I swear to GOD, I am so over Lancelot and Guinevere. Reading this a second time made me even more frustrated. First of all, why the hell would fighting against Arthur help Lancelot and Guinevere in their pursuit to hang out together unnoticed?? So many decisions in these stories seem so so arbitrary that it is actually infuriating. Second of all, I am sick of hearing about how great, handsome, competent, and valiant Lancelot is. He is a shitty person and the fact that I am constantly having to read these long descriptions of his great qualities is so maddening. Like, this whole story was just about how Lancelot is "the one who got away", and he literally caused the DEATH of Elaine, and what was the point of all of this? So Guinevere could feel more confident in his love for her???? And Guinevere sucks too! Aside from the fact that she cheats on her husband, she is also impulsively emotional, unstable, and bitterly jealous. Lancelot even calls her out: "Madame, this is not the first time your anger has been ill-founded" (Le Morte D'Arthur 472)
Why did people at the time like reading stories about this? Honestly, these two characters are obviously the focal point of attention for readers at the time, but they are immoral. Their actions do not align with their extensively beautiful descriptions. Why were people attracted to stories about them then? I don't know, but I like to think that people nowadays would not find themselves as engrossed with the stories of these two. Cuz I'm #overit
Right? It's so easy to just be like WTF WHY have L&G become a love story for the ages? I do think that there's a lot we have trouble relating to just because our society does not have arranged marriages. If you had no choice in who your spouse was, the appeal of this kind of story would certainly be more understandable, right?
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Guinevere is always pretty unsympathetic to me ... but I think Malory is pretty misogynistic in his portrayal of pretty much every woman, so I'm not sure if that is really the character's fault.
Anyway, I get your frustration. This is one of those times that it is challenging to try to get into the shoes and cultural context of Malory's original readers, or for that matter, Chretien de Troyes' readers...
I was literally laughing as I was reading this because it is so TRUE! Lancelot and Guinevere can kick rocks. I felt like Guinevere was even bitchier in this story than we've seen before... all entitled to Lancelot's love and allat. Thanks for calling her out!
ReplyDeleteI thought that your comment about why people of the time would want to read these stories is interesting because these types of stories and relationships is what we see in films and TV shows all the time. Love triangles have become a staple in many romantic films. Although this "romance" between Lancelot and Guinevere is overdramatized and pointless sometimes, I think that it created something that we see even now.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, you took all of my talking points here in your post. Lancelot is a shithead, he doesn't care for anyone around him, Guinevere needs to CHILL OUT, and maybe they should stop attracting all the attention. Love the story from a kind of looking into the puddle that is Lancelot perspective, not the what's up with the G & L & A love triangle today?
ReplyDeletePersonally I think people back then likes these types of stories because most of them had very little freedom to choose their own spouse, so the idea of a Queen and a Knight was fascinating to them. I feel like the probably were entertained by the fact that there love was so volatile and dramatic. I mean people now watch soap operas and reality TV and honestly some of the plots there that much different.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said "Their actions do not align with their extensively beautiful descriptions", I felt that for the first time. You would think that Lancelot and Guinevere being having the big roles that they do would have more positive endings with their stories, but all they seem to do is cause trouble.
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