Malory's Sir Lancelot On The Grail Quest

1481 Words3 Pages

The Value of the Quest in Malory and Gaiman In Malory’s “Sir Lancelot on the Grail Quest”, Sir Lancelot, who has accomplished many great things, is refused the Holy Grail. On the other hand, in Neil Gaiman’s “Chivalry” Sir Galaad accomplishes mundane tasks so that Ms. Whitaker will give him the Holy Grail. Indeed, in Malory, Lancelot falls asleep in the place where the Grail is to be found, and in a state of half-consciousness he sees a dying knight acquire the grail and be healed. Lancelot is then expelled from the place because he has sinned. Alternatively, in Gaiman, Galaad performs simple tasks such as moving boxes, and throwing away slugs, and he offers different items to Mrs. Whitaker in order to acquire the Grail. Notably, the romance …show more content…

Whitaker. Mrs. Whitaker “kept him up there most of the afternoon, moving things around while she dusted” (42). By assigning the mundane task of moving boxes to Galaad, the author suggests that the aspect of the tasks within the quest for the Grail has lost its value through time. The use of irony emphasizes the loss of value of the Quest by mocking the original tasks. In addition, after Galaad’s offering of the apple of the Hesperides, the Egg of the Phoenix, and the Philosopher’s stone, Mrs. Whitaker refuses the apple and claims “two for one’s fair, or I don’t know what is” (45). Mrs. Whitaker accepting to give away the Grail for only two sacred objects shows that the time in which she lives does not recognize that the Quest should be extremely difficult and challenging. All in all, the mundane and easy tasks Galaad must accomplish in order to obtain the Grail shows that the current society attributes a very small value to the Holy Grail. In Malory, the Holy Grail is attributed an extremely high value. When Lancelot wakes up and concludes that he has lost his chance of acquiring the Grail, he is extremely …show more content…

By making a knight who was just saved by the miracle of the Grail notice that Lancelot will be unhappy about this situation, Malory uses a different narrative point of view to emphasize that the importance of the Grail is widespread in the society. The perspective of a knight that is not part of the Round Table brings the concept that everyone at that point in time is aware of the high value of the Grail. In addition, when Sir Lancelot first stops at the old chapel he sees “six clean, beautiful, silver candlesticks, with large candles standing in them” (473). The light attracts Lancelot and “he had a great desire to enter the chapel, but could not find a way to get in.” By making the inside of the chapel inaccessible to most, Malory suggests that the Holy Grail should be greatly protected. The setting in which the Grail can be found suggests that it is of high value since it is protected from any unworthy, or unholy

Open Document