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| Lancelot from Arthur (2004) |
In creating the Morte, Malory drew on several sources,
including various parts of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles, the Prose Tristan, and the Alliterative Morte Arthure and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur; but he was not a slavish
translator. He reshaped his originals, omitted much that was not relevant to
his purpose and even created new sections to advance his themes. One of the
ways that Malory reworked earlier texts was by bringing Lancelot into
prominence and making him the central character, more important even than
Arthur in the overall scheme of the book.
One of the things that makes
Lancelot such a significant and interesting character is that, in his attempt
to live up to his reputation as the best of knights, he strives for perfection
in all of the codes that a knight should be subject to. He is more chivalric
and courtly than any other knight; he seeks adventure, champions women and the
oppressed, acts in a courtly manner and serves his king at home and abroad to a
degree unachieved by anyone else. He is the truest of all lovers never even
considering another woman. And he strives to perfect himself spiritually as he
seeks the Holy Grail. Of course he fails to be perfect in all these areas –
partly because they place conflicting demands on him. By being a true lover to
Guinevere he fails in the quest for the Grail and he is less than loyal to his
king. But the attempt to adhere to the conflicting codes is what gives Lancelot
his grandeur; and the very fact of those conflicts is what makes him the sort
of character with whom readers for centuries have been able to identify, even
as they recognise his failings – or perhaps because they recognise his failings
– in the great enterprise he has undertaken. Lancelot’s prominence does not
negate the centrality of Arthur or the roles of the vast cast of other
fascinating characters in the Morte.
Indeed, it is the wealth of characters and tales in the book that has made it
such a treasure trove for future artists. But Lancelot’s character and conflict
are central unifying elements in the book; and he is the one against whom all
the others are measured. [Lupack, Guide
to Arthurian Literature and Legend, 2007, pp.134-135]
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| Lancelot and Guinevere |
Blog question: Do you identify with Malory’s Lancelot? If so, why? And,
if not, why not?
I think Malory makes it really easy to identify with Lancelot; he makes him almost, human.
ReplyDeleteThis great knight, the greatest of the great, has flaws. And despite these flaws and mistakes, he still manages to somehow come-out 'on top'.
Anyone reading Malory's tales would be glad to hear that even great men make mistakes. It is almost like a story of hope for readers.
Lancelot is easy to identify with for a number of reasons. His role as the protagonist in the story immediately positions him to be the character that the readers will identify with. His striving for perfection in all areas of his life is something that is largely common to all people, as is failing to achieve those goals. More than that though, the issue of conflicting duties is something that has been well recognised in moral philosophy, and the dealing with that inherent tension is also mostly common to all people. Thus, I find it relatively easy to identify with Malory's Lancelot in these issues.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is also a great distance between me as a reader in my temporal and cultural context and Lancelot. Firstly, as a woman it is not easy to entirely identify with the masculine Lancelot. I do not have the same duties and responsibilities that Lancelot has, such as the chivalric code. Furthermore, Lancelot's moral failing in cuckolding Arthur and engaging in adultery evokes within me a dislike for the character of Lancelot, which further increases my lack of identifiability with him.
Thus, Lancelot as a character is both identifiable and unidentifiable with me. I empathise with Lancelot, but I do not entirely see my own character within him.
I don’t find it particularly easy to identify with Lancelot, as on multiple levels he has a very different personality to what I consider myself to have. Potentially the easiest part to identify with is the aforementioned flaws, which every honest person is able to recognise in themselves, but I also consider Lancelot’s attempts to reach perfection in spite of these to be admirable, but not something I myself tend to do – because I seem to focus on realistic attempts at excellence rather than aspiring to the ideal perfection, which is in my perspective so subjective as to be unobtainable. On a more obvious note, the character of Lancelot exists in a completely different culture and has such a different life to my own, in terms of gender, profession, and the choices he makes (in particular the adultery issue is a weighty one for me) that I am not able to identify with him as such. Nonetheless, I do consider him an amazing character, one which in many respects I can admire, and throughout my readings I always find myself wanting a happy ending for the best knight in the world, even though this not-at-all-the-best-in-the-world uni student cannot exactly empathise with him.
ReplyDeleteMallory paints Lancelot as the tragic hero. The best at all his endeavours and yet flawed at each. He is the most faithful, remaining true to Guinevere. He is true to Arthur, serving him like no other knight. Yet his love is tainted by adultery and his friendship by his faithlessness. He seeks the Holy Grail and is rejected because of those failings. The tragic hero archetype that he portrays resonates with a reader’s subconscious. We are all, like Lancelot seeking the heroism, chivalry and courage that he portrays, but are all too aware of our flaws and insecurities. Lancelot represents the conflict within us, the drive to perfection despite our human failings. In this sense I identify with Lancelot and his imperfections, as a hero he is all too human.
ReplyDeleteDue to the choices Lancelot makes (prioritising love over his commitment to being a knight – supporting his king), I do not immediately relate to him. However, if I view Lancelot as an individual who attempts to do the right thing for the right reasons (‘attempt to adhere to the conflicting codes’), whilst also remaining true to his sense of self (remaining a ‘true lover to Guinevere’ at the cost of failing and being ‘less than loyal to his king’); Malory’s Lancelot is a figure that many can relate to. Hence, rather than relating to Lancelot’s personal decisions, I can relate to the type of person he tries to become.
ReplyDeleteEleanor Jackson
ReplyDeleteLupack quotes John Steinbeck as saying that Lancelot was a "self-character" of Malory. Malory incorporated into Lancelot what he thought were perfect qualities, as well as his own capabilities and faults. This suggests that Malory wanted his readers to be able to identify with Lancelot, as even though he is presented as the ideal man, he is still very much a flawed, relatable human.
I personally don't identify with Lancelot, mostly because we are of different genders, different times and have different roles and positions in our respective societies. I would also have placed duty to my king above an illicit affair with his wife. Although to be fair, this is a romance story, most likely one of fiction, so of course the hero would put fidelity to his one true love above all other conflicting duties.
I definitely relate to Mallory's Lancelot. In essence he seems like a human being trying to do the right thing and live by his conscience. Like Lancelot, I try to live by my own idea of chivilary, transformed into a modern context. I strive to have a minimal impact on the environment, to be kind and understanding to others and to try to put in my best effort in all my endeavours. Like Lancelot, I have good intentions, however despite these intentions I often fail to live up to my own, and society's expectations. While I haven't failed as spectacularly as Lancelot by sleeping with my best friend's boyfriend, I definitely am not always as considerate as I would like to be, or as environmentally friendly, or I am too tired to put my best effort into an essay. While Lancelot has more grand ideals than me and probably works a lot harder to achieve them, I can definitely relate to the idea of a person striving to do their best and often failing, but trying anyway.
ReplyDeleteJordan Ramanauskas
ReplyDeleteMalory’s Lancelot is as relatable to me as any other fantastical, and fictitious character from modern authors. He is the typical protagonist who always aspires to be chivalric, noble and loyal. And yet human flaws plague him and he can’t be loyal to both Guinevere and Arthur. Lancelot set the basis for modern authors noble knights such as George R.R. Martin’s ‘Eddard Stark’, and J.R.R. Tolkein’s ‘Aragon’ and although this is an achievement in itself. Lancelot is just not relateable to twenty-first century university students.
Lancelot can be identified with because Mallory doesn't make him perfect. He has flaws, it is these flaws that make him human and therefore more identifiable with readers. He makes mistakes whilst trying to still do the right thing. He wants to be the perfect knight but he still makes errors that make him human.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, i can identify with him as he is not perfect and he makes mistakes sometimes hurting those around him. These flaws are what makes him human and so i can identify with him in this way.
Like many other famous literary characters, Malory's Lancelot is portrayed as a hero who strives to be perfect, but falls short of his own and the reader's expectations. In this way, he is a more relatable character than that of King Arthur, who has been depicted in so many texts as the perfect embodiment of a spiritual and heroic leader. Lancelot's failures are what make him truly human, serving to portray him as a character that the reader can both sympathise with and possibly relate to on a personal level. Although many readers may once have looked towards mythical characters for strength and perfection, Malory's Lancelot suggests that the contemporary readership had moved away from wanting this idea of perfection, to instead wanting a portrayal of a truly human character who makes mistakes and has difficulty coming to terms with who he really is. The idea of a perfect man or hero in literature today is one that is often intensely ridiculed by many readers, as it suggests an inability to face reality and a preference towards escapism. Although many may prefer to read stories that allow escapism, texts that focus more so on humanity and a person's inevitable flaws are often more likely to give readers a better insight into their own lives; a factor which may have largely influenced the popularity of Malory's Lancelot character and his human failings.
ReplyDeleteJohn Steinbeck's observation that 'it is nearly always true that a novelist, perhaps unconsciously, identifies himself with one chief or central character in his novel. Into this character he puts not only what he thinks he is but what he hopes to be' demonstrates why Lancelot is a relatable character in Malory's interpretation of Arthur. Most people strive for perfection but humans are inherently flawed. Lancelot epitomises this human condition and therefore readers are able to identify with Lancelot. Everyone dreams to be honest, true and good but flaws of vanity, violence and dishonesty often intervene. By relaying this throughout Lancelot's adventures, readers may identify with Lancelot's character. A particularly relatable scenario is the fact that Lancelot never reaches the Grail due to his love for Guinevere. One can easily identify with not achieving total spiritual perfection as a result of being in love. Lancelot's character definitely encapsulates fundamental human struggles and Malory's exploration of these through Lancelot means that we can identify with him.
ReplyDeleteLancelot is identified with because of his flaws and shortcomings the likes of which everyone can (should) recognise in themselves. He is also relatable because of his efforts to fulfil two conflicting codes (courtly love and spiritual) which he cannot do simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteLike some of the others, even though on a basic human level i can identify with Lancelot and his flaws I do not see myself as similar to him mainly because he is from an entirely different world faced with morals and values foreign to me.
I can identify with Lancelot through his strive to reach perfection in those areas he applies himself to, and the struggle and conflict he faces knowing that it is often unattainable. The specifics of his actions in his context is not what determines whether he is relatable or not, as many of us have different cultures or values to each other. Rather it is his choices and struggles in the world that he finds himself in that allow a common feeling and empathy to be drawn with him.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that I particularly identify with Lancelot purely because he is a Knight who battled fearlessly alongside King Arthur, whereas I'm a uni student still living at home with my Mum and Dad. But to an extent I can recognise elements of his character that are relatable - this notion of striving to be the best you can be, yet falling short as well as the fact that he's not perfect. (However skilled he is on the battlefield, he is still carrying on an affair with his King's wife.)
ReplyDelete