead presents the knights’ activities with a jolting randomness.

There is a randomness, too, to the adventures in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one that rings true to the “original.” The 1975 film has become a classic, with legions of fans who can recite the entire movie. Yes, it is funny, if you like Pythonesque humor. But there is something deep going on in the film, a juxtaposition between modern and medieval thinking that gives the film a depth that, even if unintentional, is very real.

From the Episode

What surprises me about the Arthurian legend is just this compulsion to keep retelling these stories which might not have any factual basis at all – and not just retelling them but investing them with portent. Every retelling, including Malory’s, seems to have an agenda. – Hannah Grachien

Did life seem more random to medieval people because of the chaos they were subject to? And do we want to see order because we’re spoiled by a more or less settled civilization (though it seems to be becoming more and more unsettled by the day)? – Alfred Reeves Wissen

In the case of Elaine in Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, there’s sinister magic being done by a bad, bad woman doing bad, bad magic, messing with all the good, strong, good men doing good things. – Hannah Grachien

We have lost something. As Descartes said, “we have made ourselves the masters and possessors of nature,” and in doing so we’ve lost a sense of transcendence, of things larger than ourselves – a deep sense of loss of meaning. – Alfred Reeves Wissen