Camelot Summary

The second event that this paper will discuss is in book XI, shortly after the previous events with Elaine. Lancelot returned to the kingdom of Camelot after learning he was deceived into sleeping with Elaine. As time progressed, Elaine gave birth to Lancelot’s son Galahad. Within Camelot, Sir Bors tells both Lancelot and the court of the birth of Galahad. Queen Guinevere is outraged to learn that Lancelot betrayed her by sleeping with another woman. Queen Guinevere is calmed after learning that Lancelot was only unfaithful because he was enchanted into sleeping with Elaine. With the return of King Arthur to Camelot, he calls for a feast, inviting all ladies and lords. One of the ladies who came to Arthur’s feast was Elaine, the mother of Galahad.

Lancelot’s action of sleeping with Elaine, rather than Guinevere results in him ignoring Elaine throughout the feast due to his shame. Whereas Lancelot does not love Elaine, Elaine is truly in love with Lancelot. Lancelot’s action of ignoring Elaine breaks her heart. Elaine confessed her pain of heart break to Dame Brisen, who once again plotted against Lancelot. Dame Brisen’s planned to once again trick Lancelot into sleeping with Elaine. Dame Brisen learned that Guinevere was planning on sending a messenger to Lancelot to tell him to come to her chambers that night. Upon learning this information, Dame Brisen pretended to be Queen Guinevere’s messenger and directed Lancelot to Elaine’s chamber, rather than Guinevere’s chamber. Lancelot believing that he was in the chamber of Guinevere resulted in him sleeping with Elaine. As Lancelot slept with Elaine, who he thought was Guinevere, the real Guinevere was waiting for his arrival in the chamber beside Elaine’s. Hearing Lancelot talk in his sleep, Guinevere began to cough loudly to get his attention. Upon hearing the cough of Guinevere, Lancelot realized what he had done and in his madness, he jumped naked through a window and ran away into the wilderness to not be seen again for some time. There are two primary story plots within this this summary that are important to this paper. The first being the deception of Dame Brisen, and the second being Lancelot’s madness. Regarding Dame Brisen’s deception of Lancelot, it is similar to the event in the last paragraph. Lancelot is tricked into sleeping with Elaine, instead of his intended target Queen Guinevere. Since Lancelot and Elaine are not married to anyone, they do not commit adultery. The fact that Lancelot does not commit adultery with Guinevere is enough of an justification for authors such as Kennedy and Sturges to be satisfied regarding the innocents of Lancelot’s character. As stated in the previous paragraph, Kennedy and Sturges ignore the factor of intention. According to Bullough, he states that “Jesus extended the meaning of adultery to include thoughts as well as actions, by stating that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her already committed adultery with her in his heart” (8). When Lancelot enters the chamber of Elaine, his intention is to be with Guinevere, demonstrating his pursuit of adultery. Even though Lancelot is tricked into sleeping with Elaine, in his heart he was committing adultery with Guinevere. This point was further discussed in the previous paragraph, therefore to avoid being redundant, this paper will now discuss Lancelot’s madness. There are multiple theories regarding why Lancelot went mad after realizing he had slept with someone other than Guinevere for a second time. Reflecting the thesis of this paper, Lancelot went mad due to the guilt building within himself.

Not only did Lancelot betray Guinevere, but also King Arthur, Elaine and his religion. In the mind of Lancelot, he betrayed his true love Guinevere by once again sleeping with another woman. Lancelot betrayed Elaine by further leading her in believing that he loved her. Lancelot betrayed King Arthur by having an adulterous relationship with his wife Guinevere. Finally, he betrayed his own religion through his pursuit of an adulterous relationship with Queen Guinevere. All of Lancelot’s guilt build up till this point of story, in which it finally overpowered him, leading him to madness. Regarding the betrayal of Lancelot’s religion, this paper will briefly introduce this theme and further later discuss it in the next paragraph. A constant theme within “Le Morte d’Arthur” is the conflict of true love and religion. In the case of Lancelot and Guinevere’s relationship, to pursue their true love, they must forsake their own religion. The act of adultery is considered a sin, therefore if Lancelot wants to be with his true lover Guinevere, he must forsake his religion. Overall, Lancelot’s guilt is what drove him mad, the guilt of everyone that he had

betrayed.