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“The Ill Made Knight” explores the quest for self-knowledge. Use Book III to seek a broader perspective on self-discovery in our own society. Does the protagonist discover a deeper sense of nature? Or a purpose? Do they confront their identity? Do they expose their culture? In the end… do they seek what they find?
Finding our identity in this society today is a struggle and we usually discover it through what career we choose or what religion we decide to follow. We all go through different ordeals to discover who we are as a person. finding who we are takes time. Similar to the medieval times, the people would find who they were through their experiences or trials, but this took a long process. “These people had struggled for a quarter of a century to reach their understanding” (515). Throughout Lancelot’s life, he was personified as one of the best knights of the world yet he never seemed to truly discover who he was. During his journey for finding his identity, Lancelot experienced a turning point when he discovered his passion for being a man of God. His eyes began to open through several ordeals. One of which was when he became humbled by being beaten by his son during a joust. This trial gave him the humility to accept that he would have failure ing his life instead of always winning. After having been confronted, Lancelot reevaluates who he really is and what he believes in. He soon discovers his identity in God but was held back to truly becoming a man of God because of his weakness in not being able to say no to Elaine and Guinevere. Towards the end, Guinevere understands Lancelot and his decision to be a man of God so she lets him go be his own person. Meanwhile, Elaine, unfortunately, commits suicide also setting Lancelot free from his commitments from her. Transforming into being a dedicated man of God, Lancelot closes doors in order to open up new opportunities on his new journey.
Do you think maybe Lancelot was being selfish in abandoning Elaine in some way to pursue his calling?Lancelot went through a major identity crisis in Book III. As a child he was a “holy boy” and kept himself accountable to extremely high standards. He adored King Arthur and dedicated his life to training for him at 15 years old. This identity begins to shatter when he meets Guenever, King Arthur’s wife. They fall in love, and Lancelot goes on a quest to distract himself. This quest results in him sleeping with both Elaine and Guenever. These relationships oppose the principles of morality and chivalry Lancelot has clung to most of his life. Lancelot loses his identity and goes insane. In months of being a wild man, Lancelot attempts to atone for his sins by wearing a hair shirt. However, this does not restore Lancelot to his previous identity. In Chapter 45 of Book III, Lancelot timidly places his hand on a man with accursed wounds and is able to heal them. While others rejoice at this miracle, Lancelot weeps. Only the pure and chaste knights were supposed to be able to perform miracles. Lancelot was no longer pure or chaste, and cries because even revered chivalry no longer has true authenticity or meaning. Despite Lancelot’s lifelong search for purpose, I do not believe he found what he truly wanted. His actions were responsible for his misfortunes, and he truly was the Ill-Fated Knight. Self-discovery in our own society is quite similar. Many people are easily be misled by lust and never find true purpose in their lives.
What would you say Lancelot’s deepest regret is? How could he further try to rectify that situation?@amelia152016
I do not think Lancelot was selfish in leaving Elaine. Their relationship began with deceit and never mutual love. I do believe that it was selfish for Lancelot to deny his responsibility for Galahad. Although he was tricked into conceiving him, Galahad still deserved to have a father in his life.As a child Lancelot was a “holy boy” and turned out to be one of the best knights. Lancelot goes on many quests in Book III, but the most important quest was a quest seeking for self-knowledge. He may not have known he was on this quest, but he experienced many trials that lead him to accomplishing this quest. It may not have been that easy, but finding your identity isn’t always easy. This is the same in our own society. Finding yourself can be tough, but it always takes time until you discovery yourself. For Lancelot, it took time and he eventually found himself through the adventures and trials he has faced. One trial he faced was when he fell in love with Arthur’s wife, Guenever. Lancelot always admired Arthur and he didn’t want to hurt him. But his love for Guenever was too strong. Lancelot went on many quest trying to distract himself from his feelings. This led him to sleeping with Elaine and they ended up having a child. Another trial he faced was when he went insane and lost his identity. Becoming a wild man did not help him in finding himself. Lancelot expressed his feelings not thinking if it would hurt someone he cares about. It was hard for him to make others happy and make himself happy at the same time. I feel like in our society we can be pressured by others and be knocked off our path on our way to finding out who we are.
Do you think Guenever was the reason he didn’t truly find his identity or was it because of himself?@amelia152016, I agree with @alexharakas. It was not selfish because it wasn’t true love and Elaine tricked him into having the child. But I think he should take responsibility because he is still the child’s father no matter what. He should at least make an effort to be in the child’s life.
@alexharakas, I think his deepest regret is his affair with Guenever. Especially being that Arthur is his best friend, and that he has been hiding this secret for awhile. He should get Guenever out of his life to remove the temptations. He should also tell Arthur and own up to his mistakes. Instead of being tempted, he should continue seeking for his identity.
@angelicacastaneda
I think that Lancelot was responsible for his own failure to find his identity. Opportunities to deny one’s quest for identity and truth faithfully present themselves. It is the responsibility of the individual to restrain from these temptations. I do believe Guenever deserves some sort of blame for her unfaithfulness to her husband and her willingness to create tension between the relationship of Arthur and Lancelot. Despite Guenever’s role in misleading him, Lancelot is solely responsible for his failure to find purpose and identity for his life.Does anyone feel that Guenevere was bipolar with Lancelot and his decisions? do you think she held him back from being from Elaine and Galahad?
Every teenager struggles with their self identity at some point. Just like Lancelot, we struggle to know who we really are and what our purpose is in life. We all want to perform that “miracle”, or make a difference in some way. Lancelot grew up loving the Lord, but soon fell away due to his love for Guenevere. Guenevere can represent the things in our Christian life that distract us from God. Lancelot was also always hard on himself, because of his appearance.Everyone always said he was the ugliest man they had ever seen, but also the most noble one. Even though he was ugly, Lancelot had better qualities that made up for it. Lancelot was kind, compassionate, and caring. Every teenager struggles with appearance as well, but what really matters is their internal character. Why do you think Guenevere, Arthur, and Elaine were able to see past Lancelot’s ugliness?
@amelia152016
Yes I do think that Guenevere was bipolar in this situation. I also believe that the jealousy of Elaine having a child overwhelmed her, and confused her all at the same time. So, she pushed Lancelot away not knowing how to deal with the problem.@angelicacastaneda
I think that it was more of Lancelot’s fault, because he was the one who let Guenevere become a distraction. He shouldn’t have pursued her when he knew she was married to his best friend.@alexharakas
I think that Lancelot’s biggest regret was when Elaine took his virginity from him. He felt that he had sinned and couldn’t be forgiven, so he just kept on making the same mistake but with Guenevere. I think that Lancelot has taken it so far where he can’t fix the mess he’s made.Although Lancelot’s whole life prepared him to be a man of chivalry and integrity in any situation, when his best friend, King Arthur, leaves on a quest, he abandons his morals to fulfill his desire for Guenevere. This can be analogized in modern society as adolescents are raised up with moral guidelines, but are not always strong enough to resist worldly desires when the opportunity is prevalent.
In Book III, Lancelot, the protagonist, is consistently faced with new tribulations that defeat his self-confidence, ultimately preventing him from truly discovering his purpose in life.
What could Lancelot have done differently to better achieve a state of self-knowing and confidence?@angelicacastaneda I think that the point at which Lancelot sleeps with Guenevere is the turning point at which his moral compass starts to fade. It was not Guenevere’s fault directly, but his own character flaw that allowed this change from good to bad choices to happen.
@taylornicholas13 I think that they were able to see past his lacking appearance because of his noble character and reputation early in his life.
Everybody finds his identity sometime in his life. It could be early on or later on in his life; today it has become difficult for us to find our identity because there are many things to distract us from it. Even in the Middle Ages, people struggled with their identities. Lancelot was labeled as the best knight, but never knew who he was; until the turning point in his journey made him realize that he wanted to be a man of God. Afterwards he saw things he never paid much attention to; and when he was beaten in a joust by his son, he realized that humility was more important than winning. Guinevere saw the change in Lancelot and allows him to be his own person. Lancelot’s wife, Elaine, commits suicide and Lancelot is freed from the bondage of marriage with her. He then seeks a new journey to become a stronger man of God. Do you think this change in Lancelot is what made Guinevere fall in love with him?
In society today, many teens and or adults are pressured to find who they truly are. We are struggling to make the right choices, to balance the things in our life so that it does not result in our own demise. Lancelot seems to be conflicted by two contradictory passions in his life—his love for Guenever and his love for King Arthur and the Lord. Everything that Lancelot does to try to distance himself from Guenever only deepens his love for her, but at least he had managed to keep his two worlds separate. After he meets Elaine and sleeps with her, however, his worlds came crashing down on him, and he loses himself in the process. His quests can no longer honestly be said to be about fighting for justice, since his tryst with Elaine has filled them with the kind of amorous intrigue from which he has been running from. Lancelot also loses, or at least thinks he has lost, his power to perform miracles, since only virgins are allowed to perform miracles. Even on a less religious level, sleeping with Elaine has so defiled Lancelot’s quest that he thinks of his entire knighthood as having been corrupted and ruined. Now that Lancelot’s two worlds have been forced together, Lancelot sees no reason not to ruin them altogether and runs into Guenever’s awaiting arms. Do you think that it was right for Lancelot to do so?
@angelicacastaneda I think Lancelot, even though he was really famous, had some self-confidence issues because of the way he looked and that got in the way of how he should value his relationship with God and his friends.
@kl1214 Lancelot felt like Guinevere was the only person who understood him and what his journey meant. It also makes some heads turn since Guinevere is married to Arthur and it looks suspicious if another man keeps going to talk to a married woman.
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