User:Stoa/The Mists of Avalon

The Mists of Avalon is a fictional novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Plot introduction
The Mists of Avalon is the 1983 novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which she relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The plot focuses on Morgaine (often called Morgan Le Faye in other works), who is portrayed as a woman fighting for her matriarchal Celtic culture in a country where patriarchal Christianity threatens to destroy the druidic way of life. The book also describes the lives of Gwenhwyfar, Viviane, Morgause, and other women who are often marginalized in other Arthurian retellings. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are supporting, rather than main, characters.

The Mists of Avalon is a stark contrast to other retellings of the Arthurian tales, which consistently paint Morgaine as an evil witch or sorceress. The typical battles, quests, and feuds of King Arthur's reign are described as supporting elements to the women's lives. The story is told in two large parts, Book One: Mistress of Magic and Book Two: The High Queen.

The novel was a best-seller upon its publication in 1983 and has remained popular to this day. Bradley later expanded the book into a series (see allusions section below)

Plot summary
As High King and Queen, Arthur and Guenevere reign supreme across the many kingdoms of Great Britain. Still, Guenevere secretly mourns the loss of her beloved Lancelot, who has returned to the Sacred Lake of his boyhood, hoping to restore his faith in chivalry in the place where he learned to be a knight. In a glittering Pentecost ceremony, new knights are sworn to the Round Table, including Arthur's nephews, Agravain and Gawain. After many years of strife, peace is restored to Guenevere's realm.

But betrayal, jealousy, and ancient blood feuds fester unseen. Morgan le Fay, now the mother of Arthur's only son, Mordred, has become the focus of Merlin's age-old quest to ensure the survival of the house of Pendragon. From the east comes the shattering news that Guenevere may have a rival for Lancelot's love. A bleak shadow falls again across Camelot--and across the sacred isle of Avalon, where Roman priests threaten the life of the Lady herself. At the center of the storm is Guenevere, torn between her love for her husband, her people, and Sir Lancelot of the Lake.

Characters in "The Mists of Avalon"

 * Morgaine - Narrator, protagonist. Her character posses magical powers, and is capable of Second Sight and transfiguration. Portrayed as a tragic character, Morgan is torn between her loyalty to Avalon and her unfulfilled love to Lancelot. She is doomed to witness the demise of the pagan ways of Avalon, but in the end, makes peace with Christianity and sees that she never fought the religion itself, but rather the uncivilised ways of the Saxon hordes that threatened Britain during Arthur's early reign. She realises that once the Saxons have found an appreciation for beauty and peace, that her task has been completed, and some memory of the ancient beliefs of Britain will live on. Morgaine also fought for the survival of her pagan, Mother Goddess religion. In the end, she realizes that the Goddess that she worshipped did not die with the coming of Christianity. The Goddess just took another form in the image of the Virgin Mary.
 * Uther Pendragon is the nephew and War Duke of the dead High King and an ambitious warlord who falls in love with Igraine. After being betrayed by his ally Gorlois (out of jealousy rather than out of political reasons), he killed him and became the new king of Camelot. He fathered King Arthur and died when Arthur was a teenager.
 * Igraine is the wife of Gorlois and later Uther, the sister of Viviane, and the mother of Morgaine. She was brought up in Avalon and given as a wife to Gorlois at the age of fifteen. She is destined by Viviane and Taliesin to betray her husband, seduce Uther and produce the saviour of the Isle (her son King Arthur). At first, she rebels, stating she is not a breeding mare, but ultimately falls in love with Uther and helps him defeat his enemies. However, the guilt about Gorlois torments her to the end.
 * Gorlois is Igraine's husband and Morgaine's father. Because Igraine was so young when they married, their relationship has been strained, but Gorlois did his best to make her feel comfortable, giving her gifts and letting her keep her daughter Morgaine. Igraine does not see how he loved her until it's too late. When Gorlois suspects that Igraine has an affair with Uther, he turns on her, accuses her of being a whore and a witch, and even breaks his oath to Uther. In the end, Uther kills him for treachery.


 * King Arthur is the son of Igraine and Uther. He is portrayed as a strong king, who marries Gwenhwyfar by arranged marriage. His compassion for his suffering wife - who is tormented by her childlessness and her love to Lancelot - ultimately becomes his downfall. A twist is that he is actually aware of Gwenhwyfar's and Lancelot's affair, and how unhappy both are to constantly betray him. But Arthur stays outside because he loves both his wife and his best friend too much to make them unhappy.
 * Gwenhwyfar is Arthur's beautiful, but unhappy wife. She is brought up by a cold, unloving father, which left her with a deep inferiority complex. Failing to produce a heir and unable be with the love of her life, Lancelot, she falls into a deep depression and - hoping for salvation - becomes an increasingly fanatic Christian. Gwenhwyfar and Morgaine are depicted as two polar characters.
 * Lancelot is Arthur's First Knight, Viviane's son and Morgaine's cousin. He is an extremely gifted warrior and admired for his very handsome appearance, but has a life-long fear of his mother Viviane. Gwenhwyfar and he are utterly infatuated, but neither has the courage (or ruthlessness) to elope.
 * Mordred, a.k.a. Gwydion, is the illegitimate son of Morgaine and King Arthur. He is an unscrupulous, cunning intrigant, but in contrast to mainstream versions his motives are understandable. He sees his father Arthur as corrupt and decadent, and is convinced that he has to remove him to save Camelot. It is strongly hinted that his childhood under the cold, cunning Morgause makes him think the way he does.
 * Morgause is Morgaine's aunt. She is depicted as a vain, cunning character and in contrast to her sisters, she acts purely for her own gains. She feels no regret in her regular adultery (but she is hypocritical enough to call Gwenhwyfar a whore when she does the same) and plans to use both Morgaine and Mordred as vehicles for her power.
 * Patricius is Camelot's most powerful Christian priest, modern St. Patrick, who drove the "snakes" (druids) from Ireland. He is portrayed in an extremely negative light, as a ruthless, misogynist religious fundamentalist.
 *  Elaine is a young girl who eventually becomes Lancelot's wife. Morgaine offers Elaine, Lancelot, on the condition that she is given Elaine's first daughter to rear in Avalon.
 * Viviane is - for the most time - the High Priestess of Avalon. She is a cold and extremely ruthless character, but her motives are always understandable: she wants to save Avalon and Camelot at all costs. She is the ultimate utilitarian character, and it is hinted that she has grown so cold because she never experienced happiness herself. Viviane is killed after delivering an act of euthanasia.
 * Taliesin is the old Archdruid and harpist of Avalon. His mental health constantly deteriorates during the story.
 * Kevin succeeds Taliesin after his death. He is a horribly disfigured hunchback, having been burnt by a fire when he was a child, but can sing like an angel. He becomes Morgaine's lover and later her worst enemy. Foreseeing the demise of pagan ways, he betrays Avalon. In an ultimate attempt to unite Christianity and Avalon, so Avalon will survive, he brings the Holy Grail to Camelot. To punish him for this atrocity, Morgaine sacrifices Raven to abduct the Grail, sets up Nimue to seduce and then betray him and wants to torture him to death as a traitor. But before the torture begins, a bolt of lightning mercy-kills Kevin, and at the same time, another bolt incinerates the Holy Oak of Avalon. Morgaine understands that Avalon is doomed.
 * Raven is a priestess of Avalon who has taken an oath of silence. She sacrifices herself to help Morgaine save the Holy Grail from Patricius.
 * Nimue is the beautiful daughter of Elaine and Lancelot. She is kept in constant seclusion by Morgaine, who sees her as the ultimate weapon against Camelot. She seduces Kevin in order to abduct him, but falls in love to him herself and in the end kills herself out of regret.
 * Niniane is a priestess who reluctantly becomes Lady of the Lake after Vivaine is slain and Morgaine declines to take her place. She becomes Mordred's lover, but when he announces his plans to betray Arthur, she turns on him and is killed by him in a fit of rage.

Themes

 * Matter of Britain
 * Avalon
 * Arthurian romance
 * Paganism
 * Second sight
 * Holy Grail
 * Beltane

Literary significance & criticism
The Mists of Avalon is lauded as one of the most original and emotional retellings of the familiar Arthurian legend. Bradley received much praise for convincing portrayal of the main protagonists, her respectful handling of the pagan ways of Avalon and for telling a story in which there is neither black and white or good and evil, but several truths.

Critics point out that The Mists of Avalon writes a romanticized version of a "pagan culture" which never existed in that way, leaving out gory details like human sacrifices. Some also argued that the book arguably reads like thinly-veiled feminist propaganda; the main male cast arguably comes off badly. Arthur and Lancelot are depicted as so tortured, insecure and brooding that it is hard to suppose that they are two of the finest warlords ever, Gwenhwyfar's father is a prototypical family tyrant, Gorlois is perceived as a typical wife-batterer, Taliesin as near-senile and Patricius as a rabid religious zealot. In addition, to provide a contrast to clever, strong-willed Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar is cast as a dumb, spineless simpleton (i.e. the prototypical "weak woman"), although she was a queen for several decades in an unstable era. All this contributes to the argument that Bradley uses her story to promote an agenda rather than to tell a story.

However, The Mists of Avalon remains a highly lauded work, and it is commonly regarded as a modern classic.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The Mists of Avalon was adapted for television into a TNT miniseries in 2001.

Allusions/references from other works
Bradley, along with Diana L. Paxson, later expanded the book into a series, including Ancestors of Avalon, The Forest House, Lady of Avalon, and Priestess of Avalon.

Release details

 * 1984 (Original, 1983), USA, Ballatine Publishing Group ISBN 0345350499, Pub date 1984, Reissue Edition

Sources, references, external links, quotations

 * Into the Mists: a Mists of Avalon fansite