In our reading for today, we encountered a very familiar episode in the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. Meliagaunt’s kidnapping of Guinevere and Lancelot’s subsequent response closely mirror Chretien’s Knight of the Cart, but there are some key differences, such as Meliagaunt’s attitude towards Lancelot. How do the differences in the tale change your perception of the story (characters, motivations, etc.)?
King Arthur & His World
ENGL 361 | Spring 2019 | Dr. Myra Seaman
I think Meliagaunt’s attitude towards Lancelot in Mallory is different from Chretien’s Knight of the Cart because he vocalizes fear. In Chretien’s Knight of the Cart, the reader can come to a conclusion that Meliagaunt is afraid of Lancelot because he imprisons him but in Mallory, Meliagaunt directly demonstrates and vocalizes his fear of Lancelot. When Lancelot arrives, Meliagaunt fears for his life. “When Sir Meliagaunt heard that Lancelot was come, he ran unto the queen and fell upon hjs knee and said. Mercy, madam, for now I put me wholly in your good grace.”(224) He is asking the queen to prevent Lancelot from killing him. Even before this scene, Meligaunt is greatly concerned that Lancelot will come to the castle so he creates cowardly, elaborate plans to stop him. Bademagu is absent from this story but in Chretien’s Knight of the Cart, he boasted about Lancelot’s great character. Meligaunt acts in place of Bademagu because he confirms Lancelot’s greatness. His actions revolve around Lancelot because he knows Lancelot is a great fighter and knight and Meligaunt fears him. Meligaunt interactions reflect positively on Gueneveire. Gueneveire demonstrates her goodness by agreeing to go with him if he spares the knight’s lives “Sir Meligaunt, slay not my noble knights and I will go with thee.” (219) Gueneveire acts selflessly and also makes her own choice to go with Meligaunt, unlike in Knight of the Cart. Mallory’s story shows Gueneveire and Lancelot in an extremely positive light.
The Sir Meliagaunt Malory presents in this text, as Victoria mentioned, differs significantly from the Meleagant of Chrétien de Troyes’ “The Knight of the Cart.” First of all, in the text at hand we are told more particularly about his reason for abducting Guinevere, which was that he “loved [her] passingly well for “long and many years” (217). In “The Knight of the Cart,” on the other hand, Meleagant is described as having “a heart of wood, without gentleness and pity,” and these amorous feelings are not so emphasized (Chrétien de Troyes). Malory also offers more details about Meliagaunt’s scheme and its premeditation, disclosing that Meliagaunt knew “Sir Launcelot was not with” Guinevere on her springtime excursion, and that she would thus be an easy target to kidnap (218). The detail that stood out to me the most, though, was Meligaunt’s fearful, perhaps unknightly reaction to hearing Lancelot was coming to rescue Guinevere: “he ran unto the queen and fell upon his knee and said, ‘Mercy, madam, for now I put me wholly in your good grace’” (224). In Chrétien de Troyes’ version of the story, as we know, Meleagant lacks fear to the point of recklessness. His father advises him to change his mind about fighting Lancelot, but Meleagant refuses, even ridiculing behavior similar to what Malory’s Meliagaunt participates in: “I suppose you wish me to clasp my hands and kneel before him… I would rather become his man than surrender to him the Queen” (Chrétien de Troyes). The effect of these differences to me was that it becomes clear Malory wants to present Lancelot as deserving of the reputation he is so widely known to have in the world of this narrative. The fact that Lancelot submits to Guinevere’s request not to fight Meliagaunt immediately also shows his mercy, which was an esteemed trait in this culture. I think this episode serves as another example of Malory showing how much he has invested in Lancelot’s character.
As Jules points out, Malory’s version of the story shows more about Meliagaunt’s intentions and his plan when kidnapping Guinevere. Because Meliagaunt tells G he “have loved you many a year,” his character is put into comparison with Lancelot who also loves Guinevere (218). However, he makes Lancelot look like a good guy for saving Guinevere even if it is because of a love affair in comparison to him kidnapping her for love. It is also interesting to see how Malory sets up his investment in Lancelot by telling of his greatness from other peoples perspectives. Specifically, when they are waiting for him to show up to battle it is not clear where Lancelot is, but they still talk about him when he is not there and then is able to heal Sir Urry when no one else is able to (242-243). In comparison, Chrétien’s story of Lancelot and the cart focuses on his adventures and reputation, which builds him up from his own perspective, but Malory shows how great he is in the eyes of other people.
In Chretien, Melegaunt seems to be no friend of the Round Table. He and his father are presented as though they are unknown to Arthur and his knights, and when we meet Melegaunt, he is bragging about having captured many of Arthur’s people and takes Guinevere prisoner. However, in Malory, Meliagaunt “had that time a castle of the gift of King Arthur,” (217) and when we first meet him, we are told he “loved passingly well Queen Guinevere, and so had he done long and many years” (218). When he kidnaps her in Chretien, it seems to be motivated by spite for Arthur and his knights (youthful pride perhaps), but in Malory, it is motivated by love (or perhaps lust), as he tells Guinevere, “I have loved you many a year” (218). When she threatens to kill herself if her knights can’t accompany her, Melegaunt says “for your sake they shall be led with you” (219). In Chretien he seems to be motivated by hatred, but in Malory, he’s motivated by love.
Guinevere is different, too. She shames Lancelot for riding in the cart in Chretien and even sends him away, but in Malory, she praises him for coming. When one of her ladies criticizes Lancelot for riding in the chariot, “she rebuked that lady that likened Sir Launcelot to ride in a chariot to hanging” (224). In Chretien, Melegaunt seems unafraid of Lancelot, considering that he captures him, imprisons him, etc, but in Malory, as soon as he hears Lancelot is coming, he asks Guinevere to control him and promises “such cheer as may be made him in this poor castle ye and he shall have unto to-morn” (224). He wants to make amends, rather than persisting with his foolishness as he did in Chretien. The Maloary Melegaunt is a hypocrit, though. In Chretien, he doesn’t serve Arthur; in Malory, he does serve Arthur and is betraying his king by kidnapping the queen, whom he then accuses of betraying the king! Pot. Kettle. When Lancelot beats Melegaunt in a battle, Melegaunt lets it go, and the story continues on to the bit about Sir Urry; but in Chretien, he continues to be a thorn in Lancelot’s side until finally Lancelot kills him in battle.
The Chretien Melegaunt is less mature, more stubborn, and motivated by hatred. The Malory Melegaunt comes off more mischievous than hateful and is motivated more by love. The Chretien Melegaunt seems to have no honor at all, for he boasts of kidnapping Arthur’s subject, steals the queen, imprisons Lancelot. He seems kind of rude and evil. The Malory Melegaunt seems to be more honorable. Yes, he kidnaps Guinevere and later accuses her of adultery, but when he’s bested in battle, he accepts the outcome. Melegaunt is hot tempered in Chretien and more polite in Malory. The differences between the two versions of the story make Malory’s tale seem more playful, while Chretien’s tale has a more serious tone.
Okay, I didn’t realize when I first read the passage that Lancelot had killed Melegaunt; I thought he’d just beat him and Melegaunt had moved on with his life, until I read the story’s ending that referenced Melegaunt’s death again. So just ignore that bit of my post. I shouldn’t have hit submit before I was done with the whole story!
I agree with Jules in the the fact that Meliagaunt is a much more fearful character. He is also submitting to the will of Lancelot, or his fear of Lancelot. As Jules pointed out in her response, Malory shows great interest in Lancelot and he also creates a narrative in this story that gives Lancelot a good amount of opportunities to prove himself. Meliagaunt seemed like some what of a cartoon super-villain in this story. At first we see that he is fully prepared to kidnap Guinevere, he doesn’t care about the fact that the knights with Guinevere aren’t armed and we also read that he’s been planning this kidnapping for a while. This first presentation is much different from the later actions we see in Meliagaunt. Once Lancelot arrives Meliagaunt gives in almost immediately out of fear. I agree with the previous post’s in the fact that Malory’s Meliagaunt is different in the fact that he is a tool that is being used to boost Lancelot or make him look better. His change in character is somewhat unbelievable to me, and it seems strange that his plan could fold that quickly.