SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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(24). Arthur is overcome by wrath which, as Genius taught Amans, “Wol as an angri
beste loure, / And no man wot the cause why” (Confessio Amantis III.30-31). And
Arthur in a murderous rout sounds much like Genius’s description of Eolus, who
“Between the wawe of wod and wroth” (Confessio Amantis III.217) condemned his
daughter. In this state, Arthur’s inner—and physical—sight is compromised, for he does
not recognize Merlin in disguise, though his companions Ulfius and Brastius do at once.
Metaphorical blindness has been connected by Gower to those kings who lost
their reason, blinded by selfish, usually unkynde, sometimes incestuous desires. It is
significant that Arthur’s lapse is recounted at this juncture in the story. The very next
line in the book relates the coming of the earl Sanam and his daughter Lyonors, a
“passing fayre damsel” (26), upon whom Arthur immediately “sette hys love gretly”
(ibid.). It is reported that Lyonors bore Arthur’s child, Borre, who became a knight of the
Round Table. But word reached Arthur that King Ryens was making war on King
Lodegreaunce, “for the whyche kynge Arthure was wroth, for he loved hym well and
hated kyng Royns, for allwayes he was ayenst hym” (27). After Lodegraunce was
rescued, Arthur’s eyes fell upon Guenevere, and he at once loved her and married her.
Twice, in short succession, Arthur’s wrath is followed by his love for a beautiful woman.
His sight and his reason show signs of instability.
Malory’s next tale contains the incest which eclipses the marvels of all the other
adventures of the Round Table knights. Its proximity to the tales of conjoined love and
wrath links it to the blindness and loss of reason that Gower, too, often associated with
incest. King Lot sent his wife Morgause to court to spy on Arthur; with her came her