Malory certainly knew how to shock the wary as well as the savvy reader. I was startled out of my wits when I read the passage where Lancelot kills the two brothers, especially Sir Gareth. I am not sure why I was so saddened. Maybe Sir Gareth seems so good and pure riding in and out of the pages of the text or it could be that after a semester of reading about the knights of the Round Table, they have become a part of us.
I love the new character given to Sir Gawain that brings him on a par with our previous versions of Gawain and then there is an understandable volte face when Gawain swears to kill Lancelot. For some strange reason I did not want him to attack Lancelot.
The character of Lancelot really puzzles me. We are told that Tristan and Isode could not help their adultery but what about Lancelot? What drink has he had? It is a bit unnerving how he xalls the queen 'cleane' and how he swears he is not a recreant knight that that he loved Guinevere as Arthur's wife. He claims never to have committed treason against Arthur. What is Lancelot or Malory thinking? How are we supposed to analyze this? Is it a little white lie? Does it mean that lying to save a situation is acceptable and godly?
As for Sir Galahad the pure knight, why was he so keen on killing or attacking knights as he made his way so secretly in the forest? That whole Sankgreal story gets to be too mystic. Sir Galahad is really full of himself and his goodness. He does not form a fellowship with the other knights, yet his seat is there at the Round Table.
It does not make sense that he refuses to ride with Percival and Bors.
I like Malory's saving of Guinevere in the end. She hides in the Tower and then takes the veil. I think she is shown every inch the queen, holding her head up. She is never the schemer accept that she calls Lancelot to her. I read recently that many readers are surprised that Guinevere did not claim a nose bleed, and why when there were other knigts, was Sir Kay the suspect?
Another intersting point is when Gaherys dies for the queen, he who decapitated his own mother!
Finally, I cannot believe that our long journey through the realm of Logres is over!
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I agree about Gawain, Nasreen. It was nice to see the heart in Gawain. I was never really able to commit or truly see Gawain as a mean spirited, blood feuding knight. I just cannot get past the early things we read (which I'm grateful for!)!!
ReplyDeleteNasreen, about Lancelot....there's some error I forgot to mention in class, maybe it's just in my book, who knows... In the "Sir Lancelot on the Grail Quest" section, when he finally confesses his affair with Guinevere to one of the many hermits, he says:"..because for the last fourteen years I have never revealed one thing that I have done.
ReplyDeleteFast-fwd to section "Sir Gawain on the Grail Quest", when Ector and Gawain are having their visions explained by Nacien, Nacien tells them that Lancelot "has been the devil's servant for four and twenty years".
What is the deal here? Did Lancelot reveal the affair to someone after 10 years had passed? Or was Lancelot a naughty man before he met Guinevere?? Is he a serial illicit lover? Did he lie to the other hermit? Lancelot has some explaining to do....or Malory.