Thursday, April 9, 2020
Simping in King Arthur
“Sir
Gawain, while you stand on your two feet I will not gainsay you; but I will
never strike a knight who has fallen. God defend me from such dishonor!” (494).
I took this quote from a fight scene between Sir Gawain and Lancelot, and I
thought about juxtaposing the two as the most respected knights of the round
table. This is another situation where I said to myself “wow, how chivalrous of
Lancelot! He is truly embodying what it means to be a knight… once again. He’s
really making Sir Gawain look pretty shitty!” But I had to stop myself and
think a bit. Sir Gawain, as we’ve seen in The Green Knight, represented undying
loyalty and what it means to be humble. He also has been very adamant with his
religious chastity, though there has been temptation. Lancelot, as we have seen
time and time again, represents unfaltering chivalry and basically everything
else. But, Lancelot’s love for Guinevere is not very knight-like. Both knights embody
what it means to be a knight, but their ideas on courtly love seem very, very
different. Lancelot is supposed to be the knight that embodies it all, and
therefor he is the best. In these characters I think that we can definitely see
the clash between knighthood and courtly love.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
After reading about Lancelot in a variety of texts, he really does not have the values of a true knight although that is what he is perceived as. Lancelot betrays his own liege and fights against Gawain to the point of causing him mortal wounds. I agree with you that Gawain shows more of the knight-like qualities that people should be adorning over. He is more loyal to King Arthur and like you mentioned from Gawain and the Green Giant, he is a pretty honest man. I think that we should try and praise Gawain instead of Lancelot as a way of presenting a better role model to the younger generations.
ReplyDeleteHonestly Grace, I'm not so sure we should idolize either of them! They both are flawed, and like Dr. MB said below, Camelot has lost its way and it's kind of sad.
DeleteI do feel bad because I have really pared back poor old Lancelot for you guys (more this semester than ever before!) so you don't really get a chance to see any of his great qualities. They do exist ... you just gotta take my word for it!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that either Lancelot or Gawain is above reproach in these final days of Camelot. They both push for the war and death to happen in different ways. A sign that the valor of Camelot is, indeed, lost.
Lancelot was my favorite for the longest time! I'm not so sure what happened to him for me, but I am sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. But I also agree, the knights are slowly starting to deteriorate in terms of quality and knighthood!
DeleteI agree that Lancelot is a simp, yes. In fact, that might be his key personality trait. I have been really frustrated with him throughout a lot of these stories. Is he going to get better like Dr. MB says? I'm skeptical.
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking it may be his key personality trait due to the fact that his love for Guinevere seems to be his driving force other than him obviously being a knight. I'm not so sure he will go back to the Lancelot I once knew and so dearly loved.
Delete