Lancelot's Love Analysis

1. The reason that Chrétien of Troyes undertakes this romance is because of his loyalty to Countess Marie of Champagne. In the prologue he states “Since my lady [Countess Marie] of Champagne wishes me to undertake to write a romance, I shall very gladly do so, being so devoted to her service as to do anything in the world for her”, which shows that he wrote this tale of Lancelot for her (Chrétien 1). He then goes on to say that she is worth many queens, and that she surpasses all others who are living. He appears to almost have hero worship for her, if not something more. His relationship to her could be equated to that of Lancelot’s love and devotion to Queen Guinevere, as he states “I will say, however, that her command has more to do with

The woman’s request is that “… ‘my house is prepared for you, if you will accept my hospitality, but you shall find shelter there only on condition that you will lie with me’…”, which is essentially saying that Lancelot can only be sheltered and fed if he decides to have sex with the woman (Chrétien 1). The reason Lancelot refuses (at first) is because he only has the heart for Guinevere. To lie with another woman would be to betray his true love, even if he cannot have her because she is his King’s wife. Another reason could be that he does not want to allow her to believe he could love her, and thus be leading her on. Lancelot is a chivalrous knight and would not want to make a woman feel that she was used. One line states “And he, since it is unavoidable, lets her have her way, though his heart grieves to give consent”, which is where it is seen that his love for Guinevere and his want to not harm the woman is apparent (Chrétien 2).

3. Lancelot consents because he knows it is the only way that he will be able save his queen. This woman has information on what happened to Guinevere, and is Lancelot’s only hope for finding shelter. He consents to having sex with the woman so that he can continue his journey to save the woman he actually loves, and so he does not return to his king empty handed. In the grand scheme of things, he probably realizes that even though having sex with this woman is, in a way, betraying Guinevere, it is also the path he must take to be reunited

One value expressed by this romance is to honor your word. When the woman is being attacked in her room, Lancelot could have let her be raped and/or killed, which would have absolved him of his promise to sleep with her. He could have left on his quest to save his queen, but instead he thinks to himself “…may God have mercy on me if I do not prefer to die honorably rather than live a life of shame!”, which means that he would rather be killed by these men in his attempts to defend the woman he has made a promise to than run away and live his life knowing he was a coward (Chrétien 3). He makes the decision to save her and keep his promise of sex to her rather than leave her to the mercy of the other