SOURCE: Dobyns, Ann. “The Rhetoric of Character in Malory's Morte Darthur.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 28, no. 4 (winter 1987): 339-52.

In the following essay, Dobyns points out the metaphoric quality of Malory's dialogue, noting that this contributes greatly to the creation of symbolism in his characters.

Malory's tendency to substitute dialogue for narrative has long been recognized as one of his dominant stylistic characteristics, and while many readers of the Morte describe this dialogue as lively and vivid, they also insist on its lack of individuality.¹ The apparent contradiction in the two observations is acknowledged by at least one of these critics who attributes the liveliness of Malory's speeches to their brevity and performative function while maintaining that they remain characteristic of type rather than individual. “Malory is wonderfully good,” Mark Lambert argues, “at making his dialogue both normative and vivid.”² In a recent challenge to this standard...