Sophie-David
In the RWS Eight of Swords, the trapped maiden has the opportunity to wriggle out of her bonds: she only feels trapped. But in Legend's Eight, Guenevere at the Stake, she has no escape. She not only feels trapped, she is trapped. Her detainment is not only humiliating, it is intended to end in her death. Gold chains or not, burning at the stake had to be one of the most barbarous customs ever practiced. In this card, Guenevere becomes a symbol of all the cruel and unjust executions throughout history, but particularly of those deaths suffered by heretics and witches.
It is Arthur who authorized this sentence. The text tries to excuse Arthur as being pushed by the people, manipulated by Mordred, and forced "to fulfil his obligation as king". I don't buy it for one minute. Apart from uncertain legality of the newly introduced double standard in which kings could sleep with whomever they wanted and queens were sexual possessions, I really question Arthur's fitness to rule. Not only was the sentence inhuman and unwarranted, it was political suicide. Burning his Queen at the stake was an indignity that even Henry VIII didn't dare. Queens are almost always the members of powerful families with intricate alliances. To make the sentence a cruel and shameful one instead of the honour of the sword, or even the axe, makes the execution even less palatable. No wonder he tore the round table apart with his decision. As I have said elsewhere, a quiet divorce and a ticket to France for Guen and her lover would have solved the problem. But this was Arthur's fatal mistake.
Anna-Marie, as usual, brings the card to life with evocative imagery. The agony of Guenevere's face and body position, the stark bare wood of the soon to be ignited fuel, the spectral black cloaked monk reading the last rites who looks so much like Death himself, all contribute to the sense of victimhood and doom. For those who don't know the story, you will be happy to hear that Lancelot, the Queen's Champion, rescued her. But in doing so he and his team fought against those still loyal to Arthur. Knights were killed on both sides and in further bloodshed the relatively peaceful world of Camelot was soon destroyed.
It is Arthur who authorized this sentence. The text tries to excuse Arthur as being pushed by the people, manipulated by Mordred, and forced "to fulfil his obligation as king". I don't buy it for one minute. Apart from uncertain legality of the newly introduced double standard in which kings could sleep with whomever they wanted and queens were sexual possessions, I really question Arthur's fitness to rule. Not only was the sentence inhuman and unwarranted, it was political suicide. Burning his Queen at the stake was an indignity that even Henry VIII didn't dare. Queens are almost always the members of powerful families with intricate alliances. To make the sentence a cruel and shameful one instead of the honour of the sword, or even the axe, makes the execution even less palatable. No wonder he tore the round table apart with his decision. As I have said elsewhere, a quiet divorce and a ticket to France for Guen and her lover would have solved the problem. But this was Arthur's fatal mistake.
Anna-Marie, as usual, brings the card to life with evocative imagery. The agony of Guenevere's face and body position, the stark bare wood of the soon to be ignited fuel, the spectral black cloaked monk reading the last rites who looks so much like Death himself, all contribute to the sense of victimhood and doom. For those who don't know the story, you will be happy to hear that Lancelot, the Queen's Champion, rescued her. But in doing so he and his team fought against those still loyal to Arthur. Knights were killed on both sides and in further bloodshed the relatively peaceful world of Camelot was soon destroyed.