Sir Thomas Malory’s 1485 novel Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur) was translated into a film in 1981 called “Excalibur,” a John Boorman piece that presented what we all think of as the classical tale of Britain’s King Arthur: The sword in the stone, the Lady of the Lake, the plotting, magic-wielding Morgana, the evil son Mordred, the mystical Merlin and the best friend/betrayer Lancelot. The lesson of that story is that might does not make right, but that might may serve right.
There is, however, a scene in that film that strikes home today. Arthur goes looking for his wife, Guenevere, and finds her in the forest, asleep in the arms of her lover, Arthur’s best friend Lancelot. In his anger, Arthur draws the sword Excalibur – and throws it to the ground. When Lancelot awakes, he finds that sword of legend, realizes what has happened, and laments: “A king without a sword – a…
