Lancelot Guinevere

Samantha Souza Abigail Broom King Arthur and Camelot Summer 2010 1 August 2010 Lancelot and Guinevere Throughout Literature Throughout literature, Queen Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, is known to have had an affair with the King’s right hand man, Sir Lancelot (sometimes spelled Launcelot for proper scanning effect when spoken aloud in poem verse). Most perceive the falling in love of these two characters, and their affair, to be the primary tragic downfall of King Arthur, as well as the impetus for the disillusionment of the ideals of Arthur’s Round Table. Mordred makes Arthur aware that Lancelot and Guinevere are engaging in an adulterous affair in an attempt to secure the possibility of King Arthur’s inevitable downfall. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, the author manages to give the affair between Guinevere and Sir Lancelot a sort of omnipresence, while never truly making it the major focal point of the narrative. The story is Arthur’s after all. The affair is happening to him, and how to handle the fates of his best friend and one true love is his decision alone. In fact, the affair seems almost breezed through until about the last quarter of the tale, when the affair begins to take a toll on more than just Guinivere and Lancelot. The affair affects the course of the lovers, Arthur, Mordred, and others. In Le Morte d’Arthur, Lancelot falls in and out

of Guinevere’s favor throughout the story, while the two somehow maintain a relationship that exemplifies the ideals of courtly love of the time. Malory makes Lancelot a knight, first and foremost, and Guinevere’s secret love second. The courtly love shared between Guinevere and Lancelot seems less about passion and true feelings of immortal love, and more about exemplifying chivalry, earning favors for the Queen, and being a perfect example of a Knight of the Round Table by doing brave deeds in the name of Guinevere. The sensuality of their shared love seems almost nonexistent, and the consummation of their relationship is glossed over with barely a mention. It is as if Malory is aware that going into too much detail about the intimate nature of Guinevere and Lancelot’s relationship would not be wise, as Malory was a knight himself. He naturally wants to portray Lancelot, a fellow knight, as a true gentleman, and not a sordid knight after only one thing from the Queen. There is the air that the entire relationship is all for show, but that cannot be true, as Lancelot and Guinevere seem to be made of at least a little more moral fiber than that, as to go behind the back of their husband and best friend (respectively) just for courtly love’s sake. When Arthur decides that Guinevere’s fate should be to burn at the stake, Lancelot proves his courtly love by rescuing her, right in the nick of time, further illustrating the nature of the relationship between the two. In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot is more idealized, and seen through rose-colored glasses, as opposed to the more step-by-step courtly love romance depicted by Mallory.

According to Tennyson, Guinevere recognizes at the end of the tale, upon realizing her fate, that she should’ve loved King Arthur, simply and truly, just as he was, as he was a selfless man, pure of heart and intention. She appreciates him far too late. Because she makes this discovery and self-realization, it is clear that Guinevere has acted senselessly, and without thought. Her feminine desires, weakness, and selfishness led her to make rash decisions, that upon further consideration, might not have been made. If she had thought with her head and not with her heart or loins, the Round Table might not have collapsed the way it did, and the fate of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere herself would’ve been avoided. Where Malory portrays Guinevere as a lady of real worth until her affair comes to the light, Tennyson does not give Guinevere any sympathy, nor does he portray her throughout the story as being particularly worthy of favor, save for maybe her beauty, or only when being compared to the wicked Vivien. Guinevere has committed a terribly offensive sin in Tennyson’s eyes, and therefore must repent by devoted the remainder of her life to the church. Tennyson’s views about woman are clear through the description and fate of Guinevere: When woman are overly sexual, and disrespect their men, extremely punishment is necessary. His judgment of women is blatant throughout the text, and it is only after years of chaste service to God that Guinevere can be seen as a woman of worth, in the eyes of Tennyson. In T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, Lancelot is not the perfect example of a knight, as in Malory, or the romantic lover of Tennyson. In fact, his is

quite the opposite. Lancelot is portrayed as a man racked with flaws, and his aggressive loyalty to Arthur is illustrated as a means to fight away his inner demons. He desires to be the ultimate knight in an attempt to battle his own selfhatred. This awkward feeling of self-loathing is only fueled even more by his unexpected feelings for the king’s wife, Guinevere. Guinevere, according to White, truly loves, admires, and respects Arthur, while also acknowledging that Lancelot is the true love of her life. She is portrayed as an independent, strong, amiable, and beautiful lady. While she knows that her love of Lancelot is wrong, and disrespectful of Arthur, she cannot ignore her feelings for her husband’s right hand man. Unlike Malory or Tennyson, the somewhat steamy affair between the lovers does not seem to affect Arthur nearly as much as it affects the lovers themselves. He chooses, mostly, to ignore the affair, and it only becomes and issue when Mordred uses it as leverage against the king in an attempt to overthrow him. Guinevere remains a nun at the end of the novel, as in Tennyson. Lancelot has a one-night stand with Elaine, which leads him to turn to religion for forgiveness after he is tested and failed. Ultimately, religion is the path to absolution for both parties of this infamous couple. Regardless of how the tale is told, ultimately, the affair between Queen Quinevere and Sir Lancelot, the greatest knight of all, leads to the downfall of both King Arthur, the Round Table, and the glory of Camelot itself.