The Morally Ambiguous Character In The Ill-Made Knight

Elements of the medieval romance are evident in the movie First Knight. As such Chivalry is clearly evident through the action of Lancelot in the First Knight. This is shown when he goes out to rescue Lady Guinevere from the ambush in the forest and from Malagant castle where she is being held captive after being kidnaped in Camelot, Therefore, this is a clear depiction of chivalry in where the knight goes out to save the damsel in distress from danger. Another act of chivalry is when Lancelot embarks into the gauntlet which is a contraption that test one’s courage, bravery, and skill to be able to pass. Therefore, Lancelot goes through the gauntlet without any protection to display his skill and bravery to impress Guinevere. Consequently,

The debate on whether to sanction Queen Guinevere by death, or not, takes place between the Pope, King Arthur and Sir Lancelot through letters. Men who are the source of women’s suffering are the same ones to redeem them from their bondage.

1. Do you admire Palamon and Arcite for sacrificing everything, including their friendship, to pursue Emily? Or, like Theseus, do you think it's sort of stupid?

For my report, I chose to summarize how Brian Helgeland’s movie “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) draws its medieval themes and story from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales: The Knight’s Tale”. Besides the nearly identical titles of these works and the moderately similar storyline, it can be further proven that “A Knight’s Tale” is an adaption of “The Knight’s Tale” because Geoffrey Chaucer appears as a character himself—and a vital one at that—in the movie. Furthermore, just to make certain that there is no mistake among the viewers about who they are dealing with, Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) even refers to himself as a writer in the movie and points out his very first own work “The Book of the Duchess” in disbelief when some peasants don’t

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.

"The Knight's Tale" is one of many tales from the Canterbury Tales. This story sets in the city of Athens. Which opens into the theme of violence, foolishness, impetuousness, and impulsiveness; initially exceedingly emotional responses. One example is when two of our main characters, Palmon and Arcite, both fall in love with Theseus's sister-in-law (Emelye). These two blood brothers, leave each other after seeing Emelye out of the window of the tower. Which, I believe is a very impulsive decision, for they have not got time to know who she is and her personality. Also, they act like mortal enemies after just seeing her, so this thought process was completely impulsive and based on her looks. And later, Arcite tries to get to know her better after he was released from his imprisonment sentence by disguising himself, so he can take a job as a page in Emelye's chamber. I believe this shows that he wants to know her, but also it shows he is not being honest with her, which shows he was being impulsive and deceiving. He only learned about the little things that she liked, not her personality. Emelye learned a little bit about Arcite after the little conversing they shared, so they learned a little of each other's personality. This shows that the friendship was growing and not an intimate relationship, like Arcite wanted. So the story goes on and both Palmon and Arcite have been released from prison. And they happen to both decide to wander in the woods. Then they confront each other, each claiming the right to Emelye. The next day, they were brutally hacking away at each other. Honestly, I believe they are being impulsive and violent, they still barely knew Emelye (especially Palmon), and they decide to go kill each other. Then here shows up Theseus, which a loving and wise duke, but he can also be a little impulse when it comes to violence (which is fairly normal for a duke in the 1390s). Theseus tries to be loving when he sees the two men fighting, but he changes his mind when he found out it was Palmon and Arcite fighting. And that they were fighting because they "love" Emelye. Then Theseus was about to respond by killing them, but his loving wife and Emelye intervened, pleading for their lives. They pleaded

When talking about a morally ambiguous character, many ideas may float to mind. Perhaps a Dr. Jekyll type of person will pop up in your mind, or maybe just simply a person who doesn’t let morality get in the way of their ambitions. For a character to have a sense of evil present in them, it is not necessary for them to walk around with an ominous laugh, or anything comical in those lines. Similarly, for a character to have a sense of good, it does not mean they have to be perfectly correct either. In order to put the morally ambiguity into perspective, it is necessary to analyze the presence of both good and evil into a real character, and how it affects the story as a whole. From the Pearl Poet’s chivalric romance, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, Sir Gawain is an excellent example of a morally ambiguous character. In the poem, Gawain’s purely good image was shattered when he cut off the Green Knight’s head, since he took the game as a challenge. That event could be considered as the event that set the plot into action, as the following events are all resulting from Gawain’s action. However, Gawain symbolizes good by initially embracing the knight's moral code in accepting the challenge and then, agreeing to the terms of the Green Knight. Gawain still symbolizes goodness by demonstrating proper knightly actions at times. The Pearl Poet uses Gawain as a morally ambiguous character to set up the plot. He firstly sets up Gawain as a good character, then uses a series of

During the Medieval Era, their was not much to do for entertainment besides watch the tournaments that were held all over Western Civilizations. In modern times, many people know what jousting and sword fighting are but not like the way “A Knights Tale” show them. This movie was made in 2001 and was soon a crowd favorite. The modernization of a dark age era gave the audience entertainment through action, love and comedy. The tournaments were very exciting during this era, specifically the 14th century. This movie had many mixed reviews between historians and regular movie goers. There are a lot of great aspects of this movie but also many critiques historically. The movie is a portrayal of the Medieval games which helps a more modern audience

On the other hand, though, there is the court conception that adulterous love is virtuous, despite the fact that engaging in such love, secrets become deceitful and deception a way of life. The deception of Lancelot to King Arthur by his affair with Guinevere is not viewed by Arthur to be adulterous. He does not get mad at Lancelot for the affair, rather the fact that he as a knight has broken the chivalric code; the code among knights that specifies actions to be honest, noble, and virtuous. Because Lancelot is a knight, his discipline is that of the knights – the chivalric code. Because of this, he commits an act of treason with his relationship with Guinevere.

In the novel Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript, the author, Sir Thomas Malory, presents the reader with many diverse villains, one of whom is Sir Tarquin. Through Sir Tarquin’s remarks and conduct, Malory portrays Sir Tarquin as a malicious villain who despises one specific character, Sir Lancelot Du Lake. This built up anger and revulsion Sir Tarquin feels towards Sir Lancelot results in Sir Tarquin becoming one of the most dexterous and malicious knights in all of Christendom. He becomes such by searching out, challenging, and defeating many knights of the Round Table.

The stories of Lancelot (The Knight of the Cart) and Perceval (The Story of the Grail) within Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances depict a world of Medieval Romance that is somewhat different from one that was depicted in earlier epics. These romances are more focused on the battle between love and honor rather than on war and valor, which were depicted in earlier epics of de Troyes’ time. The tale of Lancelot follows a star-struck knight who undergoes an inner conflict between both the lover and hero inside him. His intense commitment to rescuing the queen causes him to make rash decisions which inevitably restrain him from controlling his own fate. Perceval’s story exhibits a different purpose for love in a knight’s life. Unlike Lancelot, he accepts love only when he believes it can further advance him in becoming the perfect knight. The two heroes’ actions showcase an inner conflict between maintaining their honor as knights and the love for another. Through these two tales, Chrétien de Troyes shows that that idealistic love and conscious chivalry cannot necessarily successfully coexist, yet it is the unachievable idealistic view that these two ideals do coexist.

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

The author allows Perceval to join company with Galahad only after learning the importance of virginity, asceticism, and faith in God and proving himself against a demonic serpent and the devil disguised as an attractive female temptress; since Perceval always requires the help of wise hermits to determine the significance of his adventures and visions, the author uses Perceval to introduce readers to the basic lessons of spiritual chivalry. Before Perceval learns these lessons, he is unable even to recognize Galahad, and he and Lancelot impulsively attack the Good Knight; however, Galahad easily defeats Lancelot and "drew his sword and smote Perceval so hard that he cut through the helm and mail coif" (80). Perceval soon encounters his insightful aunt, who explains to her bewildered nephew that he "could never withstand" (101) a battle with such a spiritually chivalrous knight as Galahad. She teaches Perceval that leading a spiritual life is a personal journey that requires complete devotion, even forsaking his own family, just as he did when he became a knight of the Round Table. Before bidding her nephew farewell, Perceval's aunt reminds him of the importance of his virginity by telling him, "this was most essential for your good…Therefore I implore you to keep your body as undefiled as the day Our Lord made you a knight, so that you may come pure and unsullied before the