The Lake and Arthurian magic

Abstract A certain marvellous element, suggesting a world in which events occur mysteriously, is a necessary part of Arthurian romance even in a work like the PL which, as we have seen, gives particular emphasis to a feudal framework characteristic of human society and tends to keep magic in its place. As one might well expect in a romance in which Lancelot of the Lake is the main hero, this marvellous element is centred in the Lake, and, although by definition it implies mysterious happenings rather than a natural sequence of events, it nevertheless helps to give a certain cohesion to the work.