Chivalry In King Arthur's Le Morte Darthur

Someone who is chivalrous would put someone else's life before themselves and would try to accomplish something that is greater than them. Lancelot shows a great amount of chivalry throughout Le Morte Darthur. According to dictionary.com, Chivalry means,” the sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms.” Someone who is Chivalrous would put someone else's needs before themself, they show respect to there peers and opponent, and he is loyal to his leader like a chivalrous knight should be. Sir Lancelot has the most chivalry of the country and they need people that are chivalrous back then.
King Arthur created this table called “the Knights of the round table”.

This table was made for the best of the best Knights, the Kings Knights. King Arthur saw some chivalrous aspects in Lancelot so he asked Lancelot if he would join his table. Sir Lancelot accepted it and King Arthur made Sir Lancelot his right hand man, his best knight. One story when Lancelot showed great chivalry and made the King even like him more, is when Sir Lancelot traveled to the dark Dungeon of Sir Tarquin and rescued some of King Arthur's best Knights. This goes along with putting someone else's life before yourself to accomplish something great.
Sir Lancelot shows a massive amount of respect towards his peers and opponents in Le Morte Darthur. One story when Lancelot shows respect towards his is
Gossen 2
when he was in a battle and he did not want to kill the man because he was unarmed. Usually other knights in this situation would take it as an easy kill and he is walking home alive. Lancelot does care about just himself, he cares about the people around him. He did not want to kill that man who was under a bad and unfair ruler that sent him into battle without a weapon. Another way Lancelot shows respect because he shows more respect to Queen Guinevere then King Arthur himself. Sir Lancelot Is in lover with her, he would risk his life for her. All the other girls live Sir Lancelot but he already has his heart and eyes on Queen Guinevere.
Queen Guinevere may act like she has no interest in him, but we know she has a little because She exiles Sir Lancelot when she becomes jealous cause she fights for so many different woman. When people read this book, they automatically think that Sir Lancelot is the bad one because he like Queen Guinevere but really, she likes him too. Towards the end of the book, Guinevere is accused of having an affair with Sir Lancelot so her punishment is to burned at the stake. Once again here comes Sir Lancelot to rescue her. He rescues her so many times throughout the book, this is why he is a chivalrous man.
Sir Lancelot is a smart knight, and his smartness allows him to do his chivalrous ways most of the time. Here is another example, so Lancelot was riding to mellyagauces castle to rescue his love…again. In the overnight time, Lancelot bloodies her bed making sir Mellyagauce think that she was sleeping with another one of Arthur's Knights. Now this was smart of Sir Lancelot because back then when people disagreed u could prove

Gossen 3
them wrong by battling them. So Lancelot battle him and defeated him. Lancelot could have died but it is alright because he risked his life for her.
In conclusion Sir Lancelot shows a great amount of Chivalry in Le Morte Darthur. He shows this by respecting his peers and opponents, by being a loyal knight towards the King and his country, and he would put someone else's needs before his self. Lancelot’s name will be passed down from generation to generation because of his acts.