Dagonet
Dagonet
Medieval literature
His first appearance is in the early 13th-century
His alternative portrayal in a series of short episodes within the Guiron le Courtois section of Palamedes takes on a tragic tone. There he is a feared and unpredictable madman whose backstory is revealed as formerly one of the best knights of Arthur who went insane when his newly-married love was abducted by his own friend, Helior of the Thorn, whom Dagonet then tracked down and killed.
One of his two appearances in the different versions of the Prose Tristan is the first in which he is depicted as Arthur's official fool. It characterised him as a hateful and mad commoner who was given knightly status as a joke. He challenges the young Cote Mal Taillee (Brunor) to a joust and quickly loses. In the second version, Tristan humiliates "Sir Daguenet the Fool" publicly by dunking him into a well, and then uses Dagonet's own sword to maim one of Dagonet's angry squires when protecting a group of shepherds who laughed at the scene.
In a markedly more positive (and best known today) characterization by Thomas Malory in his seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, Dagonet is King Arthur's court fool who has been knighted as an award for his loyalty and comedic talents. The Knights of the Round Table use Dagonet to play practical jokes on their rivals or their enemies, at the same time protecting him from harm. In a rewrite of a scene from the Prose Tristan, Kay arranges for Brunor to joust with Dagonet at his first tournament in order to deprive him of the honour of defeating a true knight. On another occasion, Arthur's men point out Dagonet, dressed in Mordred's armor, to King Mark and tell him he is Lancelot; the cowardly monarch flees screaming into the forest, chased by Dagonet.
Later media
- In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, Master Shallow boasts of portraying Sir Dagonet in "Arthur's show". This identifies the character as a buffoon.
- In Tennyson's 19th-century poetry cycle Idylls of the King, "Sir" Dagonet appears in "The Last Tournament". The jester is the only one on the court who could foresee the coming doom of the kingdom. He mocks the faithless knights who have broken their vows, and declares that although he and Arthur could hear the music of God's plan, they cannot.
- In cockerel's head.
- In the 1930s Grove Play Birds of Rhiannon by Waldemar Young, instead of participating in the Battle of Camlann he is instead sent on a quest along with Taliesin and other court bards by Merlin to go "beyond the furthest hill" to find their lost childhood dreams. They had been traveling for 28 days since but then after leaving the forest they came upon a hill where they meet a shepherd boy who lost his sheep when he got distracted by one of Rhiannon's birds. Then they were interrupted by Sir Kay who tells them that King Arthur wants them to return (not mentioning that Arthur had already died in Camlann). While the others gave up the quest in order to return, Sir Dagonet refused. He and Kay fought, but in the end Kay was victorious and ran his sword through Dagonet, laughing as he left Dagonet to die.
- In the 2004 film King Arthur, the character, portrayed by Ray Stevenson, is depicted as a brave, self-sacrificing warrior whose actions save the rest of Arthur's knights.
- Jeremy Whitley wrote the 2012 comic book miniseries The Order of Dagonet with art by Jason Strutz.
See also
References
- ^ Lacy, Norris J. (17 January 2010). "Lancelot-Grail: Chapter summaries". Boydell & Brewer Ltd – via Google Books.
- ^ Lacy, Norris J. (17 January 2010). "Lancelot-Grail: The story of Merlin". Boydell & Brewer Ltd – via Google Books.
External links
- Dagonet at The Camelot Project
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