Scribd
Upload
24 views3 pages

Response Paper 4

The document provides a summary and analysis of the lai "Lanval" by Marie de France. It notes that the story exposes corruption within Camelot, as King Arthur gives excessive gifts to noblemen, prioritizing wealth over strengthening his kingdom. It also shows mistreatment of the loyal Lanval, demonstrating problems that will undermine Camelot like favoritism. Additionally, Queen Guinevere's attempted seduction of Lanval and later false accusation against him when rejected demonstrates her disloyalty to the kingdom and King Arthur's declining leadership as he believes her claims without question. The analysis argues this depicts the internal corruption growing within Camelot that will lead to its downfall.

Uploaded by

olive.ly0801
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
24 views3 pages

Response Paper 4

The document provides a summary and analysis of the lai "Lanval" by Marie de France. It notes that the story exposes corruption within Camelot, as King Arthur gives excessive gifts to noblemen, prioritizing wealth over strengthening his kingdom. It also shows mistreatment of the loyal Lanval, demonstrating problems that will undermine Camelot like favoritism. Additionally, Queen Guinevere's attempted seduction of Lanval and later false accusation against him when rejected demonstrates her disloyalty to the kingdom and King Arthur's declining leadership as he believes her claims without question. The analysis argues this depicts the internal corruption growing within Camelot that will lead to its downfall.

Uploaded by

olive.ly0801
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Luan The Ly

Response Paper 4

In this week’s reading, Lanval by Marie de France stands out amongst the lais since it

exposes the corruption of Camelot and its leaders, King Arthur, and Queen Guinevere. In the

beginning, the lai mentions how King Arthur is being generous for giving out “rich gifts”, “lands

and wives” to all his counts and noblemen. Although this may be a sign of generosity, it is also

equal to excessive and pretentious spending from King Arthur, in which his men are groomed

with greed from those rare liveries; while the King could absolutely use those money to

strengthen his kingdom or people. This also indicates that Camelot has been in peace for way too

long that the King and Knights lose their alert to protect the country, but to only enjoy the wealth

that they have: oftentimes this is a foreshadowing of a collapse of a civilization. In addition, the

fact that Lanval is being mistreated by King Arthur and other men shows many problems that

will crumble Camelot from the inside: ungratefulness, favoritism, jealousy, and ultimately

disunity. It also denounces the hypocrisy of the Knights who always call themselves honored and

noble men. Lanval is described as “a king’s son, of high lineage/ but he was far from his

heritage” who has spent “all his wealth/ for the king gave him nothing/ nor did Lanval ask him

for anything,” showing his absolute loyalty and dedication to Camelot; still, King Arthur chooses

to disregard Lanval. When a King is so blind he can not perceive his people well: man like

Lanval is being horrendously mistreated by the King and other men, while there are people like

Lancelot who always act nobly and are highly respected/regarded but would be ready to break

any oath for their own goods (Lancelot literally has an affair with his liege’s wife, queen

Guinevere). When people with immorality play an important role in a kingdom, it is inevitable
that they will damage the kingdom (in fact, Gawain is the only one who feels bad and still has

respect for Lanval).

Marie de France further foreshadows the corruption of Camelot through Queen

Guinevere, who fails in her attempt to seduce Lanval. Even if we disregard her infamous affair

with Lancelot, the fact that Queen Guinevere tries to hit on Lanval demonstrates two main

problems: 1) she is one lustful woman who would literally downgrade herself for sexual desire

(by wanting to sleep with someone who is below her husband), 2) she is not loyal to King

Arthur while being the Queen of the entire kingdom. When a Queen puts her sexual desire over

the sake of the kingdom, it is a sign of internal corruption. After when Lanval rejects her, Queen

Guinevere accuses him of being homosexual: “People have often told me/ that you have no

desire for women. You have shapely young men/ and take your please with them./ Base coward,

infamous wretch,/my lord is greatly harmed/ by having allowed you near him.” Her false

accusation causes Lanval to become sacrilegious and also have the idea of treason, which is

against his described character beforehand. Queen Guinevere unhesitatingly puts a loyal and

noble man to Camelot like Lanval at risk of death and weakens the kingdom’s power, all that just

to soothe her anger after being rejected. Furthermore, King Arthur, being the blindly ignorant

leader he is at this point, fails to make radical decisions. He willingly listens to Queen

Guinevere’s accusation without even thinking thoroughly, and declares that Lanval is guilty and

must be punished, despite all of Lanval’s dedication and loyalty to Camelot or Gawain’s surety

that Lanval does nothing wrong. King Arthur is once a great leader, and a worthy character that

has built Camelot a great kingdom; however, over time he begins to lose his virtue and wise due

to many internal problems that makes him fall off the perfect figure he used to be, and Marie de

France’s Lanval has demonstrated the corruption from the inside of Camelot through the lai.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy