Morte Dartur, greatly demonstrates how the love of a knight and that of the Queen of King Arthur, has arisen many issues. The knight who was once loved by all his fellow knights, loved by his King Arthur, as well as held the heart of his beloved Queen, was known for caring for those around him as well as for having saved the lives of others on multiple occasions. The knight by the name of Lancelot had greatly earned the respect of his people; however, once many became aware of his affair with the Queen Guinevere, betrayal to his King Arthur became present. After King Arthur was told of this and proof was provided to him of these accusations, the war began.
In attempt to save the life of Queen Guinevere, Lancelot rescued the Queen from the fire. However, this fairytale rescue where they both rode off and away from all dangers only created more complications. This event led to the death of many other knights who were loyal both to Lancelot, as well as to King Arthur. Although all the evidence points directly to Lancelot as well as the Queen Guinevere for being guilty of adultery, are they to be blamed for all the chaos? Are they responsible for all of the deaths? If not blame Lancelot and Queen Guinevere who is to blame?
After having analyzed Morte Dartur, various thoughts have come to mind such as the fact that those who are to blame for the chaos and the deaths are in fact those that ran off and snitched to King Arthur. This also greatly leads to the question of who proved to be a better knight? Those who ran to snitch to the King or Lancelot who had an affair with Queen Guinevere? Lancelot’s only flaw as a knight appeared to be the fact that he betrayed the King Arthur by having an affair, but he did in fact serve his King well. King Arthur previously had no issues with having had an idea of the affair that is taking place up until the day it was brought to his attention by another knight.
Although feelings of pity have been created towards Lancelot and Queen Guinevere due to the fact that their love is truly genuine, and sincere, it does not create any hatred towards King Arthur for the fact that he was accepting of their love. This love triangle has been created in a manner in which it is not possible to blame Lancelot, Queen Guinevere, or King Arthur. It is only possible to blame those who were attempting to prove themselves to be better knights then Lancelot. In the end what is clear from this reading is that Queen Guinevere was kind and greatly cared for her King Arthur as well as for Lancelot. King Arthur was a great Christian King, who was kind to his people and loved and protected by his men, and Lancelot was one of the men who greatly protected King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, as well as saved the life of many others. All three died a harsh death, but they all died loved and honored in this war created by a chivalry love.
I don't know that you can argue Lancelot as fulfilling chivalry. In fact, no matter how much we can sympathize or understand Lancelot and Guinevere, no part of their relationship is chivalrous. And, what is the difference between sympathizing and condoning? For example, you might be able to understand and sympathize with all 3 characters, but can the blame really be lifted entirely from their heads?
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