The second section of SIr Gawain and the Green
Knight (trans. Jessie L. Weston) opens with a description of
Camelot:
King
Arthur lay at Camelot upon a Christmas-tide, with many a gallant lord and lovely lady,
and all the noble brotherhood of the Round Table. There they held rich revels with gay
talk and jest; one while they would ride forth to joust and tourney, and again back to
the court to make carols; for there was the feast holden fifteen days with all the mirth
that men could devise, song and glee, glorious to hear, in the daytime, and dancing at
night. Halls and chambers were crowded with noble guests, the bravest of knights and the
loveliest of ladies, and Arthur himself was the comeliest king that ever held a court.
For all this fair folk were in their youth, the fairest and most fortunate under heaven,
and the king himself of such fame that it were hard now to name so valiant a
hero.
If Camelot is
characterized by "rich revels with gay talk and jest" (in other words, lots of joking
around, happiness, and all that), what is Heorot like? Are people in that court
laughing, joking loudly, and partying still? They aren't, of course, and the reason is
Grendel, who's particularly sensitive to and offended by the sound of
merrymaking.
Other points of comparison and contrast might
be the presence and role of women as well as the use of competitions (e.g. jousting or
storytelling) and the heroic challenge.
I would suggest
calling the two places "courts" rather than "mead halls." Heorot is certainly a mead
hall, but Camelot is not (as far as I know).
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