As everyday people read the Arthurian story, everyone sees Lancelot as the bravest knight of the Round Table and places him onto a pedestal of honor, but most people don’t see the destruction that Lancelot brought along with him. When people read the stories, they picture Lancelot as the knight in shining armor, riding to save damsels in distress. He is supposedly so righteous, he got the holy grail and saved countless lives. However, one perspective of Lancelot is never considered because people are too afraid to go against what society thinks. Although Lancelot is portrayed as heroic, he is the opposite. Most people know that at the end of the Arthurian legend, Camelot falls and King Arthur ends up dying. However, what most people don’t …show more content…
A widely known topic in the Arthurian legends is the love affair with Arthur’s wife, Guinevere, and Arthur’s best friend/knight, Lancelot, which ultimately leads to the downfall of Camelot. As one of Arthur’s knights, Lancelot is a part of the roundtable, a very close group of all of Arthur’s most trusted knights and any betrayal in the group would lead to chaos. Upon laying eyes on the king’s wife, Lancelot fell in love with Guinevere even though he was a knight. A while later, he learns that Guinevere reciprocates his feelings, thus leading to a strong and passionate affair. This affair is eventually known by many people, but since Arthur himself refuses to either acknowledge it or doesn’t know about it, people start to question their king. If the king did not persecute his own wife and friend for breaking the law, does that mean that they are above the law but no one else is? This also meant that the supposed fair system that Arthur had implicated was not really fair at all. But also, if the king could not see such an obvious affair between his best friend and his wife, was he fit to rule? The questioning of Arthur’s ruling plays a big role in the downfall of Camelot. But it was not only the people’s mistrust in their king, “The scandalous nature of their …show more content…
Elaine of Astolat convinces Lancelot to wear her token in a jousting tournament against King Arthur’s knights and fights for Sir Bernard even though he was in hiding from them. Prior to the tournament, Elaine had grown infatuated with Lancelot upon his arrival to their castle. After the fights, Lancelot is wounded and Elaine cares for him. When he became well, he prepared to leave but Elaine begs him to stay. “He refuses, his heart belonging to Guinevere and leaves the house of Sir Bernard. Not ten days later, Elaine dies of a broken heart. (“The Arthurian Tale of Elaine of Astolat, The Lady of Shalott”)” Due to Lancelot leaving her, she had died of his rejection. The story of The Lady of Shalott is quite similar to that of Elaine’s. Upon seeing Lancelot flash in her mirror as he rides in the field below her prison/tower, she fell in love with him. This leads to her looking out the window and looking down to Camelot. Her curse is triggered when she looked on to Camelot and leads to her death. “Till her blood was frozen slowly, and her darkened wholly. Turn’d to tower’d Camelot (Tennyson 147-149).” After realizing the curse was upon her, she got into a boat and sings until she dies, as she drifts towards Camelot. As she floats through Camelot, Lancelot sees her, unbeknownst to him that he had caused her death, and admires her