The Relationship Between Lancelot In The Once And Future King

Fairy tales usually end in happy ever afters, but in the Arthurian Legend, they do not always end like that. In his book, The Once and Future King, T.H White explains the complicated relationship between Lancelot, Guenevere, and Arthur, for Lancelot loves Guinevere even though she is married to Arthur. In the short story The Crowning of Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, the complicated affairs between the lustful King Uther and Igraine are explored. King Uther wishes to make Igraine his paramour, however, she is the Duke of Cornwall’s wife. T.H White also describes the faulty relationship between Guinevere, Elaine and Lancelot in The Once and Future King. Love in the Arthurian Legend always end in tragedy.

The relationship among Arthur, Guinevere,

Uther is the ruler of Britain, and is in love with Igraine. However, Igraine is already married to the Duke of Cornwall. King Uther and the Duke have a feast and “in the course of the feast, King Uther grew passionately desirous of Igraine and, when it was over, begged her to become his paramour” (Anthology 1065). Uther then thinks of a plan to kill the Duke of Cornwall and attempts to get Igraine. He talks to Merlin, who helps disguise him to look like the Duke, so that he can have Igraine as his paramour. Meanwhile, the Duke must go into battle with Britain, “but the duke had seen King Uther ride out from the siege on the previous night and, in the course of making a surprise attack on the king’s army, had been killed” (Anthology 1067). By attacking the Duke of Cornwall, Uther and Britain now have to go to war. Uther lets his jealousy take over him, leading to him having to plan a war, causing the Duke of Cornwall to get killed by Uther’s army. After Igraine finds out that her husband is dead, she wonders how he has kissed her a few hours ago, which she then figures out that Uther had a disguise to look like the Duke. Once the Duke dies, Uther and Igraine get married and have a child named Arthur. The substantial tragedy in this love triangle is that the Duke ultimately had to die for the sake of Igraine and Uther’s

In the novel The Once and Future King, Lancelot is the most trusted knight in the land. Lancelot has a secret relationship with Guinevere yet Elaine of Astolat, the daughter of Bernard of Astolat, loves Lancelot too. Lancelot is injured and Elaine offers to take care of him. Lancelot stays at her palace until he gets better, and during his stay at Elaine’s palace, she serves him many different types of wine. He soon falls asleep thinking that he has fallen asleep with Guinevere, but really it was just Elaine who has put a love potion into the wine. “He turned round and found himself looking at the boiled girl, Elaine” (White 375). Elaine has tricked Lancelot because she wants to bear his son. Unfortunately, he does not want her to bear her son because he thought that if he was still a virgin, God would make him a very good knight. When Lancelot finds out that she will have a child, he is angered and says that if she wanted to have the baby, she could, but he would not want any part to do with it. She later commits suicide because Lancelot did not love her, ultimately killing herself. The striking problem in this relationship is that since Lancelot loves Guinevere more than Elaine, therefore she committed suicide, and not only did