How Is Lancelot Justified In The Quest For The Holy Grail
Knights were praised but certainly not considered as perfect, even the best knight of all time, Lancelot, betrays his own king by having an affair with the queen Guinevere. But knights are still valuable and, most of all, perfectible.
Criticisms were used to improve knights' behaviours but, rather than diminishing the chivalric status, it proves knights' primacy in both regular and fantasy worlds. Consequently, it creates a link between these two worlds. Knights are perfectible, yet they still perform amazing deeds and inspire better actions. First of all, myths critisizing knights were generally written by priests or monks. Therefore, they tended to emphasize on the chivalric impiety, since they are themselves at the top of the spiritual world. In the Quest for the Holy Grail, Lancelot is, for instance, encouraged to “confess his sin and renounce it, otherwise he would be dishonored”1. Because of his affair with the Queen Guenevere, Lancelot cannot take part in the quest, contrary to his son …show more content…
For instance, Yvain, after he became insane by losing his lady's love, manages to gain the friendship and loyalty of a lion, which then never leaves him. According to the medieval bestiaries, lions were the most prestigeous animals. Getting along with this creature is thus an attractive feature for Yvain. Gervais de Tilbury, a cleric in the court of King Henry II of England and the Holy Roman emperor Otton IV, makes fun of arthurian knights, by relating how Arthur, after his supposed death, is not waiting in Avalon for his return, but is rather living in a cavern in the Etna's volcano5. However, Tilbury wrote this stories to entertain his lord, Otton IV, after the emperor's defeat against the French king Philip II in the battle of Bouvines in 1214, so, obviously, the author did not want to completely crush the chivalric order, since he wrote everything for a
Criticisms were used to improve knights' behaviours but, rather than diminishing the chivalric status, it proves knights' primacy in both regular and fantasy worlds. Consequently, it creates a link between these two worlds. Knights are perfectible, yet they still perform amazing deeds and inspire better actions. First of all, myths critisizing knights were generally written by priests or monks. Therefore, they tended to emphasize on the chivalric impiety, since they are themselves at the top of the spiritual world. In the Quest for the Holy Grail, Lancelot is, for instance, encouraged to “confess his sin and renounce it, otherwise he would be dishonored”1. Because of his affair with the Queen Guenevere, Lancelot cannot take part in the quest, contrary to his son …show more content…
For instance, Yvain, after he became insane by losing his lady's love, manages to gain the friendship and loyalty of a lion, which then never leaves him. According to the medieval bestiaries, lions were the most prestigeous animals. Getting along with this creature is thus an attractive feature for Yvain. Gervais de Tilbury, a cleric in the court of King Henry II of England and the Holy Roman emperor Otton IV, makes fun of arthurian knights, by relating how Arthur, after his supposed death, is not waiting in Avalon for his return, but is rather living in a cavern in the Etna's volcano5. However, Tilbury wrote this stories to entertain his lord, Otton IV, after the emperor's defeat against the French king Philip II in the battle of Bouvines in 1214, so, obviously, the author did not want to completely crush the chivalric order, since he wrote everything for a