What is Malory "about"?

[Jim Deutch]

It seems that most modern re-tellings of Arthurian stories inject an over-arching theme of moral conflict. They depict Arthur as a "Roman" Briton, trying to conserve civilization against the invading Saxon barbarians; Arthur as a Christian King in conflict with the old Celtic religion; Arthur as a good man trying to invent and sustain good government over "might is right"...

Such themes appear to be entirely absent from Malory. Or perhaps they are present, but too subtle or too culturally-distant for me to detect? To a modern writer, there would simply be no point in writing a story as a mere sequence of events without an underlying theme. Am I just missing something? Or is this a reflection of his times? What is Malory's purpose in writing this work, and is it going to become clearer as we progress through Le Morte d'Arthur?

P.S. I love the spelling, especially the old characters like "þt knyȝt"

 

[Halstein]

My thoughts.
From Caxton's preface:
And I accordyng to my copye haue doon sette it in enprynte / to the entente that noble men may see and lerne the noble actes of chyualrye / the Ientyl and vertuous dedes that somme knyghtes vsed in tho dayes / by whyche they came to honour / and how they that were vycious were punysshed and ofte put to shame and rebuke

Malory, if he had the same view as Caxton, wanted to show how good and chivalrous knights should behave. Knightly behaviour had declined from the golden age of Arthur, to the opportunistic and politicking days of Malory. Le Morte was published in 1485, and Malory lived trough the "War of the Roses", with plenty of examples of unchivalrous behaviour.

 

[Jim Deutch]

From Caxton's preface:
And I accordyng to my copye haue doon sette it in enprynte / to the entente that noble men may see and lerne the noble actes of chyualrye / the Ientyl and vertuous dedes that somme knyghtes vsed in tho dayes / by whyche they came to honour / and how they that were vycious were punysshed and ofte put to shame and rebuke

I skipped the preface! I should go back and read it. Nevertheless, I have a healthy suspicion of what any writer says he is up to: such claims are often somewhat disingenuous. They may indeed be sincere but incorrect, since perfect self-awareness is not a common attribute of human beings. And of course, my question is about Malory, the author, not about Caxton, the publisher.

Perhaps I could pose my question differently: why do we still read and enjoy Malory?
That might be more easily discussable and sort of gets at the same issues...