"Many Monsters to Destroy"

DRAGONS




Arthur: The Dragon As Strife

Even though living, fire-breathing dragons are few and far between in Arthurian legend, their symbolic presence is powerful and pervasive. This is particularly the case since Arthur, like his father Uther, is sometimes called "Pendragon," which means "head dragon." This title indicates and reinforces Arthur's status as warrior-king, and directly associates him with the qualities attributed to his serpentine namesake. Indeed, when we regard Arthur in this light, one of the more striking episodes in Arthurian literature, Merlin's prophecy to King Vortigern, becomes doubly significant. When Merlin reveals that Vortigern's tower cannot stand because its foundations rest on the den of two struggling dragons, it is immediately apparent that the dragons represent two warring leaders. Once the dragons are released from the ground, the white dragon kills the red one and then dies itself. Although Merlin says that the dragons represent Vortigern and those who will defeat him, the prophecy may suggest a second, more foreboding, interpretation to an audience already aware of how Camelot will fall. Might the red dragon be Arthur, the white Mordred, and the castle the kingdom which shall be destroyed in their struggle? The dragons seem to represent a murderous, unreasoning, and self destructive rage--qualities descriptive of a royal family which will eventually destroy itself from within. Although this incident, in most versions, takes place long before Arthur's birth, the story's dragon symbolism is already preparing us for his inevitable fate.

Tristan and Lancelot: The Dragon as Passion

Both Tristan and Lancelot, sometimes cited as the two most deadly knights of the Round Table, are dragon slayers. And, although neither of them is closely enough associated with dragons for the beasts to consistently appear in their tales, dragon-slaying seems to have the same implications for both knights. In some versions of the Tristan legend, he kills a dragon shortly before meeting Iseult. Iseult then heals him of the wounds he has received from the dragon's fire or blood. Sometimes, the love potion Tristan and Iseult drink is even said to be dragon's blood. The passion that the dragon symbolizes in the Tristan tales is, like the rage of the dragons in Merlin's prophecy, an uncontrollable emotion, driving Tristan and Iseult into their adulterous and tragic love affair. (One should also note that it is passion, Arthur's incestuous lust, which spawns the self-destructive impulse implicit in Merlin's prophecy). Moreover, Tristan's passion, as before, is associated with political instability because of its repercussions on King Mark's realm.
Similarly, the dragon Lancelot kills is also associated with adulterous love. Lancelot must slay this dragon in order to rescue Elaine, who he then sleeps with in the mistaken impression that she is Guinevere. Lancelot usually makes this error either because he is drunk or because, like Tristan, he has been given a potion which clouds his intellect. Whether it acts as a representative of rage or passion, the dragon's presence seems to indicate a hero who has stepped outside the bounds of cool reason.

Spencer'sFaerie Queene: The Dragon as Sin

A third major symbolic use of the dragon is rooted in Christain imagery. Although the Fairie Queene is somewhat tenuous in its link to other Arthurian themes, the poem reminds us that the uncontrolled rage or lust the dragon symbolizes in the previous examples can always be closely connected to deadly sin. The dragon that the Redcrosse knight slays in the Faerie Queene is representative, not only of the Catholic Church, a font of curruption to the mind of any sixteenth century Protestant, but also to the dragon/beast of Revelation. The dragon of the Faerie Queene, like those slain or banished by the saint's of medieval legend, is also Satan or Anti-Christ. Indeed, dragons are often represented in Medeival art, not as flying serpents or lizard-like beasts, but as fanged, clawed, humanoid demons. Even if, in most of Arthurian legend, the dragon seems to have more ambiguous pagan origins, one should always keep in mind that Christian authors and readers could effortlessly associate dragons not just with wrath, covetousness, or passion but with the downright diabolical.

For more about The Faerie Queen see the Giants page.

For more dragon pictures try The Dragon Lady

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