T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," Part 3: The Fisher King

As I mentioned in my introductory post, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land was influenced dramatically by Jessie L. Weston’s book From Ritual to Romance, which focuses on the medieval cycles about the Fisher King, the Holy Grail, and other aspects of what we normally call “Arthurian Legends.” The Fisher King is the guardian of the Grail, and his close proximity to this object of supernatural healing makes it impossible for him to die of his injury, although this injury is somehow so profound that even the Grail is unable to completely heal it. Thus the Fisher King, like the Waste Land and its inhabitants, can neither change nor end his existence. 

His presence in The Waste Land is as a solitary symbol of the entire land’s agony.

Although the Fisher King is not directly named in The Waste Land, Eliot alludes to him indirectly in several instances, such as the Man with Three Staves (745), which Eliot associated, “arbitrarily, with the Fisher King” (757). His character is also referenced in the act of fishing, such as “While I was fishing in the dull canal” (749), the fishermen who are lounging on the banks of the Thames (751), and “I sat upon the shore / Fishing” (756).  Even the actions of the ambiguous character of the Smyrna merchant Mr. Eugenides (750) echo the Fisher King role, inviting the poet-speaker to his house just as the Fisher King invites the quester to his castle.

In medieval romance cycles, the setting and the eponymous character of the Fisher King legend are interconnected. Because the Fisher King is suffering, his land cannot prosper, and those inhabitants who rely in the land for their own livelihood must suffer with their king. That he has brought this suffering on his people is not lost on the Fisher King.  Because his injury is so closely connected to the plight of his people, he is painfully aware with the situation in the Waste Land and its inhabitants, saying:

‘…I can connect

Nothing with nothing.

The broken fingernails of dirty hands.

My people humble people who expect

Nothing’ (752)

Despite the Fisher King’s desire to bring relief to his people, he has neither the knowledge nor the resources to help them, since he cannot even help himself.

The suffering the Fisher King brings upon his land and people contrasts with the symbolism of fishing that is associated with him. According to From Ritual to Romance, the Fisher King’s title is one that symbolizes fertility, which may pertain to his guardianship of the life-bringing Grail. However, the Fisher King of medieval romance cycles—as well as The Waste Land—is not only a symbol of life, but also of suffering without the option of death. 

The Waste Land continues to exist long after its prosperity has ceased, but the Fisher King is helpless to do anything for his people because he himself is helpless. Since he is also denied the possibility to end his suffering through death, the only remaining solution to restore his reign and land to its former prosperity is through an outside influence, the Questing Knight.