Le' Morte d'Arthur is a medieval novel by Sir Thomas Malory about King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, violence games a very crucial part of the story. Many types of violence are present in this set of stories, some of which are very orderly and fine-grained, such as jousting, and also disordered violence such as war. However, the worst type of violence is when people use violence for revenge, which is a major theme, as many of these knights are angry at others. While many knights of the book seek revenge, these actions and seeking revenge are often futile and almost always end badly. One of the first major forms of revenge presented in the book are blood feuds. Blood feuds are not just revenge between two people, but in fact between the entire family and can often last for several generations. The example of this in the book is the blood feud that began when King Pellinore attacked King Lot. “Then King Pellinore attacked King Lot and killed him, first by spearing his horse, then by splitting his helmet and skull with his sword.” (Page 36) It was a brutal way of killing and drove Gwaine naturally insane. Gawain, however, is too preoccupied with revenge. He ends up killing Pellinore, which weakens Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. It also led to the unnecessary death of a good man, Pellinore. An example of this in real history is the blood feud between Percy and Neville in medieval England. It was a blood feud in the 1400s that sparked a civil war, the Wars of the Roses. It started when Percy was made Bishop of Carlisle, a very unnecessary reason to start a civil war. This, much like the Pellinore-Lot feud, caused unnecessary deaths, although many more. Pope r...... middle of paper...... Revenge led to the fall of the round table and many other bad things and deaths throughout history. The most famous quote on revenge is that of Gandhi. “An eye for an eye makes the world blind. » This quote rings especially true in this story since vengeance led to the fall of Camelot. In this story and in medieval times, revenge led to many deaths and conflicts for everyone. Without revenge, everyone, especially the people of Le' Morte D'Arthur, would be much better off than with this revenge. Works Cited Aurelius, Marcus. The meditations of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. New York: AL Burt, 189. Malory, Thomas and Keith Baines. Le Morte d'Arthur by Malory: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table. 1962. Reprint, New York: New American Library, 2010.Pollard, Anthony. “Percies, Nevilles and the War of the Roses.” History today, September 1, 1993.