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Get every literary device explanation for Le Morte d’ArthurPlus so much more...
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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Arthur's Burning Anger:
In Volume 2, Book 20, Chapter 5, Launcelot explains to several of his supporters that he has accidentally killed Agravaine and at least 12 other knights. He uses a metaphor to describe the dire circumstances they are all in:
[...]these knights were sent and ordained by King Arthur to betray me. And therefore the king will in this heat and malice judge the queen to the fire, and that may not I suffer, that she should be burnt for my sake [...]
Launcelot is saying that Arthur is going to burn Guenever at the stake so that he does not have to turn against Launcelot. Launcelot refers to Arthur's anger metaphorically as "heat." The implication in the context of this passage is that Arthur is already burning emotionally just as Guenever is soon to burn physically. Arthur is in such a state of torment that he must choose between exacting revenge on his best knight or on his wife. The fact that Arthur chooses to turn his burning anger on Guenever (literally) demonstrates the deep misogyny of Malory's book. More than this, it emphasizes just how deep the bond between men runs in the social order the book venerates. Under the chivalric code, it is worse for Arthur to murder his best knight than it is for him to murder his wife. Of course, things soon devolve past the point where Arthur and Launcelot's relationship can be saved. But in this moment, it seems that Arthur really thinks his anger will burn out with Guenever's body. She is being thrown on a sacrificial fire so that Arthur can keep loving Launcelot.
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