Introduction
In the history of Christianity, symbolism has been a significant aspect of religion, with various objects, animals, and features playing an essential role in symbolizing different things. One of the most common symbols in the Christian faith is the ‘Holy Grail,’ which generally represents the vessel that Jesus and His disciples shared during the Last Supper (Shabrang 2020, 196). Nevertheless, different traditions, especially in Europe, have used various objects to symbolize the Holy Grail (Jamison 2020, 309). A dish, cup, and a stone have been the most common objects illustrating the Holy Grail, often portrayed as having miraculous powers that confer eternal life, youthfulness, or sustenance of life is infinite.
Various authors have used the object to symbolize or denote elusive things or goals that characters strive to achieve for their great importance or significance. Moreover, most literary works portray the holy grail as explicitly essential but not necessarily pious, contrary to the symbolistic appearance in religious traditions (Jamison 2020, 309). Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur’s describes “The Holy Grail” as a silver vessel held at a castle in England, giving people the power to have unlimited and costly food and wine and other luxuries (Jamison 2020, 310). Nevertheless, the object’s powers are tied to the spiritual righteousness of the people benefitting from it. By the end of the story, the people of King Arthur’s kingdom are no longer beneficiaries of the Holy Grail because they have committed many sins.
Similarly, in the poem “The Holy Grail” from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, the Biblical Joseph of Arimathea is said to have settled in Glastonbury, England, where he built the first Christian Church. He came with the cup that Jesus had used in the Last Supper and placed it in the church (Jamison 2020, 312). Here, the cup, now the Holy Grail, has the powers to heal the sick when touched. However, towards the end of the poem, the people become so evil that the cup disappears and returns to heaven (Jamison 2020, 311). Consequently, in both literary works, the Holy Grail is perceived in a symbolistic view and symbolizes both the presence of God, a source of spiritual power for the righteous, and an object or goal that people must strive to achieve to benefit from its capabilities.
Perception of the Holy Grail in ‘Le Morte D’Arthur
In Sir Thomas Malory’s book ‘Le Morte D’Arthur,’ the Holy Grail is a symbol that represents the powers that humans can have if they remain holy physically and spiritually. When the Holy Grail appears in the court of King Arthur, the entire room is filled with beautiful smells and delicious foods that are difficult for people to have. Every person in the court turns more attractive than they have ever been. The feeling is very joyous and desirable that some people want to have the experience again (Malory 2017, 11). However, the experience is short-lived because the Holy Grail disappears after a few minutes. Gawain immediately declares that he will strive to get the Holy Grail again and bring it back to the court. All the knights in the court follow suit and declare their intention to pursue the Holy Grail until they achieve it, regardless of the struggles they will have to endure.
At this point, the reader can see that the Holy Grail has the power to turn humans into the best possible and desirable forms. In addition, it gives humans the luxuries that any person can desire, splendid and costly food and drinks. The experience is so enticing that anyone wishes to achieve it again (Malory 2017, 21). Moreover, it appears that the goodness in the powers of the Holy Grail is short-lived, and people who want it back must strive to obtain the cup.
To medieval Christians, the presence of God was the most beautiful and desirable thing that one could achieve in life. Therefore, it appears that the Holy Grail signifies the presence and goodness of God. As the story progresses, the readers can see that it has to be something else attached to the cup. As it turns out, the Holy Grail symbolizes the presence of God as perceived in the “Tale of the Sankgreall” (Malory 2017, 26). In medieval times, the only way to demonstrate the presence of God was presenting people with most pleasurable things like good food, drinks, smell, sights, and human beauty. When the knights from the king’s court embark on following the Holy Grail, they are not aware that they are supposed to achieve closeness and unity with God. Instead, they think they should use their military powers and physical abilities to follow the cup and return it to the court.
As the story folds, the Holy Grail appears to symbolize unity with God or His presence. In addition, the quest to achieve the cup represents the life of a Christian as he strives towards seeking God and forming a relationship with Him (Shabrang 2020, 198). The knights must face a wide range of challenges and difficulties in their quests. For example, Bors must decide between saving Lionel, his brother, and a damsel in distress (Jamison 2020, 309). In the journey towards achieving the Holy Grail, the knights face temptations and sorrow. For example, the writer author tells the story of Percival, a knight who almost the charms of a seducing woman, but the powers of the Holy Spirit pull him back and save him from sinning (Malory 2017, 32). The reader can see that the way the knights make decisions and perform their duties along the way signifies their worthiness in achieving Holy Grail and their ability to form a relationship with God.
Moreover, as the story continues, the reader can see that the extent of striving to achieve the Holy Grail symbolizes the degree of holiness of those pursuing the object. In this case, the knights who perform the most success on their quest to achieve things make more sacrifices to God. The kind of sacrifice in this sense involves their bodies. For example, Galahad and Percyvale remain virgins throughout their lives. Similarly, Launcelot only feeds on water and bread and wears a hair shirt throughout his life (Malory 2017, 47). These behaviors symbolize the kinds of sacrifices that people must make to God as a means of making a relationship with God. Christians in medieval Europe believed that the quickest and surest way to heaven was to make similar sacrifices. Therefore, the knights must make similar sacrifices to achieve the Holy Grail, which itself symbolizes the goodness of God and the Holy Spirit.
It is also worth noting that the temptations and the challenges that the knights face on their quest to achieve Holy Grail are symbolic. These challenges and temptations represent the lives of a Christian while on earth (Jamison 2020, 312). The world is full of temptations and challenges that entice people to commit sins and divert them from righteousness. Like the knights, Christians must fight these challenges and temptations through bodily sacrifices by retaining a holy body and soul, such as avoiding fornication and forbidden foods (Jamison 2020, 313). If Christians successfully withstand the temptations and overcome the challenges, they will eventually achieve a close relationship with God. Like the knights, the final goal is to achieve Holy Grail and enjoy the goodness of the presence of God.
Perception of the Holy Grail in Idylls of the King
An essential poet of the Victorian era, Lord Alfred Tennyson also presents the Holy Grail as a symbolistic object in medieval England’s Christian religion and believes. In the poem Idylls of the King, the poet tells the story of the knights following the Holy Grail in much the same way, albeit with diversions, as in Le Morte D’Arthur. The characters bear the same names and titles, which help demonstrate that the story was a popular myth in medieval England.
Unlike Le Morte D’Arthur, Tennyson does not let the reader view the Holy Grail from the witnesses’ perspectives. Indeed, there are no witnesses apart from the pious sister of Sir Percivale, one of the knights who later became a monk. The sister only perceives the Holy Grail in a vision. She tells the story to Sir Percivale, who then narrates the accounts to Ambrosius, his fellow monk. Percivale’s sister named Galahad her knight of heaven after the dream (Tennyson and Gray 2016, 12). Later, a vision of the Holy Grail passes the knights as they are in the Round Table hall inside the court of King Arthur, but the king himself does not experience the powers of the object. Instead, he is told about it and immediately desires to achieve it and place it in his court. From this point, almost everyone wants to find the Holy Grail by any means possible.
In their journey as they follow the Holy Grail, the knights have various challenges and engaging experiences in almost the same way that the Le Morte D’Arthur story narrates. In this poem, Percivale pursues the Holy Grail and passes through a surreal landscape for days until he meets Galahad living in isolation. The two knights travel together, but Percivale is not holy enough and cannot follow Galahad on his way to a heavenly city in a silver boat (Tennyson and Gray 2016, 18). Percivale can perceive the Holy Grail far away as it hovers above Galahad’s head. Other knights have different experiences and stories as they pursue the object.
Others like Gawain fall to temptations as he decides to abandon the journey and have sex with women until they are blown away by women, and he returns to Camelot (Shabrang 2020, 198). On his part, Lancelot finds a staircase that takes him into a room full of fire where the veiled Holy Grail is wrapped in heavy silk, but he cannot achieve it because the fire will burn him. In the end, very few knights return to the Round table at Camelot, and those that make it back do not come with the Holy Grail.
Symbolically, the Holy Grail represents the presence of God and the good things that come with His blessings. In medieval Britain, Christians believed that the followers of Christ must fight their way towards the kingdom of God in heaven. The journey was full of temptations and challenges, and only a few people could make it. Indeed, righteousness was a sacrifice and anyone who was not ready or able to make them could not achieve a relationship with God. In the same way, as Le Morte D’Arthur symbolizes the journey to heaven, the Holy Grail is perceived as the way of the Holy Spirit that guides people to heaven.
Nevertheless, it guides people through a difficult journey, and few people could make it. Even those considered the holiest of the Christians, who are represented in the story by Perceivable, could not enter the final destination in heaven. As the reader can see, Percivale can only perceive the Holy Grail in the form of a far-away object and only in the presence of the holiest person, Galahad (Hayman 2017, 88). In the same way, there are most holy Christians, but because they are not devoid of some sins, they can only come closer to the reality of the presence of God (Tennyson and Gray 2016, 23). In addition, they can only perceive the Holy Grail through those who are pure like Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, or the Angels, who Galahad symbolizes in this case.
Those who find a way towards the kingdom of God must pass through temptations and challenges that almost always divert them from reaching their destination. The Holy Grail, in this case, symbolizes the objectives or goals of a Christian as he struggles to get God. Gawain represents those who end up succumbing to temptations (Jamison 2020, 317). Gawain is seduced by beautiful women and decides to abandon the challenging journey and instead relax with them. He represents the Christians who are diverted from their journey of seeking God by bodily desires such as involvement in sexual acts forbidden in the religion.
The Holy Grail in the journey of Lancelot symbolizes the holiness of the presence of God. In his story, Lancelot says that he found a staircase towards heaven that only ends up in a room full of fire where the object is stored (Jamison 2020, 319). After seeing it, he cannot come closer because he faces the fire. Therefore, he decides to return home to Camelot. Christians in medieval England viewed the presence of God as symbolized by great fire because of His holiness. Passing through the fire to reach God required one to be highly holy to the extent of avoiding burning (Cooper 2019, 183). Very few people could make their way through this fire, which means one could see the Holy Grail but fail to bring it back (Shabrang 2020, 218). In the same way, Christians can come closer to God but fail to reach Him because human beings are always tainted with sins, regardless of how minor their mistakes are in the world.
At the end of the poem, Tennyson shows that the Round Table at the Camelot court of King Arthur is broken apart and doom for the kingdom. Indeed, nobody can come back with the Holy Grail, which is hidden away from humanity because of the excessive sins that the people in England are committing (Jamison 2020, 321). Humans cannot achieve a whole relationship with God because they are sinful. In the same way, the Holy Grail cannot come back to the world because people cannot fully follow righteousness. Instead, they can only perceive the Holy Grail through dreams and visions.
Conclusion
The two tales of the Holy Grail are similar since they are based on the popular beliefs among medieval Christians in England. Both Tennyson and Malory portray the Holy Grail as an object that humans desire to achieve, but they must pass through challenges and temptations once they seek to obtain it. It is almost always impossible for humans to get back the Holy Grail. In addition, it is presented to humans in the form of a beautiful object with sound effects but only once before it disappears (Shabrang 2020, 216). Its short-lived presence makes humans desire to pursue it unknown to them that they must use their spiritual selves rather than physical abilities (Jamison 2020, 312). In both stories, the idea is that humans must strive to lead righteous lives to get the Holy Grail.
Therefore, the Holy Grail in both accounts is a symbol representing God’s presence, and the quest for humans to achieve the grail is a representation of the spiritual journey that Christians must pass as they seek the kingdom of God. In essence, the two accounts perceive the Holy Grail in a symbolistic view and symbolize both the presence of God, a source of spiritual power for the righteous, and an object or goal that people must strive to achieve to benefit from its capabilities.
References
Cooper, Shawn Phillip. 2019. Chivalry and Governance in Malory’s Le Morte Darthur and Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University.
Hayman, Richard. 2017. Holy Grail and Holy Thorn: Glastonbury in the English Imagination. Fonthill Media.
Jamison, Carol. 2020. “Blood Ties, Blood Sacrifice, and the Blood Feud in Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter Series.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 45 (4): 308-327.
Malory, Thomas. 2017. Le Morte D’Arthur: Volume 1. London: The Penguin English Library.
Shabrang, Hodā. 2020. “The Comparative Study of Post-Apocalyptic Atmosphere in the Novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy and the Myths of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King.” Journal of Mytho-Mystic Literature 16 (61): 195-222.
Tennyson, Alfred Lord and J. Gray. 2016. Idylls of the King. London: Penguin Books.