Introduction. Changing Fortunes: Reviving and Revisiting The Misfortunes of Arthur

The dramatic mixture of Arthurian legend and Senecan tragedy inspired the revival of The Misfortunes of Arthur in 2019, a play originally written by lawyers at Gray’s Inn and performed before Elizabeth I in 1588. A small but significant body of scholarship has highlighted the play’s function as a vehicle for offering monarchic counsel. As the essays in this Issues in Review demonstrate, however, there are alternative ways of approaching Misfortunes through its theatricality, its dramatization of Inns ideology, its composition, and its publication. This introduction outlines why the play merits further attention.

The Knights of Science: Medicine and Mythology

In this chapter Taylor-Pirie examines how parasitologists invoked myths of British nationhood in their professional self-fashioning to frame themselves as knights of science fighting on behalf of Imperial Britain. Analysing scientific lectures, political speeches, letter correspondence, obituaries, medical biographies, and journalistic essays, she draws attention to the prominence of Arthurian legend and Greco-Roman mythology in conceptualisations of parasitology, arguing that such literary-linguistic practices sought to reimagine the relationship between medicine and empire by adapting historical and poetic models of chivalry. In this way, individual researchers were lionised as national heroes and their research framed as labour that could command the longevity of legendary stories like those recounted in Homeric poems and medieval romance. In acclimatisation debates, the tropics were frequently conceptualised in relation to the Greek Underworld, a suite of references that together with dragon slaying and the quest narrative helped to position parasitology as a type of ‘crusading fiction’ in the context of the Victorian medieval revival.

Revising Alfred, Lord Tennyson: A Closer Look at Two Color Line Stories “The Wife of His Youth” and “Cecily’s Dream” by Charles W. Chesnutt

This article explores an African American writer’s revision of a famous English poet Tennyson whose versified medieval portrait of the Arthurian legend appears in Idylls of the King as well as other poems. The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line (1899), a story collection by African American author Charles Chesnutt (1858–1932), addresses parameters contextualized in the aftermath of slavery such as esthetic notions of beauty tied to whiteness and intra-racial inequality. The final failure of two protagonists, a man and a woman, to fulfill their romantic aspirations of whiteness connects the collection’s titular story to “Cecily’s Dream.” In addition to the color-line theme, however, Chesnutt is motivated to refer to the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), including moments in which chivalric codes of honor, whiteness and flawed courtly love are idealized. Tennyson’s parabolic poems provide Chesnutt’s intertextual scheme to engage the implied reader by renewing, transforming and also subverting the motif of courtly love in these Arthurian idylls.

Arthurian Influence in the Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved Lord of the Rings has been considered one of the greatest works of English literature. This work analyzes Tolkien's inspiration and motivation in his writing process by situation middle-earth in the context of postwar England. Evaluation Tolkien's letters reveal his affinity for Arthurian legend, and his desire to reinvent it to create a myth that was distinctly English. A comparison of the two bodies of legend reveals similar Archetypal elements and characterizations that give Tolkien's legendarium credibility and weight. Through Sauron's destruction of middle-earth, Tolkien reveals his concerns for a modern, industrialized England and the consequences of war. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien reinvents the legend of Arthur into a synthesis of English national identity and exigency for the future.

Parody and the Role of Song in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

This chapter deals with the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As Monty Python’s first full-length film, Holy Grail combines the sketch comedy style of the troupe with a loose interpretation of Arthurian legend. Although chock-full of anachronisms and outright mockery, Monty Python’s version of Arthurian legend nonetheless represents a valuable addition to the retellings of the story in the twentieth century. While the literature on the Holy Grail offers a foundation for considering the film as an adaptation of Arthurian legend, little work has been done on the film’s music and how it enhances the story. This chapter will emphasize the role of the music, especially the songs written by Neil Innes, arguing that they not only provide atmosphere but augment the narrative (such as it is). In this way, this chapter will also lay the groundwork for examining Holy Grail as the basis for Eric Idle’s later musical, Spamalot.

Conclusion

Traditional stories based on Arthurian legend continue to be told, and alongside these tales of romance and chivalry, a comedic tradition exists. This centuries-long tradition holds cultural resonance around the world, including having a strong presence in American popular culture. The musical as a genre has proven to be fertile ground for the insertion of American perspectives into the British legend. The use of song, in particular, can shape the way audiences understand familiar characters as well as the story itself. Given this context, the existence, popularity, and influence of Arthurian musicals represents an important contribution to the annals of myth.

From Camelot to Spamalot

This book explores musicalizations of Arthurian legend as filtered through specific tellings by Mark Twain, T. H. White, and Monty Python. For centuries, Arthurian legend with its tales of Camelot, romance, and chivalry has captured imaginations throughout Europe and the Americas. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, musical versions of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have abounded in the United States, shaping the legend for American audiences through song. The ever-shifting, age-old tale of King Arthur and his world is one which thrives on adaptation for its survival. New generations tell the story in their own ways, updating or enhancing the relevance for a fresh audience. Taking a case-study approach, this work foregrounds the role of music in selected Arthurian adaptations, examining six stage and film musicals. It considers how musical versions in twentieth- and twenty-first-century popular culture interpret the legend of King Arthur, contending that music guides the audience to understand this well-known tale and its characters in new and unexpected ways. All of the productions considered include an overtly modern perspective on the legend, intruding and even commenting on the tale of King Arthur. Shifting from an idealistic utopia to a silly place, the myriad notions of Camelot offer a look at the importance of myth in American popular culture.

Musical Storytelling and Revision in Rodgers and Hart’s A Connecticut Yankee

This short chapter examines Mark Twain’s novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and its relationship to “classical” Arthurian legend. Twain blends time periods in a more sustained way than either T. H. White’s or even Monty Python’s Arthurian world, both of which already are rife with anachronisms and modern intrusions. In “transporting” a contemporary character into ancient Camelot, Twain uses the tale to comment on society and technology in very obvious ways. As an opening prelude to the first section of this book, an examination of Twain’s approach and characterization form a foundation for later retellings. Indeed this overt melding of time periods has made the novel a popular work to adapt.

Prelude

Mark Twain’s 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court offers a fascinating beginning to the study of musical adaptations of Arthurian legend. Similar and yet vastly different to the other sources considered in this book, Mark Twain harnesses the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table for a nineteenth-century American reader. Unlike ...