Bethany Guo
Honour, World Views, 345-102-MQ

In this piece, I wanted to show the last moment of King Arthur, or more specifically, his era. In the first panel, he is shocked and beat up and even though it is not clear what he is thinking, things do not seem to be in his favour at the moment. Then there is the crown that is not in the best shape, some areas are chipped and definitely rusty. In the two other panels, we see him closing his eyes with a tear dropping on his bloodied hand. With these four illustrations combined, it shows a state that looks like he has lost something and is therefore shocked and hopeless by the sudden empty feeling. Moving on to the last image, it is him on his knees with the Excalibur piercing through his chest. This is not a canonical fact, but here it’s to show King Arthur’s acceptance of his own death. He has lost everything. His crown, his realm and his life.

The theme in this piece is death and how sorrowful and empty it can be. In the text where King Arthur dies after fighting for his court, Queen Guinevere and his knights were all left with nothing and hopelessness. Some, like the queen herself and Sir Lancelot decided to end it there instead of living without their faithful king. People in the medieval English world view, such as the king and his knights, are not always in the best shape that is either physical or mentally. Being on one’s best behaviour and constantly keeping a perfect reputation and meeting societal expectations is very hard. This shows through the scars left behind after quests and fighting. Lastly, in this piece, we see that the crown, as well as King Arthur’s hand are in a bad and damaged condition. This shows there was a lot of fighting and hardship that brought them both to this state. Both have reached a point of no return, therefore, it is time to go.