After a long battle almost all of her knights were defeated and she agreed to go with him if hed let them live. The battle ended and Melegans took the survivors captive so none of them could tell Lancelot, because he feared him greatly. After hearing that a message was secretly sent to Lancelot he prepared a trap for him.
When Lancelot approached the site of the battle he had his horse shot out from under him. As he walked on to Melegans castle a cart came along on which he hitched a ride, which it was shameful for a knight to ride in the back of a cart (Bullfinch, n,p.). Once Lancelot finally got to her she was ashamed he rode in a cart but after telling her he only did it so he could save her quicker the whole group returned to Camelot. After a long affair the two were finally discovered in the queens chambers by a group of knights led by Sir Mordrid. Lancelot killed them all but the fleeing leader.
Then Lancelot tried to talk Guenevere into escaping to his castle but, she stayed and accepted her punishment. However, she asked him to return only if she is sentenced to death. Just before she is burnt at the stake as an adulteress Lancelot comes in killing several knights then escapes to his castle. For this act, Arthur was forced to declare war on Lancelot. Guenevere was handed over like a trophy in exchange for peace.
However, upon the advisement of Sir Gawanie the fighting continued and Guenevere was given to Mordrid to escort back to Camelot. While returning he told her of his plan to takeover the throne. After hearing this she locked herself in the tower with only a bodyguard. Mordrid tried to force her out but was called away by Arthurs returning army. During this final battle most of the knights were killed and Arthur and Mordrid killed each other.
After hearing of this Guinevere became a nun because she blamed herself for the fall of Camelot. One day Lancelot arrived at the convent proposing marriage. She refused and asked him never to return. Lancelot then he became a hermit.
However, years later he did return only to find that she had died hours before his arrival. He and his kinsmen carried her body to be buried next to Arthurs. Lancelot died shortly after that. Another thing which can be compared is how they are both considered the greatest in there positions.
Arthur is considered the greatest king of his time. This is evident from the fact that he is the most thought of character of legend. Also within the legends his greatness is apparent through the receiving of his swords. This indicates that a higher power also sees this greatness and helped him. Lancelot is widely considered one of the greatest knights on legend. The tales of his many adventures shows just how well that title is earned.
On one adventure Lancelot fell asleep under a tree. While he is sleeping four queens walk past, the queens recognized him and started fighting over him. In resolution one of them put him under a spell to make sure he did not awaken. They then took him back to there castle and forced him to choose one of them as a lover.
The knight refused them all and would have been killed the next day had a lady with no sworn loyalty to the queens set him free in exchange for his helping her father, King Bageagas, in a tournament. When he arrived at the tournament he saw the king outnumbered and losing the first charge. He rushed in to the battle and gave the opposing king a nonfatal wound forcing his knights to forfeit the competition. On another adventure he hears of a knight who as taken several knights captive, including several knights of the Round Table.
Lancelot challenged the knight, who was called Sir Turquine, during the battle we find out that Lancelot had killed the other knights brother so they must fight to the death. After the long battle Lancelot emerged victorious. After he freed the knights held by Sir Turquine he rode till late at night when a kind woman let him stay at her house which was comfortable for both him and his horse. Shortly after he went to sleep a noise from outside woke him up.
Looking out his window he saw a knight being chased by three other knights with swords drawn. Leaping out the window he rushed to help the solo knight who turned out to be Sir Kay. After beating the knights he made them yield to Sir Kay. After that the two switched armor so Kay could ride back to Camelot unchallenged. While Lancelot was wearing Kays armor back to Camelot he met with four of his fellow knights.
Thinking it was Kay they each challenged him and all the knights lost the challenge. Later they figured out what had happened and retold the story when they were all back in Camelot. Still another area where they can be compared is in how they lived up to the code of chivalry. Under the code of chivalry there were ten rules. Under these rules knights were to follow the teachings of the church.
They were also honor bound to defend the church and the weak. Furthermore, they were sworn to love their native country and to never run from an enemy. The code also states that they were to make war against heathens without mercy while preforming their duties within the laws of God. Knights were not supposed to lie but be generous and fight injustice wherever they went. Those were the rules for the code of knightly conduct (Rules, n.p.). Arthur lived up to the code of chivalry in many ways, but not all ways.
He deeply loved his country and fought for it as its king. Also during his final battle Arthur killed his own son who had rebelled against the throne. A way in which he did not uphold the code is he left the battle with the rouge Lancelot. This could be covered by the fact that Mordrid was making his attack making him the greater enemy at the time.
Lancelot did not always follow the code of chivalry in all things either. This is another thing that makes him and Arthur similar. Lancelots illicit romance with Guenevere is against the laws of God and the teachings of the church. Furthermore he did not always seem to love his country of birth as evidenced from his helping King Bageagas.
On many occasions he defended the weak. One such time was when Guenevere was abducted. He charged to her rescue and even lowered himself to riding in a cart. On another occasion he fought the heathen Sir Turquine, who had been holding several knights captive, to the death to free the knights.
There are many similarities and differences between the characters of Arthur and Lancelot in Arthurian Legend. These are most well shown in the areas of there backgrounds, through there children, there relationship with Guenevere, how they are both regarded as greatest, and sometimes chivalrous Things such as the fact that they were raised in fosterage, and they both had illegitimate children are strong examples of how their life was similar. Also their mutual love for Guenevere and how both felt she was the love of their life is another big similarity between the two. Another similarity between Arthur and Lancelot and one of the things that drive Arthurian Legend is that they were both renowned throughout time for being the best king and knight respectively.
There desire for chivalry in some portion of life and the backbone they placed on it are another example of their noted similarities. Even with all of these similarities they were still individuals and did have differences. In addition to there similarities Arthur and Lancelot also have many diffrences. As far as their backgrounds go Arthurs fosterage was with a man who did not know what he was to become while Lancelots helped him reach his full potential.
Their children turned out to be almost exact opposites. Lancelots relationship with Guenevere is truer than her marriage of state to Arthur. As for how Arthur and Lancelot lived up to the code of chivalry Lancelots adulterous relationship with Guenevere was a major violation of the knights code. There are many other areas that could be compared between the two.
However, some of the information can be confusing because of all the deferring versions of the legends. However the similarities and differences between King Arthur and Sir Lancelot is one aspect that keeps Arthurian legend fascinating many centuries later. Works Cited Bullfinch, Thomas The Age of Chivalry or Legends of King Arthur Gopher://gopher.vt.edu:1001-/02/53/2 (8 February 1998) Corless Peter Queen Guenever, Prencess of Cameliard, Queen of Brition http://www.employees.org/~pcorless/pendragon/guene ver.txt (8 Febuary 1998) Corless, Peter The de Ganis Clan http://www.employees.org/~pcorless/pendragon/degan is-clan.txt (8 Febuary 1998) Malory, Thomas Appreciating Literature Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 1991. 575-604 The Ten Rules of Chivalry http://www.mamajama.com/Chivalry.html (10 Febuary 1998).
