After finishing this week’s reading, I automatically
connected the theme to the larger theme of love. Love is an incredibly
confusing concept, especially back then. I felt that the theme of love in this
particular reading was incorporated into each scene. In my opinion, it seemed
as though Elaine and Lancelot were not on the same page. While he did accept her
token, she believed that he was accepting her as his lover. Elaine seemed like
she ignored the fact that Lancelot never intended to be married, yet she kept loving
him as her own, which lead to heartbreak. It also didn’t help that all of the
knights around them expressed how the love between Elaine and Lancelot was
strong.
I found it super interesting how the theme of love was
directly connected to the death of Elaine, the Maid of Astolat. The intensity
of her love for him lead her to allow heartbreak to kill her. That absolutely
blows my mind! But, like in Romeo and Juliet, the love back then was viewed
as so strong that if said couple cannot be together, that death was the
solution. In the end, I feel bad for Lancelot, because while he did share
feelings for Elaine, he simply did not intend on ever marrying. Unfortunately,
he is the reason for the death of Elaine.
I agree with the theme of love being super evident in this reading. I felt like you could argue that Elaine had a sort of "obsessive love" similar to how Lancelot was in the Knight of the Cart. I also feel bad for Lancelot but him taking her token really lead her on.
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely a similarity to the obsessive love of "Knight of the Cart." The difference is just which character is obsessed; then Lancelot and now Elaine. Both also involve a token: Guinevere's comb and Elaine's sleeve. However, Lancelot's obsession makes him cherish Guinevere's comb, but he has no regard for Elaine's sleeve. Instead, tragically, she is the one left pining.
DeleteHi Meg - I know this all feels so extreme and over the top. It's important to remember that none of this was reality - this is very much escapist reading! Crazy love stories are still part of our culture now, even though we usually end up making them comedies instead of tragedies.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of wanting something desperately that is also unattainable is probably something we can all relate to, even if not in a love context. Sometimes we all feel like we are not and never will be good enough. I think that if we think of Malory's Elaine as a metaphor for that feeling in a more general way, it's easier to read the story and get something out of it.
Perhaps what we are all supposed to learn from Elaine is that we are all good enough, that we should never let something external to ourselves determine our worth. That we should learn from what happened to her and choose a different path.
What do you think?
Thanks for the input MB! I agree with you that crazy love stories have always been and still are topics that entertain audiences.
DeleteAs for Malory's text, I definitely agree with your thought that the tragedy of her death shows that you cannot let something like love cause you to die. Tragedies like so are times that everyone takes a step back and see's how real everything is, and how important you and your life is.