"Alle the comyns cryed at ones, 'We wille have Arthur unto our kyng. We wille put hym no more in delay, for we all see that it is Goddes wille that he shalle be our kynge—and who that holdeth ageynst it, we wille slee hym.' And therwithall they knelyd at ones, both ryche and poure." (11.11-15)

In this excerpt from Le Morte d'Arthur, Arthur has just pulled the sword out of the anvil, and by this should have proven to everyone that he's the "rightwise" king of England. Of course, this isn't enough proof for the haters—those high-and-mighty nobles who doubt that Arthur has the correct pedigree to be king.

So, those jerks have him pull the sword, and then put the decision off until the next holiday, when Arthur again draws the sword... Are you beginning to see a pattern here? The commoners did. And they got fed up with the nobility's funny business, as we see in this quotation.

Power to the People

Arthur looks out for everyone, even the little guys. What else could you ask for from a truly great king? And this passage highlights the power the peasantry was able to wield particularly well.

The peasant class is the first group to openly swear loyalty to Arthur. They do this by "cry[ing] at ones" (all together), and by threatening those who are still against him with violence. They mean business: they're not afraid to "slee" the rich nobles, who are the ones that "holdeth ageynst it."

The royalty are aware that the "little people" aren't so little anymore. So before long, "both ryche and poure" get down on their knees and accept Arthur as their king. The way Arthur ascends to the throne is indicative of the increasing power of the commoners in Malory's own time… which included such lively events as the Peasants' Uprising.

God vs. Merlin

Notice how the commoners claim that it's "Goddes wille that he shalle be our kynge"? But it's not, really. It's really Merlin's will. And the peasants'.

Check it: Merlin was the guy who engineered the entire ascension of Arthur to the throne. First, he makes it possible for Uther Pendragon to sleep with Igrayne and give birth to Arthur in the first place. Then he places the sword in the stone in the churchyard, and makes it have the aura of "God's will."

Malory structures his version of the Arthurian legend around whose will controls the main events at any given moment in time; it's important to him who's at the helm of our lives. Most of the time, Malory's plot structure boils down to an eerie sense of fate: certain events are pre-destined to happen.

No matter what any of the characters do, they can't escape their destiny. They don't have any free will. This narrative structure contributes to the text's tone of doom-and-gloom. But, you know, Arthur pulls a sword out of a stone. So, there's that.