Pavel Goriacko
ENG650
Research Paper
Sir Lancelot: The Paradox at the Heart of King Arthur's
Court
In Arthurian romances of the twelfth century and after, Lancelot is
undoubtedly one of the most renowned knights of The Round Table. Lancelot's
character is central to the plot of Chrétien's The Knight of the Cart and Malory's
The Poisoned Apple, Lancelot and Elaine, and The Death of King Arthur. These
texts make it evident that Lancelot isn't merely a knight; rather, he is the greatest
knight of The Round Table. The court depends on Lancelot and his prowess, as he
constantly stands up to defend the queen against accusations and takes up
challenges which are too great for other knights. Yet Lancelot's identity as the
most powerful knight is completely dependent on his rejection of the ideals of the
court and his illicit relationship with Guinevere. Thus, the very existence and
success of King Arthur's court rests upon an illicit relationship and a system of
ideals contrary to the one it upholds.
Origins of Lancelot
The character of Lancelot is first mentioned in Chrétien's The Knight of the
Cart, although the immediate literary ancestor of Lancelot is a hero in the stories
of “The Fair Unknown.” In Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook, Lori Walters
explains that “The Fair Unknown” is a story “in which a young man, brought up in
ignorance of his name and origin, is called the 'Fair Unknown' when he arrives at
Arthur's court” (Introduction xiv). As Chrétien is the first to distinguish Lancelot
from the “Fair Unknown,” it is no wonder that he had the most influence over the
identity of Lancelot, especially in “stamp[ing] him in popular consciousness as the
queen's lover” (Walters Introduction xiv). Robert W. Hanning argues that Lancelot
is one of the primary examples of the development of a subjective voice in romance
literature in the twelfth century. Quoting Norman F. Cantor, Hanning writes that
“in the twelfth century there emerged a new consciousness of the self and
recognition of the importance and distinctiveness of the individual, marking a
significant departure from the group and typological thought of the early Middle
Ages” (Hanning 2). From these early developments, we can see that solitude and
individualism were the basis for the character of Lancelot from the time of his
creation, as he is the product of a modified “Fair Unknown” story emerging during
the time of high interest in personal subjectivity.
Furthermore, Lancelot's origin and upbringing are in line with his outsider
nature. He comes to England from France and wins the admiration of the Round
Table, much like the “Fair Unknown.” This becomes important when in Malory's
The Death of King Arthur, Lancelot and his supporters split from the court and
move back to France. Lancelot's upbringing consists of being raised by the Lady of
the Lake (Chrétien 2350-2355), which indicates that his childhood was dominated
by a female presence. This begins to explain his unconventional relationships with
and dependence on women. Arthur, on the other hand, was brought up and trained
by Merlin, and Gawain is the son of Loth of Lothian (Harper), which indicates that
both of them were forged by a dominant male presence in their childhood. They
also share a nephew-uncle relationship, whereas Lancelot, as mentioned earlier, is
a stranger in England and has no relatives there. Lancelot's background then
becomes an early indication of the his unique character traits, particularly
pertaining to relationships with other knights at the court.
The Homosocial Court
From the very beginning in The Knight of the Cart, Lancelot is introduced
separately from the other knights at Arthur’s table. When Arthur holds court and
festivities, Lancelot isn’t there (ll. 30-34). Due to his absence, he cannot participate
in the argument at the court over who is most worthy to escort the queen to the
woods (170-178). This immediately portrays Lancelot as a very introverted
character who excludes himself from homosocial gatherings and arguments.
Gawain only meets Lancelot after riding off to follow Kay and finding Kay's horse
spotted with blood (261-265). Lancelot already knows what happened to the queen.
However, unlike the other knights, Lancelot is not motivated by glory or duty to
rescue her; he is driven to it by love. This shows us that Lancelot puts the
heterosexual obligation of rescuing his lover over the homosocial obligation of
winning glory among his fellow knights or supporting his lord. His introversion
also highlights the lack of a homosocial bond between him and the other knights.
In contrast, Arthur and Gawain have a strong homosocial bond. When Kay
goes off to bring the queen into the woods, Gawain advises Arthur to follow them.
Arthur replies, “We’ll go, good nephew... / Yours is a politic wisdom” (238-239).
This shows that Arthur’s decision to follow the queen is motivated by his nephew’s
advice rather than his own obligation to protect and take care of his wife, and thus
highlights the importance that Arthur places on the homosocial bond with Gawain.
On the other hand, Kay’s exclusion from court leads to his desire to affirm
his skill and glory; he fulfills it by tricking Arthur into letting him take on
Méléagant’s challenge. Even though Kay is excluded from the homosocial company
when Arthur holds court (as he is not there when the knight challenges Arthur), he
still places great importance on his homosocial relationships. Kay wants to win
recognition from the other knights and aspires to a place in court next to Arthur.
He cannot embrace his exclusion from the court because unlike Lancelot, Kay has
no heterosexual obligation to fulfill. Instead, he tries to save his homosocial bond
with Arthur and his knights by attaining recognition among them. Gawain has no
heterosexual obligations either; thus, he is portrayed as a very noble and
chivalrous knight who is very active in homosocial gatherings.
The Introverted Knight
Further throughout the poem, Lancelot is portrayed as a solitary character
who takes on challenges individually as opposed to Gawain who always takes
fellow knights and squires with him. Right after Gawain persuades Arthur to send
knights after the queen, Chrétien writes,
...Gawain
Was fully armed, and had ordered
Two of his squires to bring
A pair of battle horses. (253-256)
Later, when Gawain and Lancelot ride together and reach the two roads leading to
two different bridges, Lancelot refrains from conversation with Gawain. He only
says,
Sir, it’s up to you:
Pick whatever route
You prefer; I’ll take the other (684-686)
This highlights the impersonal nature of Lancelot’s relationship with Gawain,
which lacks the strong homosocial bond that Gawain and Arthur share. It also
reveals Lancelot’s desire to take on the challenge individually. Lancelot is willing
to take the harder path as long as he can go alone.
In Malory's King Arthur and His Knights, Lancelot is also portrayed as a
solitary knight. When Lancelot finds out that the woman he slept with was Elaine
and not Guinevere, he becomes mad and runs away to hide from the court. As
Malory puts it, “he ran two year, and never man had grace to know him” (84). It's
also important to note that his face and body are scratched with thorns, so he is
unrecognized by others, which brings up the motif of obscured identity. Even when
he awakes out of his madness, Lancelot is reluctant to return to the court, as he
says to Dame Elaine,
...go ye unto your father and get me a place of him wherein I may dwell? For
in the court of King Arthur I may never come. (Malory 94)
While eventually Lancelot is convinced to return to the court, from his madness fit
we can clearly see the desire present in him to avoid the court and its company. He
particularly desires to be free from the social constructs and judgment of the
court, as is evident in one of the first questions he asks upon awakening from his
madness: “If this be sooth, how many be there that knoweth of my woodness?”
(Malory 93), and further asks to “keep it counsel and let no man know it in the
world” (94). Instead of desiring support and sympathy from the knights, he mostly
desires privacy and secrecy. This once again reinforces the introversion of
Lancelot’s character.
In “The Poisoned Apple,” Lancelot is banished from the court by Guinevere,
which once again puts him into solitude, as Malory says, “the queen had
forefended him the court, and so he was in will to depart into his own country”
(115). Lancelot only returns to the court to save Guinevere from being burned.
This episode shows that Lancelot cares little about the other knights at the court
and only stays there for Guinevere.
Reliance on Women
Lancelot's introversion and absence of the court frees him from many of the
court's constrains. Thus, he is able to do certain things which would be frowned
upon in the masculine company of knights. This quality shapes Lancelot’s
relationships with women. On most of his adventures, Lancelot encounters
damsels. However, despite his attempts to simply protect and safely accompany
the damsels, he ends up needing and receiving help from them which his fellow
knights cannot provide. When Méléagant imprisons Lancelot for the first time, the
steward’s wife lets him out of prison as long as Lancelot agrees to return (Chrétien
5468-5513). The second time Lancelot is rescued from prison by a woman as well;
this time it’s Méléagant’s sister. The reader expects Lancelot to be rescued from
his imprisonment in the tower by Gawain or another knight, and so does Lancelot
himself, as he says,
You great Gawain! Unmatched
For your goodness, how can it be
You haven’t come to help me! (Chrétien 6494-6496)
However, Gawain is told that Lancelot has returned to the court and thus does not
show up to the rescue. When Méléagant’s sister comes to rescue Lancelot, she
says,
Lancelot, I’ve come
A long, long way to find you.
...
I was the one, as you rode
Toward the Bridge of Swords, who asked you
To grant me a wish, and you did,
Most cheerfully. Recall:
I asked for the head of the knight
You conquered, and you cut it off.
He was not someone I loved.
I’ve gone to all this trouble
Because you granted that wish. (Chrétien 6577-6589)
From this we learn that the damsel comes to rescue because a little while back
Lancelot granted her a wish. Yet in granting that wish, Lancelot had to choose
between showing his opponent mercy and letting the damsel have the knight’s
head. Lancelot’s choice to give the knight’s head to the damsel is a violation of
chivalric code and his own beliefs, as the poet says “Once the battle / Was won,
and his enemy beaten, / He’d never refused mercy / To anyone, no matter who --- /
Never” (2859-2863). However, Lancelot does it because he is not constrained by
his homosocial obligations. Lancelot’s actions are not motivated by upholding his
status at the court; rather, he is doing everything that will help him rescue and
return to his love. This dependence on women for help shows us Lancelot's
acknowledgment of the importance and power of women. This is contrary to the
ideals of court, where women are merely objects of the knights' protection. Yet
Lancelot does not have to defend his honor in front of other knights, which means
he can freely accept help from women. This results in his rescue when other
knights cannot get to him, and in turn serves as one of the most important sources
of his power.
Relationship with Guinevere
It is difficult to speak of Lancelot without mentioning his relationship with
Guinevere, which first appears in The Knight of the Cart by Chrétien de Troyes,
since it defines Lancelot as a character. The relationship between Lancelot and
Guinevere is morally questionable and highly unusual. First of all, it is an illicit
love affair, as Guinevere is legally wedded to King Arthur, Lancelot's lord. This is
both sinful, since Christianity prohibits sleeping with a married woman, and a
violation of chivalric code, since Lancelot has sworn allegiance to his lord King
Arthur. Yet Chrétien sympathizes with Lancelot and writes, “if ever anyone loved /
more truly than Pyramus / It was [Lancelot]” (3810-3812). Furthermore, the reader
can't help but notice that the relationship consists of a very unusual, complete
submission on Lancelot's part. A few lines earlier, Chrétien states,
Lovers are obedient men,
Cheerfully willing to do
Whatever the beloved, who holds
Their entire heart, desires. (3805-3808)
When Lancelot is forced to sleep with a damsel whom he encounters on his
adventures, he is not even tempted to be disloyal to Guinevere:
...his heart
Had been captured by another woman,
And even a beautiful face
Cannot appeal to everyone.
The only heart our knight
Owned was no longer his
To command, having already
Been given away; (Chrétien 1229-1236)
Lancelot's giving away the control of his heart to Guinevere shows his complete
submission to his lover. The important implication here is that Lancelot's
allegiance to the court is secondary to his love for Guinevere.
Another instance that shows Guinevere's control over Lancelot's actions is
the tournament episode. When Guinevere commands Lancelot to perform poorly,
he willingly submits, even if it brings him shame and humiliation among other
knights. Furthermore, in the middle of the battle, Guinevere's messenger tells
Lancelot:
Do your fighting with your face
Turned to this tower, so you'll see her
Better! (3708-3710)
Upon receiving this ridiculous command, Lancelot does exactly as she commands
him, fighting his enemy with his head turned to the tower. Here, he is risking both
his reputation and his life in his submission to Guinevere, which once again
emphasizes the importance he places on his relationship with his lover.
This obsessive and unusual relationship with Guinevere causes Lancelot to
experience symptoms of love-sickness. On his quest for Guinevere in The Knight of
the Cart, Lancelot encounters the sentinel who forbids the crossing of the ford.
However, Chrétien states that “all our knight heard was his own / thoughts” (758759). The sentinel's warnings do not register in Lancelot at all, since his mind is
disconnected from reality and obsessed with thoughts of Guinevere. Eventually
Lancelot is thrown off his horse by the angry sentinel and only then does he
awaken out of his daydream. This shows that Lancelot's obsession with Guinevere
makes him tune out from reality, which often endangers him.
Furthermore, when a damsel shows Lancelot Guinevere's comb with her hair
on it, Lancelot
...seemed
Unconscious, lost to his senses,
And very nearly was,
As close as a man can come,
For his heart was filled with such sadness
That for a long moment the blood
In his face disappeared, and his mouth
Could not move. (1436-43)
A sight of Guinevere’s hair physically paralyzes Lancelot for a moment, which is
another sign of infirmity caused by love-sickness.
In Malory's text, Lancelot goes insane when he finds out that he was tricked
into sleeping with Elaine. He “leap[s] out at a bay-window into a garden, and there
with thorns he [is] all to-scratched of his visage and his body; and so he [runs]
forth he [knows] not whither, and [is] as wild-wood as ever was man” (84). Once
again, the deception doesn't cause Lancelot's madness, but rather triggers his
love-sickness to surface in a form of madness. Lancelot's obsessive love for
Guinevere is the primary cause of his condition.
However, alongside the psycho-somatic impairments, Lancelot's lovesickness also results in his enormous, superhuman powers. In Chrétien, Lancelot
crosses the Sword Bridge, which is a nearly impossible task. The people advise him
against crossing the bridge:
This bridge is wickedly built,
Evilly put together.
Change your mind now --Or else you'll lose the chance.
A man must think both long
And hard before he acts.
Suppose you get across--But it isn't going to happen:
No one can hold back the wind
And stop it from blowing, or forbid
Birds to open their beaks
And sing, and keep them silent,
Or climb into a mother's
Womb and be born again (3048-3062)
Yet Lancelot does the impossible and crosses the bridge because he can't let
anything stop him from getting to Guinevere. This task reveals his superhuman
prowess, caused by his love-sickness and devotion to Guinevere. Furthermore,
these lines imply that Lancelot's prowess is godlike, since he accomplishes
something as impossible as being reborn, which equates Lancelot's feat to the
awakening of Jesus Christ (Cohen, Medieval Identity Machines 107).
Another comparison of Lancelot to Jesus Christ is made earlier in the poem
when Lancelot accomplishes another impossible task by lifting the stone from the
tomb. The monk explains that “Seven strapping men / Would be needed to open
this tomb” (Chrétien 1897-1898). Yet Lancelot
...took hold
Of the huge stone which he lifted
As if it were light as a feather,
Though ten men heaving
As hard as they could couldn't do it. (1916-1919)
Once again, Lancelot's strength here is said to exceed that of seven or ten men.
In Malory, Lancelot is constantly referred to as the “best knight” with no
equal in power or skill, such as when Sir Bors tells Guinevere, “Alas! ... that ever
Sir Lancelot or any of his blood ever saw you, for now have ye lost the best knight
of our blood” (86). In The Death of King Arthur, Lancelot encounters Gawain’s
supernatural powers in battle. Malory writes, “Then had Sir Gawain such a grace
and gift that an holy man had given him, that every day in the year from undern till
high noon, his might increased those three hours as much as thrice his strength”
(Malory 198). Yet Lancelot is able to resist and defeat him, which proves that his
strength goes beyond that of a mortal.
Conflicting Identity
In The Knight of the Cart, Lancelot's identity is obscured throughout the first
half of the poem. Lancelot is very insistent on keeping his identity secret. It first
becomes evident when the girl's attempts to find out his name evoke an angry
response from Lancelot:
Haven't I told you I come
From King Arthur's court? In the name
Of God Almighty, I swear
I'll never tell you my name! (Chrétien 2009-2012)
For a while, the audience and other characters only know him as “the knight
of the cart,” which means that Lancelot's identity stems from the ignoble cart
rather than his name (which signifies his nobility and prowess). As Jeffrey Cohen
points out in Medieval Identity Machines, “the cart is described as a space wholly
outside of chivalric identity” (93). By making a transition from his horse to the cart,
Lancelot gives up his knightly identity for one of
...murderers, thieves,
Those defeated in judicial
Combat, robbers who roamed
In the dark, and those who rode
The highways... (Chrétien 328-332)
There is a special significance in a knight giving up his horse, as Cohen once
again explains, “a knight (chevalier) without a horse (cheval) is no knight at all”
(93). It is very strange that the best knight of the Round Table would give up that
identity so easily. It is also important to note that this switch wasn't an unintended
outcome of the moment. Before the trip in the cart, Lancelot exhausts his horse
and “The horse / He left behind him fell dead” (295-296). This, as Cohen points out,
“suggests that Lancelot is pushing knightly identity to its extreme, to that limit at
which it begins to discohere” (93).
From these incidents, we can conclude that Lancelot either does not value
his knightly identity, or that he is willing to sacrifice it for an identity more
important to him. When Gawain offers Lancelot another horse to replace his dead
one, Lancelot
made no attempt to choose
The better, or bigger, or faster,
But simply mounted the one
That happened to be closest, and galloped
Away at once. (Chrétien 291-295)
Here, he puts no effort into establishing his identity through a conventional image
of a strong knight on a strong horse (as discussed earlier), since he is in a rush to
get to Guinevere. From this, we can conclude that Lancelot wants to have the
identity of Guinevere's lover; he rushes to rescue her in order to establish that
identity. His knightly identity stems from his identity as Guinevere's lover, and
more importantly, through Guinevere he becomes not merely “the knight of the
Round Table,” but “the greatest knight of the Round Table.” With that in mind, it's
no surprise that we first learn of the knight's identity from Guinevere, when she
says,
As long as I've known him, this knight's name
Has been Lancelot of the Lake (3665-66)
From there on, the Knight of the Cart becomes Lancelot, the greatest knight of the
Round Table, who performs exceptionally well at the tournament (at Guinevere's
command) and rescues the queen and the knights from Méléagant's captivity.
Lancelot's knightly identity is not restored by the Round Table but rather by
Guinevere. This shows us that Lancelot's primary identity is that of a Guinevere's
lover, without which his identity as the “best knight” would be nonexistent.
In Malory’s Lancelot and Elaine, after Lancelot revives from his madness, he
masks his identity as well. When Lancelot goes off to live in the Castle of Blyaunt,
Malory writes that “there he was called none otherwise but Le Chevalier Mafete,
‘the knight that hath trespassed’” (95). However, here his identity is “restored” by
a fellow knight, Sir Perceval, who convinces Lancelot to reveal his name. Lancelot
says “what have I done to fight with you which are the knight of the Round Table”
(97), which shows Lancelot's guilt about abandoning the Round Table,
disconnecting his identity from it, and going so far as to fight another fellow
knight. Here, he even more dramatically transforms his identity, since even in
Chrétien Lancelot acknowledges that he “come[s] / From King Arthur's court”
(2009-2010), even though he doesn't reveal his name. Furthermore, Lancelot's
madness in Malory shows that his identity is even more dependent on Guinevere
than in Chrétien; he absolutely cannot accept to be Elaine's lover. When he is
tricked into it, he transforms from Lancelot “the best knight” into Lancelot “the
madman” and “the knight that hath trespassed.”
The Court's Dependence on Lancelot
Despite his isolation and introversion, Lancelot plays a critical role in the
success of The Round Table. The court's existence is absolutely dependent on
Lancelot standing up to challenges, affirming The Round Table's prowess at the
tournaments, and rescuing the queen from captivity. In Chrétien, both Sir Kay and
Sir Gawain are unable to escape captivity without the help of Lancelot. In Malory's
The Poisoned Apple, when the queen is accused of trying to poison Gawain,
Lancelot isn't at the court. At that moment, Arthur realizes how much the court
relies on Lancelot:
“That me repenteth,” said King Arthur, “for an he were here he would soon
stint this strife.” (119)
Arthur realizes that when someone accused the queen in the past, Lancelot would
vindicate her through his enormous prowess in battle. Yet in The Poisoned Apple
episode, the queen is almost burned because of Lancelot's absence, and only saved
because Lancelot shows up toward the end of the story and rescues her.
In The Death of King Arthur, however, Lancelot is unable to save the court
from its downfall. Still, unlike other knights, Lancelot actively tries to preserve The
Round Table. Lancelot is sure that with his power he is able to defeat Sir Gawain
and bring victory to his side of the court, but he persists in trying to reconcile with
Gawain. Lancelot says,
If it may please the king's good grace and you, my lord Sir Gawain: I shall
first begin at Sandwich, and there I shall go in my shirt, bare-foot; and at
every ten miles' end I shall found and gar make an house of religion, of what
order that you will assign me, with an holy convent, to sing and read day and
night in especial for Sir Gareth and Sir Gaheris (187).
This shows that despite all the tension, Lancelot is able to stay level-headed and
make informed decisions regarding what's best for the court. He is singlehandedly
trying to save the court from its downfall. Gawain, on the other hand, gives in to
emotion over his two killed brothers and actively brings about its downfall. Arthur
plays a passive role, and despite his desire to reconcile with Lancelot, he fails to
act in order to save the court.
In the end, Lancelot cannot save the court, because the relationship between
Lancelot and Guinevere on which the court rests becomes the reason for the
conflict. Chrétien's poem does not deal with consequences of this contradiction
because it offers no ending to the story of Arthur. Malory, however, finishes the
story; yet the only possible resolution of this paradoxical nature of the court,
which relies for its success and reputation on an illicit love affair between a knight
and the queen, is the downfall of the court. Lancelot is only able to save the court
from ruin when his disloyalty to Arthur does not become the core of the conflict.
The character of Lancelot, from his creation in the twelfth century, brings a
heartbreaking paradox to the court of King Arthur. The court's existence rests
upon the knight who defies the core values of The Round Table. Thus, the court
itself rests upon values contrary to those it upholds. As a result, the only way to
ensure the continuity of the court is to ignore this contradiction and allow
Lancelot's devotion to the queen run its course. Whenever one of these aspects is
challenged, the court is put at a high risk of disintegration.
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