King Lancelot Betrayal

Arthur’s knights were his most trusted friends and family, but ironically, he is betrayed by the best of them. The most reputed of Arthur’s knights are Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram. Sir Lancelot was the leader of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur’s most trusted friend, but he was involved in an illicit love affair. This affair was with Arthur’s

Queen Guinevere’s character was more about being royal and doing as she wanted. She was married to King Arthur. She was above all of the wrongs that she has done and shows no signs of sadness, even when she is sad (page 632). She has an affair with Sir Launcelot without King Arthur knowing about it. She causes conflicts among the knights and the King. Both men are so in love with Queen Guinevere. Sir Launcelot throughout the story does battle for Queen Guinevere, while showing King Arthur his loyalty.

Lancelot has the most plausible chance to be the hero of the story. He exhibits two of the three qualities needed to be the hero. He seems to be the protagonist because his existence is necessary for the progression of the story, and he is literally invincible. He can easily destroy any foe that blocks him from success from bouts with an invisible knight to bouts with up to 15 knights at once (). Lancelot apparently exhibits the strong qualities of a knight, so why is he not the hero of the story? He does not fit the heroic quality of committing himself to nobility. The notable example of this lack of quality is his affair with Guinevere. In “The Knight of the Cart” Lancelot heroically rides to save Guinevere, but later that night sleeps with her while committing treason against King Arthur (). Some may excuse his actions with the belief that he is in love with Guinevere and Guinevere with him. However, love does not always have to express with sex and thus

Although it is hinted, one could say that King Arthur knew of the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere but chose to look the other way in fear of losing Sir Lancelot. Sir Lancelot is an example of what a perfect knight would be in the True Knighthood. His honor to King Arthur is what King Arthur holds precious to himself. These three men want to stay loyal to one another and fight against what others are trying to say.

Sir Lancelot is the dominant figure in Le Morte D'Arthur who presents us with the theme of sin and redemption. Sir Agravaine and Sir Mordred expose the courtly romance or otherwise adulterous affair between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guenever. This sets in motion the conflicts and other events leading up to the death of Sir Lancelot and many other noteworthy characters. Sir Lancelot betrays both King Arthur and Queen Guenever. If he is truly a noble character as Sir Gawaine, Sir Gareth, and Sir Gaheris describe, would he have involved himself in such a treacherous act? Sir Agravaine says, “I marvel that we all be not ashamed both to see and to know how Sir Launcelot lieth daily and nightly by the queen, and all we know it so; and it is shamefully suffered of us all, that we all should suffer so noble a king as King Arthur is so to be shamed” (Location 12810). Sir Lancelot’s betrayal raises opposition between the knights and breaks up that which should remain united. His betrayal reaches beyond the king and queen. Thus, it is not a surprise that the consequences of his sin affect the lives of so many.

Two conflicting disciplines are prevalent throughout Arthurian Legend; that of chivalry and that of courtly love. The ideal of each clash throughout the medieval tales, and it is impossible to interfuse the two models for society. Chivalry is a masculine code, an aggressive discipline, whereas courtly love is based upon women - their needs, wants, and desires. The consistent problem if Lancelot and Guinevere’s adulterous relationship in different tellings of the affair relates back to the differences presented in chivalric code and courtly love ideals.

Not only does Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere cause him a great deal of suffering, it wreaks havoc on the lives of many other men as well. For instance, their affair brings tragedy to Sir Gawain and his family. Lancelot kills Gawain’s innocent brothers, Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth, while rescuing the queen from being executed for adultery. Sir Gawain consequently instigates a blood feud against Lancelot that will eventually lead to his own death. King Arthur and his

The film King Arthur differs in a great propensity with the traditional Arthurian tale. The elements which represent the medieval society and which forms the key aspect of the traditional tale, have not been included. The Holy Grail, a vital motif that is persistent in the traditional tale of King Arthur is dropped from the cinematic representation of the tale. The film differs from the tale on multitudinous accounts, for instance there is an absence of the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere in the movie. Moreover, the film chooses to not include Camelot, Avalon and Mordred. Important characters like Mordred, the archetypical villain in the traditional tale of King Arthur is not ascribed to any significance in the film. The character of Guinevere is indispensable in the Arthurian legend as well as in the movie. However, the very characteristic of Guinevere is represented in a dynamically polar opposite fashion in both the traditional tale of King Arthur and the movie. Contrary to the ancient tale, Guinevere is no damsel in distress in the movie. The representation of Guinevere in the movie as a warrior queen who partakes in the war along with King Arthur is emblematic as it does not depict the character of a woman in the light of the gender typicality. It is an important alteration that the movie chooses to make from the traditional tale.

Towards the end of the novel we see what Arthur’s thoughts are about betrayal. “The law was such in tho dayes that whatsomever they were, of what astate or degré, if they were founden gylty of treson there should be none other remedy but deth (Malory 654) King Arthur is stating that committing is adultery is seen as treason and the answer for that should be death. According to Breier, “Malory was facing a moral dilemma with respect to the love affair between Lancelot and Gwenyvere: on the one hand, he claimed Lancelot to be the most virtuous knight in the Arthurian realm, and on the other he relates – for the first time in

In The Knight of the Cart, Lancelot sets out to rescue Queen Guinevere, who he has fallen in love with and has been captured by King Arthur’s enemy, Meleagant. He is first mentioned after he is found by Gawain, another Knight of the Round Table. Lancelot convinces Gawain to lend him one of his horses so that

Obedience is another factor that constitutes courtly behavior in the story. Lancelot battles arduous combats and suffers severe wounds for the love of Guinevere. However, once throughout his voyage he falters in his obedience to her love, when he comes across a dwarf, driver of a cart, the dwarf tells Lancelot to ride in the cart in exchange for information on Guinevere’s whereabouts; Lancelot hesitates momentarily before leaping into the cart. Lancelot regrets this moment of hesitation and scolds himself, he argues “…Reason, who does not follow love’s command, told him to beware of getting in and admonished him…Love ordered and wished [he would ride in the cart]…; since love ruled his action, the disgrace should not have mattered.” 2 Lancelot is deeply ashamed and never falters

Perhaps Arthur’s biggest error in in judgement had been when he chose to ignore his suspicions of the affair, for “Sir Lancelot had done so much for him and for the Queen so many times that…[he] loved him passingly well” (Malory 441). This showed the great amount of loyalty that was shared between the king and his best knight. Had Arthur acknowledged the affair before Agravain and Mordred informed him, he could have put a stop to it, or found a better solution, and not jumped into the war that would pave the path to Arthur’s untimely demise. This war is foreshadowed when Gawain warns Agravain, “for and there arise

Loyalty is very necessary for a knight, and Lancelot shows it vividly. Lancelot is not in a position that he is proud of when the problem comes, but he still works for what he believes in. Lancelot is facing a public trial in Camelot. Suddenly, Camelot is surrounded by the army of Malagant. He threated King Arthur to give him the city, or everybody will die. King Arthur starts the battle with Malagant’s army, and he gets shoots in his chest four times by crossbow. Lancelot goes into the crown, and he fights with Malagant who is also really good at sword. It is a really tough fight, so both of them gets injured. He does not give up, and he kills Malagant eventually. Lancelot is not trusted by King Arthur at the time when Camelot is invaded, because he is caught kissing Guinevere. He may be killed by King Arthur, and he can just run away due to the enormous chaos in the city at that tie. But he remembers that he is a knight, and he cannot fail the people in Camelot. So he picks up a sword, and helps people to defend their city. When he is fighting with Malagant, he tries to save an old man under the brutal broadsword of a knight of Malagant. He gets injured because of this action. All Lancelot has done shows everyone that he has loyalty to the city, Camelot, and his lord, King Arthur.

"Drawing from many sources, Malory develops Lancelot's qualities of self-control, rectitude, and humaneness...the third tale (Lancelot du Lake) concentrates on Lancelot's chivalry inspired by a yet unconsummated passion. Undertaking his quest because of Gwenyver, he becomes the best knight in the world" (Walters xxix). One need not look far into the sixth book to find examples of Lancelot's character. In the beginning of the tale, we are introduced to Sir Lancelot very abruptly with "Of all his knights one was supreme, both in prowess at arms and in nobility of bearing, and this was Sir Lancelot, who was also the favorite of Queen Gwynevere, to whom he had sworn oaths of fidelity" (Malory 118). It is here we are introduced to Lancelot's two primary character traits: that of his being a great knight and that of being faithful to Guinevere. He is not yet the best knight, or the perfect lover, as he has not yet been tested. Lancelot soon feels bored with his life at court, and so searches out adventure. It is during these adventures that

The adulterous affair between King Arthur’s most trusted knight Lancelot, and his wife, Guinevere, is symbolic to the coming of the mischievous serpent in God’s garden as a result to an end of a perfect world. According to the influential work of Sir Thomas Malory at the end of the 15th century, there became one of the major causes of the downfall of Arthur’s Round Table. Through various parts of literature, Lancelot’s romantic character becomes known. In The Knight of the Cart (ca. 1175), by Chrûtien de Troyes Sir Lanceolt rescues Guinevere from the evil knight, Meleagent, and ultimately spends the night with the queen in her chamber. He later listens and obeys every instruction she asks Lancelot to do, such as to do his worst in the Tournament. Another major romance of which Lancelot is the protagonist is the extensive early 13th-century Prose Lancelot, a part of the Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian romances. Here, he is raised by the Lady of the Lake, and by 18 sent to Arthur’s court after realizing his royal percentage. He is given a sword by Guinevere, who knights him in a ceremony of divided loyalties. He goes to act of numerous adventures for the king to earn his reputation, but his adultery with the queen disables his legitimacy to succeed in the quest for the Holy Grail. In the last romance of the cycle, Lancelot and the