Unsuccessful Questing: Lancelot in Le Chavalier de la Charrette
by Emma Copeland
Few Arthurian poems have generated such intense disagreement about their eponymous hero as Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot. Much of the scholarly debate involving this text is socio-historical, trying to determine how Chrétien viewed the cult of courtly love by looking at the character of Lancelot, a knight who is alternately argued to be an exemplar of courtly love and a buffoon (Shirt, "Critics" 38). However, Chrétien's portrayal of the knight is so complex that Lancelot cannot be placed neatly into either simple category. Rather, like Chrétien's other heroes Erec and Yvain, Lancelot is a knight who seeks to balance his courtliness and prowess in order to fully establish his "heroic identity" (Bruckner, "Interpreter" 56). Yet unlike the other two knights, Lancelot ultimately fails to achieve this equilibrium and become a better man. Indeed this inability to balance heraldic and romantic chivalry is widespread among the characters in the story: Lancelot, Kay, Gawain, and Meleagant ultimately fail to distinguish themselves as capable, yet sensitive knights. Therefore, while Erec and Enide and Yvain detail successful journeys for personal growth, Lancelot shows the results of many knights' failure to balance competing aspects of their lives.
For some critics, Lancelot is a model practitioner of romantic chivalry
who closely follows all the edicts of the cult of courtly love. In fact, Gaston
Paris first coined the term amour courtois
in an essay on Charrette (O'Donoghue
166). Nor was
While humility is not a quality associated with Lancelot in later works, in Charrette he exhibits a proper meekness where his beloved is concerned. The most obvious example of his humility is his willingness to incur the shame of stepping into the criminals' cart to discover the whereabouts of Guinevere. His hesitation of two steps makes it clear that he is not acting according to his will, but rather humbly submitting to Love who "bids and urges him to climb quickly into the cart" (Chrétien 190). As a humble courtly lover, Lancelot is required not only to submit meekly to the desires of Love himself, but also to those of his beloved. The heroic lover fulfills this requirement as well. When Guinevere, furious because of his two-step delay, refuses to speak with him, Lancelot submissively accepts her bewildering behavior: "Very humbly, in the manner of a true lover, he replies to her: 'This indeed grieves me, my lady; and I dare not ask the reason'" (Chrétien 238).
Likewise, Lancelot acts "in the manner of a true lover" by continually displaying courtesy. Like most knights in Arthurian romance, Lancelot is kind and polite to passing damsels and frequently promises his service to worthy ladies, but his courteousness is best displayed in the two situations where he had a legitimate reason to be uncouth. First, after Lancelot has ridden in the cart, the hero and Gawain accept the hospitality of a damsel who continually derides Lancelot for this shameful act. Yet Chrétien writes "the knights took their leave of the damsel in a courtly, polite fashion" (192). Even though his hostess was indecorous, Lancelot still treated her with courteousness. Likewise, when Guinevere orders Lancelot to do his worst at the joust he willingly complies; his behavior causes the queen's handmaiden to remark "I never saw so courteous a knight, so perfectly willing is he to obey your every command" (Chrétien 264).
Yet the most distinguishing characteristic of Lancelot as a lover is neither his humility nor his courtesy, but his devout practice of the religion of Love. When the knight discovers some strands of Guinevere's hair in an abandoned comb, he treats them like a holy relic:
Never will the
eye of man see anything receive such reverence; for he begins to adore them,
putting them fully a hundred thousand times to his eyes and mouth, to his brow
and his face, with every sign of joy. . . Now he is confident that he will never
suffer from boils or any other illness. He scorns potions of crushed pearl,
pleurisy cures or theriac, or even the protection of
Such "devout" behavior continues in the presence of Guinevere: he genuflects before the bed of the queen upon his arrival and departure from her chamber. Furthermore, this leave-taking causes him such pain that he becomes "a true martyr: so distressed was he at the parting that when it came he endured terrible martyrdom" (Chrétien 247). Clearly, Lancelot is actively engaged in living out the abstract principles associated with courtly love and could be considered the ideal knight-lover (Bagdanow 61).
While few commentators would contest Lancelot's qualifications as a courtly knight, a number of critics maintain that his boundless passion for the queen causes him ultimately to become a foolish, comic character. Certainly, Chrétien himself gives some indications that he doesn't intend Charrette to be read as entirely serious. First, at the beginning of the work the author insists that the "subject-matter and treatment were supplied and given to him by the countess [Marie de Champagne]" (185). He does not so distance himself from any of his other Arthurian romances. Likewise, Chrétien, for unspecified reasons, does not finish the poem, a fact which has lead some critics to suppose he was displeased with the romance itself (Bruckner 151). Based upon this notion of Chrétien's dissatisfaction, David Shirt views Lancelot as humorously overturning the concept of the ideal knight in a world characterized by inverted social order ("World" 819). Joseph Duggan asserts that "Chrétien paints the character Lancelot in ridiculous colors as a knight who violates every norm of moderation in pursuing a love that he unwisely allows to dominate all other aspects of his life, including his honor and the decorum that is due when invoking pious contexts" (282). Significant evidence supports detractors like Shirt and Duggan who would contend that Lancelot's success as a warrior does not begin to approach his near-perfection as a romantic knight. Edward Condren points out that Lancelot's failures as a heraldic knight begin with his initial entrance (445). First, he arrives too late to save Guinevere. Secondly, he rides a horse to death and quickly kills one of Gawain's spare mounts as well (Chrétien 188-9). Not only was this sort of behavior generally criticized in warriors, but Chrétien specifically praises good horsemanship as an important part of knighthood in Yvain: "They [Yvain and Esclados the Red] behaved with great gallantry in that they never struck or injured the horses at all, something they neither wished nor deigned to do" (292). Similarly, Lancelot's decision to jump into the cart, while showing his humility as a lover, significantly damages his reputation as a knight. Gawain, a warrior unaffected by Love, is horrified by the very idea of accepting such a conveyance, and others continually mock Lancelot for this appalling act (Chrétien 190). Likewise, the hero tries to kill himself twice: once by falling out of a tower window simply because his beloved passes from sight, and again when he thinks Guinevere is dead by using his belt and saddle-bow to strangle himself (Chrétien 192, 242). Condren points out that "Lancelot's dedication to his lady inspires not only a fatal act but, what is much worse, an un-knightly act" (448). Similarly, his passion for his beloved diminishes his knightly prowess on at least two occasions. First, his daydreams of Guinevere allow him to be unhorsed despite multiple warnings from his opponent (Chrétien 194-5). Then during his first duel with Meleagant, Lancelot "did not turn away [from Guinevere] or divert his face and eyes from her, but defended himself behind his back" (Chrétien 234). It is difficult to believe that Chrétien did not intend these scenes of passionate excess to be read with amusement, given that Lancelot's behavior goes well beyond the bounds of normal human, much less knightly, conduct. Finally, no one but a knight strongly affected by Love would follow Lancelot's example and willingly "do his worst" at a tournament, thus soiling his reputation (Chrétien 261). Based upon these imperfections in Lancelot's knightly performance, Condren concludes that he is "a knight whose impeccability as a lover reduces him to pathetic impotence as a knight" (453). In the minds of such critics, Chrétien portrays Lancelot as a buffoon and thus criticizes the conventions of courtly love.
While both these
assessments of Lancelot make important points about the nature of the knight and
Chrétien's depiction of the hero, they do not account for the complexities of
his character in the poem as a whole. Lancelot at many times appears comically
inept, but in the end he always accomplishes through the empowerment of his love
for Guinevere what no other knight could, and he is never defeated in a fair
fight (Bagdanow 61). As Matilda Bruckner points out "the comic moments
coincide with his most intense expressions of passionate devotion, and it is the
same devotion that moves him to his greatest achievements: the sublime and the
comic are inextricably intertwined in this paradoxical hero" ("Obscure"
143). Moreover, Chrétien frequently
depicts Lancelot as a character empowered, rather than emasculated, by his love.
When he crosses the
Chrétien gives other indications that he does not wish Lancelot to be viewed as a "pathetically impotent" warrior. After all, the hero exhibits a number of qualities which would be admirable in any knight. By lifting the slab on the richest tomb, he proves himself the savior prophesied to lead the people of Logres out of the realm of Gorre, a role which he fulfills as the tale progresses (Chrétien 210, 237). Similarly, he inspires lesser men to action to such an extent that "from the joy they feel they gain the strength and vigor to slay many of the others; and they wreak greater havoc on them, it seems to me, through the sole inspiration of the achievements of a single knight [Lancelot] than by the efforts of all the rest together" (Chrétien 217). He is also utterly true to his word, returning to the wife of Meleagant's seneschal although nothing save his oath prevented him from taking full advantage of his liberty (Chrétien 267). In addition, alone and (presumably) unarmed he fights off seven men to preserve the honor of his hostess (Chrétien 199-200). Finally, Chrétien has other characters within the poem praise Lancelot in lavish terms on multiple occasions: "no knight could be found within the furthest bounds of the whole world who, however tired in prowess, would be comparable in merit to this one. If every knight were gathered together, one would see none as handsome or noble, if the truth were told" (220). Based upon such qualities, Derek Brewer declares that Lancelot is "primarily a type, the example, representative in its very extremity, of the good knight" (3). If nothing else, these widely varied interpretations of Lancelot make it clear that Chrétien does not intend for the hero to be understood in simple terms, whether it be as a courtly lover, a comedic failure, or a traditional heraldic knight.
In order to
determine how readers should view this paradoxical hero, it is necessary to
examine Chrétien's other romances, specifically Yvain and Erec and Enide.
Particularly of note is the trajectory of the poems. Matilda Bruckner finds the
"overall structure that underlies both Erec
and Yvain" to be critical to
understanding the role of the hero because this organization "builds two parts
around a crisis that requires correction; 'before and after' install a
recognizable hierarchy, the final resolution of conflict superior to preliminary
satisfactions achieved in the first part" ("Obscure" 150). In Yvain,
the hero achieves initial success by securing a marriage with the beautiful
Laudine. However, after accidentally reneging upon a promise to his wife, he is
exiled from her court and spends the remainder of the romance attempting to
regain his lady's favor. While Yvain's poem details the hero's quest to
become a courtlier knight, Erec
depicts a knight trying to rediscover his prowess. Erec is a warrior second only
to Gawain in his martial ability. However, after his marriage to the lovely
Enide he ceases to engage in combat, much to the distress of Arthur's court
and Erec's wife, who feels she is to blame for her spouse's decline. His
mission is to prove to Enide and the
Chrétien continues to explore this need for equilibrium in Lancelot's character as well. According to Edward Condren, the figure of Lancelot presents the "dramatic exposition of two conflicting chivalric ideals, the knight as lover and the knight as warrior" (443). Hence, the story of Lancelot really details two quests: the effort of the knight to rescue his kidnapped queen and the hero's ongoing pursuit of personal balance. The true goal of Lancelot's character is the same as that of Yvain and Erec: each hero must fuse his courtliness and prowess to prove himself the ideal knight, both sensitive and virile.
Yet the similarities between Charrette and the other two romances quickly cease. After all, Erec and Yvain are married knights who need only prove their prowess and courtliness respectively to their spouses in order for the poems to end with renewed love and joy. By using his abilities to defend his wife from all knights errant, Erec is able to demonstrate that he practices both romantic and heraldic chivalry: romantic because his efforts are in service of his lady, and heraldic since he continually proves his martial skill by defeating other knights. Likewise, Yvain battles large numbers of stalwart opponents all in service of various damsels until he becomes a better knight and is worthy to be reunited with his beloved. There is some indication that before Chrétien composed Charrette, Lancelot's tale followed a similar trajectory. In Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet, the hero's "full adulthood is expressed in sexual maturity, knowledge of one's identity, and a stable loving relationship" (Brewer 5). It is important to note that his "stable loving relationship," like that of Erec's and Yvain's, takes the form of a marriage.
However
Chrétien, probably at the request of his patroness Marie de Champagne, makes
Lancelot's situation far more complicated. The adulterous nature of his
relationship with Guinevere–one of the very characteristics that makes him a
model courtly lover–puts Lancelot into a situation where it is impossible
to reconcile the forms of chivalry at conflict within him (Brewer 9).
Because the tenants of heraldic chivalry dictate that a knight must
"maintain and defend" his earthly lord and honor the bond between liege and
vassal above all else, adultery with his lord's wife violates a most vital
relationship (Lull 177-8). The characters of Charrette
certainly view this sort of trespass as a great crime. When Meleagant wrongly
accuses Kay of enjoying the queen's favors he declares: "Kay has betrayed
his lord King Arthur" (Chrétien 250). Meleagant's
accusatory tone is unsurprising; according to Duggan, committing adultery with
the king's wife is not only one of the three most treasonous acts a knight
could perform, but also "unacceptable under both feudal law and Christian
moral teaching" (317, 115). Based upon these legal and social conventions,
some critics have suggested that "courtly love," which elevates adulterous
relationships, was invented by scholars like Paris and Lewis. These detractors
insist it could never have actually occurred as a social phenomenon in the 12th
century (
Yet condoning adultery is not the only way in which romantic chivalry departs from its heraldic counterpart. The latter maintains that the strongest bonds of service and loyalty are those between a lord and his vassal; the former views the connection between a knight and his lady as paramount in importance. Lewis calls this relationship a "feudalization of love [wherein] there is a service of love closely modeled on the service which a feudal vassal owes to his lord. The lover is the lady's 'man'" (2). There is some question, then, as to whom Lancelot should be serving.
Not only are
these two views of chivalry fundamentally irreconcilable (particularly for
someone engaged in an affair with his lord's wife), they are in Bruckner's
words "competing goods" ("Interpreter" 58). She points out that
"Lancelot is not choosing between a 'good' and an 'evil.' A simple
choice like that requires no debate . . . [rather] Lancelot must choose between
two 'goods,' two sets of loyalties" ("Interpreter" 58). Lancelot's
encounter with the Guardian of the
This dilemma also appears in the greatest symbol of the poem: the cart itself. The honor emphasized by heraldic chivalry demands that Lancelot avoid the cart at all cost, as Gawain does. Yet in order to be a humble courtly lover, the hero must accept shame so that he may find his beloved. Guinevere even blames him for his brief delay before jumping onto the conveyance: "What? Were you not then ashamed and afraid of the cart? You showed great reluctance to climb in when you hesitated for the space of two steps. That indeed is why I refused to either address or to look at you" (Chrétien 245). Lancelot cannot both ride in the cart as required by romantic chivalry and deign to enter it as a heraldic knight would. Either of these actions could be considered a "good," since they both come from a portion of the chivalric code, yet Lancelot cannot do both; impelled by his love, he chooses to accept the dwarf's offer of passage in the cart.
Lancelot's decisions regarding the Guardian and the cart, the reader will note, do not actually constitute a solution to the underlying problem. Lancelot does not achieve equilibrium; indeed he cannot do so. Due to his singular situation, the hero's quest for balance is doomed to failure from the beginning: just as it is not possible for him to both spare and decapitate Guardian or accept and reject the cart, he cannot unite heraldic and romantic chivalry because the adultery which required by the latter constitutes high treason in the former.
While the very nature of Lancelot's relationship with Guinevere prevents him from achieving the balance he seeks, the hero is not the only knight in Charrette to suffer because of this lack of equilibrium. Chrétien's depiction of three other important knights, Kay, Gawain, and Meleagant, indicates that this difficulty is widespread in the romance. Since these warriors are a fool, foil, and villain respectively, readers should not expect that they will achieve the necessary balance; however, it is still significant that Chrétien presents them as failures at living up to the ideal.
Sir Kay plays a pivotal role in Charrette. After Meleagant has arrived and issued his challenge to the court, Kay threatens to leave unless Arthur should grant him a boon. The king is terribly distressed at the very thought of Kay's departure, and he tells the knight, "Seneschal, stay at court as usual, and you may be sure that I have nothing in this world I would not give you without hesitation just to keep you here" (Chrétien 186). He goes so far as to order Guinevere to beg the knight "even if it means falling at his feet; for I'd never be happy again without his company" (Chrétien 186). As the poem progresses, it becomes clear that Kay is as utterly devoted to Arthur as the king is to him. When Meleagant wrongly accuses the knight of sharing the queen's favors, he reacts with a horrified shock that is genuinely sincere: "May God, when I leave this world, never grant my soul pardon if ever I lay with my lady! Indeed, I would rather be dead than be responsible for attempting such a vile wrong against my lord" (Chrétien 250). Certainly, Guinevere recognizes how loyal the knight is to his king: "I'm sure Kay the seneschal is so courtly and loyal that he's not to be mistrusted" (Chrétien 250). The mutual devotion of Arthur and Kay clearly marks the seneschal as a heraldic knight who values the bonds between men above all. Admittedly, his prowess does not match that of Lancelot, Gawain, or even Meleagant, but it is apparent that he values martial skill quite highly. Kay's response upon learning of Lancelot's success in rescuing the queen is drawn directly from the heraldic tradition: "How you've shamed me! . . . You've succeeded in doing what I was unable to, and have accomplished what I found impossible" (Chrétien 238). Indeed it is no coincidence that of the four knights most closely associated with Guinevere, Kay is both the least effectual and the only one not motivated by passion, be it the love of Lancelot, the desire to use women to gain glory found in Gawain, or the lust of Meleagant. Due to Kay's total fixation on his honor and relationship with his lord and fellow knights, the seneschal is woefully ineffective on a courtly quest such as the liberation of Guinevere; this personal imbalance leaves him wholly unequipped to participate in any meaningful way in her rescue.
Gawain plays a relatively minor role in Charrette, yet his failure is perhaps the most significant. In Erec and Enide, Chrétien names Gawain as the greatest knight of the Round Table (23). Logically then, the martial ability of all other knights should be measured against his. Certainly, such a situation arises in Yvain, when the hero fights Gawain to a drawl in his final and greatest challenge (Chrétien 365). These assumptions about Gawain's superiority also function in Charrette. When the party from Gorre arrives at court, Arthur simply assumes that Gawain rescued them all though his prowess (Chrétien 256). Given this focus upon Gawain's martial abilities, it is unsurprising that the knight is free of any significant romantic attachment in Chrétien's tales. In short, he is all heraldic chivalry. Like Kay, his participation in the rescue of the queen is driven by honor: "it would not do at all if we didn't follow them at least until we knew what will happen to the queen and how Kay will acquit himself" (Chretien 188, emphasis mine). Gawain does not view the quest as an opportunity to serve the queen, but rather as a way to assess the worship due to knights. Based upon this heraldic worldview, Gawain also refuses to accept the shame of joining Lancelot in the cart. Gawain's occasional relationships with women also mark him as more interested in prowess and honor than romance. When a damsel asks Gawain and Lancelot for a boon in return for information necessary to rescue the queen, Gawain replies "So help me God, young lady, I give you my firm promise to place my every effort at your service whenever it pleases you, provided you tell me the truth" (Chrétien 193). This may seem to be an appropriate courtly response until Lancelot replies "as one to whom love gives strength and power and courage in every situation, that he promises to do anything she desires without hesitation or fear, and subjects himself completely to her will" (Chrétien 193). Gawain's answer to the damsel not only lacks Lancelot's love-inspired courteousness, it also indicates a certain suspicion about females. It apparently never occurs to Lancelot that a woman he has never met could be lying to him, but Gawain not only believes this might be the case, he makes his service contingent upon her usefulness. In contrast to Kay, Gawain's lack of courtliness stems not from being uninterested in women, but rather his failure emerges from viewing ladies in terms of how they can help him gain more honor.
Although Meleagant exhibits more balance between prowess and courtliness than Kay or Gawain, he is still greatly lacking as a romantic knight. His martial skill and dedication to the heraldic tradition are immediately apparent. Chrétien does not even describe his triumph over Kay, suggesting that the outcome was a forgone conclusion. Likewise, when King Bademagu warns his son that Lancelot intends to increase his worship by fighting Meleagant, the knight replies: "If he's seeking honor, so am I; if he's wanting to make his reputation, I'm wanting to make mine; and if he really wants to fight, than I want it a hundred times more" (Chrétien 231). Furthermore, although Lancelot defeats the prince on three occasions, the spectators at their first duel "had the impression that he [Lancelot] was being beaten and Meleagant having the upper hand" before the hero's strength waxes from his love for Guinevere (Chrétien 233). None of this suggests that Meleagant is Lancelot's equal in prowess, but merely indicates that he is not devoid of knightly ability.
Nor does Meleagant entirely lack an appreciation of the feminine. He is willing to travel all the way to Logres to capture Guinevere and resorts to both battle and trickery to defend his claim on her. However, his interest in women for their own sake in no way makes Meleagant a courtly knight. Rather, he kidnaps the lady he desires and his behavior indicates that he is far more interested in what she could do for him than how he should best serve her. Nor does he exhibit the positive qualities associated with a proper lover. Chrétien writes, "He was such an able knight that he feared no man however strong or fierce. There would have been no finer knight had he not been treacherous and disloyal; but he had a heart of wood, quite devoid of gentleness and pity" (227).
Therefore, although Lancelot lacks balance because he is torn between two aspects of chivalry, Kay falls short of the ideal since he exhibits no interest in any aspect of courtliness; Gawain fails because he views the needs of damsels solely as opportunities to increase his prowess; Meleagant is the total inversion of all that a courtly knight should be. In short, none of the four knights central to the plot of Charrette has managed to achieve the necessary equilibrium between romantic and heraldic chivalry.
The shortcomings
of Lancelot, Kay, Gawain, and Meleagant serve a very important function in the
Chrétien's Arthurian corpus: they illustrate what happens when a knight fails
to balance competing value systems. As mentioned (far) above, Chrétien's
other heroes Erec and Yvain are indeed successful on their quest for personal
growth. In both cases, the hero secures a great reward for this accomplishment
by the end of the poem. Erec and Enide are joyfully crowned king and queen of
Chrétien
strongly contrasts the rewards for the successes of Erec and Yvain with the
pointlessness, shame, humiliation, and death brought about by failure of
Lancelot, Kay, Gawain, and Meleagant. Lancelot
allows Chrétien to explore the results of failure on this great quest. At
first glance, it may seem that the ending differs little from those of the
author's other poems. Certainly, in the final scene the court is rejoicing in
the defeat of Meleagant, but the outcome for the knights of Charrette pales in comparison to the ultimate achievements of Erec
and Yvain, particularly in the cases of Kay, Gawain, and Meleagant. Kay
presumably returns to serving as Arthur's seneschal and, despite all his
trouble, has only added to his shame at court; Lancelot's rescue party finds a
rust-covered Gawain floating in the muck of the
This emphasis on the success or failure of individual knights is to be expected from the author who is credited with introducing the quest narrative into Arthurian literature. However, for Chrétien the ultimate quest of a hero is not the manly activities of rescuing damsels or competing at jousts but becoming the ideal knight, one who can successfully balance the competing values of heraldic and romantic chivalry. Success on this venture brings about the greatest rewards: land and ladies. Yet as the knights of Charrette illustrate, the consequences of failure are shame, humiliation, death, and perhaps worst of all in the Arthurian world, insignificance.
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