Interpreting the Character of Lancelot in Chrétien de Troyes Le Chevalier de la Charette

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1 Proceedings of The National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2012 Weber State University, Ogden Utah March 29 31, 2012 Interpreting the Character of Lancelot in Chrétien de Troyes Le Chevalier de la Charette Esther Bernstein English Department The City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue New York, NY Faculty Advisor: Professor Elizabeth Mazzola Abstract With Le Chevalier de la Charrete circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes was the first to write a romance in which Lancelot is the central figure. Since then, Lancelot has come to symbolize chivalric perfection. But Chrétien s original romance is unclear about Lancelot s character, and many scholars speak about Chrétien s Lancelot in contradictory absolutes which point to the ambiguity inherent in the character. Is Lancelot truly a romantic hero, or is he actually a villain? Who ultimately determines what a character in literature represents? Exploring the factors that contribute to Lancelot s ambiguity leads to answers to these questions. The surface meaning of the text portrays Lancelot as a perfect knight, both adventurous and chivalrous to the highest degree. But other instances that reveal Chrétien s opinion on Lancelot, such as narrative asides and his tone in some passages, suggest an imperfect picture of a knight constantly engaged in wrong or foolish behavior in his love for Guenevere. The views of Chrétien s audience on adultery and treason seem to agree with this view of Lancelot as a felon, betraying love and his lord by engaging in an adulterous affair with the queen. But Le Chevalier de la Charrete is not unique in portraying chivalry and love of this kind, and there is evidence that Marie de Champagne s court, the intended audience for this romance, engaged in discussions of theories of love whose conclusions were in direct opposition to the reality of the time. This points to a difference between reality and the literary ideal of love, so that characters in literature do not need to conform to the norms of society. Ultimately, Lancelot became a symbol of perfect chivalry because his readers interpreted him as such on the basis of a literary ideal, irrespective of reality or Chrétien s own point of view. Keywords: Lancelot, Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romance 1. Body of Paper With Le Chevalier de la Charrete circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes was the first to write a romance in which Lancelot is the central figure. Since then, Lancelot has come to symbolize chivalric perfection. But Chrétien s original romance is unclear about Lancelot s character, and many scholars speak about Chrétien s Lancelot in contradictory absolutes which point to the ambiguity inherent in the character. Is Lancelot truly a romantic hero, or is he actually a villain? Many factors play a part in determining how we should read Lancelot, from the text itself to the author s tone and the romance s original audience. A quick read of the text leaves readers with the impression that Lancelot is truly a perfect knight. He is certainly adventurous and daring: He gains the right to sleep in the forbidden bed through fearlessness and quick action (ll ). He takes on multiple knights at once in defending the maiden pretending to be raped and continues fighting after sustaining crippling injuries (ll ). He lifts a slab of stone More easily than ten men could have done (ll ). He fights his way through a guarded pass using shrewdness as much as physical fighting

2 and impresses his opponents (ll ). These are just a few examples of his daring, and as the romance goes on, the list of Lancelot s successful exploits grows, culminating in the fierce battle with Meleagant where Lancelot proves his strength and cunning (ll ). Lancelot is therefore undoubtedly the epitome of perfection in knightly excellence, but the question of his behavior as a lover is of more importance to the investigation of the essence of his character, as it is Lancelot as a lover that is the ultimate center of the romance (Staines xix). And he proves again and again that he is indeed chivalrous to his lady-love the queen as well as to other women. He battles with himself between keeping his promise of sleeping with his hostess and remaining faithful to his love for the queen (ll ). He promises to defend the girl as they ride together (ll ). He even allows himself to be defeated time and again when he could easily have overcome his opponents, simply because Guinevere tells him to do your worst and he is utterly loyal to his love (ll ). But going beyond the surface reading, ambiguities abound. Almost every critic of this romance points to Chrétien s opening statements as proof that the author did not see Lancelot as the perfect exemplar of chivalric knights. Chrétien writes I will say, however, that her [Marie of Champagne] command / Has more importance in this work / Than any thought or effort I might put into it. / / The source and the meaning are furnished and given him / By the countess, and he strives / Carefully to add nothing / But his effort and diligence (ll ). The scholarly consensus is that with these words Chrétien is alluding to his reluctance to write this story, to his view of Lancelot not as a hero to be admired but as a felon, betraying his lord. This counters the apparent chivalric excellence and brings Lancelot s status as a romantic hero into question. Chrétien s treatment of the topic of love can leave readers wondering as well. From the beginning of the narrative, the author moves into asides about the nature of love many times, commenting on what is happening to Lancelot and examining what love is and what love does. The first time this happens is when Lancelot hesitates before getting into the cart. Chrétien writes there that Reason, which does not follow Love s command, / Told him not to get in, but ultimately Love wished it and he jumped in - / The shame mattered not to him / Since Love ruled his action (ll ). Though in this case Chrétien has love win over reason, it is unclear what exactly he thought about this. The result of this victory is that Lancelot rides in a cart, a shameful experience since carts at that time were used only to transport criminals, and he is mocked and ridiculed for this throughout the rest of the narrative. At the same time, though, the queen punishes Lancelot later for his hesitation, guided by reason over love, so that while he is mocked for allowing love to ultimately win, he is also punished for allowing reason to even engage in a battle with love. This raises the question as to whether the victory is justified, in Chrétien s mind, or Lancelot is acting foolishly in allowing love to win over reason. Twice in the beginning sections of the story, Chrétien describes Lancelot s preoccupation with his love for the queen, and both these incidents again are ambiguous as to whether Lancelot is being praised or ridiculed for his thoughts. The first time Lancelot and Gawain catch sight of the queen, Lancelot sees her from a window and When he was no longer able to see her / He would gladly have cast himself / Down to shatter his body below (ll ). He is only stopped by Gawain who drags him back from the window. This could be interpreted as a sign of Lancelot s complete and utter devotion to the queen, so that Lancelot is a perfect lover, ready to die for his love. But this can also be read as a foolish move on Lancelot s part, where he is no longer capable of reason, which Gawain and the girl remind him of by suggesting they leave the tower where they can do nothing and instead pursue the queen s party. Later, when Lancelot sets out for the Sword Bridge, he is again overtaken by thoughts of love for the queen, to the point that his horse leaves the path and he does not notice until confronted with a knight who challenges him. Chrétien describes his state of mind as A man with no strength or defense / Against Love, who torments him; / His meditation was so deep / That he forgot his own identity (ll ), suggesting not a man in control of his love, but love controlling the man. This choice of words, torments and no strength or defense against Love, and the long description which details just how out of touch with the world Lancelot is as he contemplates his love for the queen, challenge the force of love as a purely positive force. Lancelot is subjugated to the power of love, to the point that he is no longer rational and is in some ways weakened by it. By portraying love as a catalyst for Lancelot entering into these situations, Chrétien seems to be saying that it is a potentially negative and dangerous force, not an ideal to strive for. John Benton claims that the reason modern readers need to closely study and explain the nature of Lancelot s love is that the modern perception of love is of a purely positive conquering force, but [i]f we find Lancelot a sympathetic figure because he was guided by love rather than reason, it is because modern attitudes differ from medieval ones in ways Chrétien could not foresee (28). According to Benton, the reading of these situations as negative outcomes resulting from love s conquest of reason is the correct one. But taken on their own and studied for the results within the work itself, neither of these situations is unambiguously negative when love triumphs. 151

3 Besides, further incidents studied on their own suggest a more clearly positive view on being guided by love. When the girl tells Lancelot and Gawain where the queen has been taken and how to get to her, she demands that each knight promise to do whatever she bids them to. Lancelot swore / (Like one whom Love has made powerful / And strong and bold for any endeavor) (ll ). His love for the queen enables him to be stronger and bolder than he might have been otherwise. Contrary to the times when love weakens his prowess and distracts him from his mission, here love actually strengthens him. Another instance where love is portrayed positively is at the home of the girl who demanded that Lancelot sleep with her in exchange for her hospitality. Trying to both keep his promise to his hostess and remain loyal to his love, Lancelot gets into bed and turns away from the girl. His heart was kept fixed on a single object / By Love, which rules all hearts. / All hearts? Not really, only those it esteems. / And whomever Love deigns to rule / Should esteem himself the more (ll ). Here again, Chrétien makes an aside about the nature of love, and in this case, the tone is again obviously positive. Being ruled by love is a reason for Lancelot to think more highly of himself, and Chrétien does not find fault with him / for setting his purpose by Love s commands (ll ). In this incident it appears that bowing to love s demands is inarguably a positive thing. Even if love is a positive force, however, Lancelot s chivalric propriety comes into question, since in acting with complete devotion to his lady-love, Lancelot is inevitably committing a misdeed, as his love, Guinevere, is a married woman. The attitude of the medieval audience toward adultery suggests that they would not have been sympathetic to a character whose main goal is to engage in an adulterous affair with a married woman. The fate of adulterous queens and courtier-lovers in the Middle Ages and Renaissance is well documented. Adultery was treason and was punished as such (Jackson xxiii). Benton provides many examples of adultery being punished severely, beginning with Roman laws to sew the violators of marriage in sack and burn them alive. Events more contemporary to Chrétien s work echo this law, such as the chroniclers report that in about 1000 Count Fulk Nerra of Anjou burned his adulterous wife Elizabeth (Benton 26). A translation and commentary of the 44 th psalm, ironically dedicated to Marie de Champagne who commissioned Lancelot, states as the custom of the world that when a woman deserts the love of her husband for another she would in fact be better off in the grave (Benton 26). The words used when talking about the clandestine meeting between Lancelot and Guinevere are telling as to what Chrétien may have thought about this issue. In describing Lancelot s thoughts about going to Guinevere, Chrétien writes, Because for nothing would he rest there / Nor could he, nor did he dare, / Nor did he wish to have / Such daring or such courage (ll ). Lancelot makes the decision to keep his appointment with Guinevere, but his thoughts about staying away are in terms of daring and courage. The language of courage used to describe staying away leads the reader to see the alternative as directly opposed to courage. The tryst itself, then, would be the opposite of daring and courage, so that rather than being a positive meeting of lovers, it is characterized by cowardice. Later, when Kay is accused of having slept with Guinevere, the language again points to an attitude of aversion to a lovers tryst rather than glorifying the love. Kay says Indeed, I would much rather be dead / Than have committed such a base / And blameworthy act toward my lord (ll ), and it can be assumed that this attitude is what prevails in the rest of the characters and in the author as well, since Kay is one of the most honorable knights in King Arthur s court. Lancelot himself assumes this attitude in public, and ironically, it is he who defends Kay s honor against the accusation that he slept with Guinevere. The way he takes Kay s defense, by saying May it never please God to let anyone doubt / Either you or him in such a matter (ll ), makes it clear that he sees such an act as a despicable deed and a huge slight to anyone s honor to be accused of. The fact that he takes this stance publicly proves that whatever he might think in private about wanting to meet with Guinevere, the prevailing attitude is one of disgust with such a meeting. In that case, the author seems to want the reader not to see Lancelot as merely a hero and a devoted lover but as a character with a tinge of something dishonorable. As to why Lancelot is not then explicitly condemned in the narrative, Benton writes that Chrétien wrote courteously of Lancelot not because he found his behavior admirable but because he was writing in the medieval tradition of irony (Benton 28), which a thirteenth-century teacher of grammar and rhetoric defined as the unadorned and gentle use of words to convey disdain and ridicule for it is nothing but vituperation to commend the evil deeds of someone through their opposite (Benton 28-29). The truth of what Chrétien thought of Lancelot lies in the subtlety of his language and the ironic situations he puts Lancelot in. Having Lancelot defend Kay from the act he himself committed is no longer simply an amusing twist of events, but according to Benton, it is an invitation to the reader to see the hypocrisy in Lancelot and thus highlight his shortcomings. Another point to take into consideration in regard to the illicit nature of Lancelot s love is the fact that the woman he loves is not only married, but is married to Arthur, the king. Engaging in an affair with his lord s wife goes beyond mere adultery and crosses into the territory of treason, of betraying his lord to whom he owes full service. Benton points out the difference between a man having affairs with other women and a man betraying his lord s 152

4 trust by sleeping with his lord s wife. Kay s defense of himself supports this, as he says I would much rather be dead / Than have committed such a base / And blameworthy act toward my lord (ll ), ending with horror not at committing adultery but specifically at committing adultery with his lord s wife. This is the kind of behavior that the medieval courtly audience would condemn (Benton 28). This analysis of medieval attitudes toward adultery, however, may not be applicable in the question of determining what kind of character Chrétien s Lancelot is and would have been to his medieval audience. Moral standards in reality and within literature do not necessarily align and may differ in massive ways. Gaston Paris term amour courtois, courtly love, was coined to describe the adulterous relationship of Lancelot and Guinevere in this romance (Staines xix). In a society where adulterous love was punishable by extreme measures, and where adultery with the queen was treasonous and therefore so much worse, the love between Lancelot and Guinevere, the queen, developed as an artistic convention in and around the courts of southern France in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries (Staines xx). Literature of this time did not portray the reality of the existence of love but the late medieval aristocracy as it fain would be (Comfort vii). Chrétien was writing amid an ever-spreading craze for courtly love amongst high-born dames and prevailing sentiment demanded courtly love between a knight and a married woman (Taylor 87). Comfort describes the actualities of medieval love, and explains that women craved romance depicting courtly love as controlled by love rather than anything else because therein lay its charm for a society in which the actual relations of the sexes were rigidly prescribed by the Church and by feudal practice, rather than by the sentiments of the individuals concerned (Comfort xi). This system of love where adultery was not condemned but celebrated may have its roots in a practice explained by Andreas Capellanus in his book Tractacus de Amore et de Amoris Remedio. Andreas relates how Eleanor of Aquitaine, along with her daughter Marie of Champagne, presided over courts of love in Poitiers, France, recording twenty-one cases presented by lovers, asking the court for a judgment as to the proper course of action (Kelly 4). The real existence of these courts is called into question by many scholars, but the mere mention of them in a work possibly commissioned by Marie suggests that it could be plausible that they did exist, and what matters is that this literary ideal of adulterous love was fully embraced by the readers of the time. One passage cites an exchange of letters, the first asking about love between spouses as opposed to love between lovers, and Marie s response that love cannot exist between husband and wife, For lovers give each other everything freely, under no compulsion of necessity, but married people are in duty bound to give in to each other's desires and deny themselves to each other in nothing (Capellanus). The kind of love championed by this court of women was not love in marriage in fact, they claim that love between husband and wife is simply impossible. Instead, they put forth illicit love as the only possible true love. Thus Lancelot was received by this court as the perfect lover, because he is indeed engaged in an illicit relationship with Guinevere. In this model of love, the discussion of whether Lancelot being ruled by love rather than reason is viewed by Chrétien as good or foolish is easily resolved: In this type of situation, such love is irrational, indeed usually in direct opposition to reason s urgings, and for Lancelot in particular, Guided by love and not by reason Lancelot is an ideal courtly lover, viewed by the narrator with affectionate irony (Staines xx). In writing a character based on the ideal crafted by women which could never hold true in reality, Chrétien may indeed have felt a sort of affectionate irony to both the character and his mistress Marie. Based on this, Lancelot fits the role of romantic hero perfectly and would have been received by his original audience as such irrespective of actual social norms of the time. What, then, ultimately determines whether Lancelot is a hero or a villain, treasonous or chivalrous? Lancelot s reputation as the most perfect knight through the ages, beginning with Marie of Champagne s court, speaks for itself. Whatever the author may have intended for Lancelot, the original audience s reception of the character places him firmly in the heroic, chivalric sphere. Analysis of Le Chevalier de la Charrete provides us, as modern readers, with the multiple layers that went into the creation of this character, and it is certainly fascinating to consider all of them. But ultimately, Lancelot became a symbol of perfect chivalry because his readers interpreted him as such on the basis of a literary ideal, irrespective of reality or Chrétien s own point of view. Interestingly, Lancelot was not always received as a perfect romantic hero. In Malory s Le Morte d Arthur, Lancelot is portrayed as the reason for the fall of Arthur s kingdom (replacing Arthur s nephew Mordred as the lover of the queen and the cause of the kingdom s downfall in some earlier texts), and in that work cannot be interpreted as the epitome of knightly excellence or chivalry. Malory s audience would have seen any redeeming traits that Lancelot has as shadowed by his treason in having an affair with his lord s wife. The difference between Chrétien s audience, Malory s audience, and the modern audience lies in cultural and regional differences. Chrétien s audience in France lived with the prevailing sentiment glorifying the love between Lancelot and Guinevere, but Malory s audience in England would have had a very different idea of love, and as Benton explains, modern attitudes to love differ vastly from medieval reality. The result is that as each audience, marked by 153

5 differences in geography and time, reads a work, the character is interpreted according to these differences. Chrétien s original audience, influenced by the medieval reality and the ideal that grew in southern France, interpreted Lancelot as the ultimate chivalric hero. 2. Works Cited de Troyes, Chrétien. Lancelot or, The Knight of the Cart (Le Chevalier de la Charrete). ed. W.W. Kibler. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc, Benton, John F. Clio and Venus: An Historical View of Medieval Love. The Meaning of Courtly Love. ed, F.X. Newman. New York: SUNY, Bruckner, Matilda Tomaryn. Le Chevalier de la Charrette. A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes. ed. Norris J. Lacy and Joan Tasker Grimbert. Rochester: D.S. Brewer, Comfort, W.W. Arthurian Romances. London: Dent, 1914 (repr. 1967). Frappier, Jean. Chrétien de Troyes: The Man and His Work. trans. Raymond J. Cormier. Athens: Ohio University Press, Jackson, W.T.H. Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart, Chrétien de Troyes. New York: Columbia University Press, Kelly, Amy. Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Courts of Love. Speculum 12:1 (1937): JStor. Accessed Staines, David. The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press,