| Motif | Arthurian | Lonesome Dove |
|---|---|---|
| The dove | The dove is the emblem of the Grail Castle (Source: Campbell, page 475) | The town of Lonesome Dove is where the story begins and ends |
| Adultery | Lancelot and Guinevere love each other although she is married to Arthur; Tristan and Isolde fall in love although she is betrothed to King Mark | Former sweethearts Gus and Clara reunite although she is married to a horse trader; Gus maintains a relationship with Lorena although she is “with” Jake |
| Questing | Knights quest for the grail despite obstacles | Cowboys drive a herd from Texas across rugged terrain to establish the first ranch in Montana |
| Burial at a place where the hero and his lady had been happy | Lancelot is buried at a castle where he and Guinevere had been together | Gus is buried at an oak grove in Texas where he and Clara had picnicked |
| Eulogy over the corpse of the hero | Lancelot’s brother delivers a eulogy over the corpse of Lancelot | Lorena delivers a eulogy over the corpse of Gus |
| Casting a love spell | Tristan and Isolde drink a love potion | Gus and Lorena cut a deck of cards |
| The hero rescues the princess, and her recognition of him in his bath. | Lancelot rescues Guinevere; Tristan rescues Isolde and she recognizes him in his bath | Gus rescues Lorena from Blue Duck; Gus and Lorena are swimming in a river when Blue Duck first appears |
| Son slays the father | Arthur and Mordred (Arthur’s nephew or illegitimate son) inflict mortal wounds on one another in single combat; Arthur is armed with a spear | An Indian boy kills Deets with a spear; young Newt participates in the hanging of Jake, a former partner of Gus and Woodrow |
| Wound that will not heal | The fisher king/ grail king suffers constantly from a wound | Clara’s husband is an invalid after being kicked in the head by a horse |
| The knight in the cart | Lancelot suffers the indignity of riding in a cart instead of riding horseback | Woodrow transports the body of Gus from Montana to Texas in a mule-drawn cart |
| Pigs | The Welsh forerunner of Tristan is Drystan, one of the Three Powerful Swineherds | Pigs follow Gus from Texas to Montana |
| Celtic mythology | The Arthurian legends arose from Celtic mythology, with knights and ladies taking the places of gods and goddesses | Woodrow was born in the Celtic land of Scotland, and Gus has a Celtic last name: McCrae; although "Gus" is short for "Augustus," it could be an allusion to the Celtic love god Aengus, whose name is Anglicised as "Angus" |
| The waste land | During their quest for the grail, knights must pass through the waste land | Cowboys drive a herd through territory with no drinking water; Pea Eye limps barefooted from the place where Gus was mortally wounded back to his companions with the herd |
| Wound in the thigh | Tristan bears a scar where he was wounded in the thigh | Gus is wounded in the thigh and later dies of the wound |
| Array of characters | British knights and ladies, European knights, a prominent Saracen knight | White cowboys and women, a black cowboy (Deets), Mexicans, Indians |
| Coming of age | Kitchen boys become knights, young Arthur pulls a sword from a stone, Lancelot's son Galahad achieves the grail | Woodrow's son Newt grows into manhood during the course of a cattle drive from Texas to Montana |
Gus and Lorena as portrayed by Robert Duvall and Diane Lane in the television miniseries Lonesome Dove
Newt as portrayed by Rick Schroder, above left, and Deets as portrayed by Danny Glover, above right
Woodrow as portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones