Okay, I want to talk about Guinevere because I've read this story before, and I'm most fascinated with the queen's character. I’ve read quite a few stories about
Queen Guinevere, and her character never changes too much. She usually
represents a pretty powerful female role – one that makes decisions and takes
action – so it surprises me that King Arthur asks her to be passive and that Mélégant so easily takes her
back to his land as his prisoner in “The Knight of the Cart.” Guinevere doesn’t
even put up a fight! To me, this weakens her character. Whether she likes being
held hostage and used as man-bait or simply got tired of being badass,
Guinevere goes from queen to damsel in distress too quick.
It also irritates me that
Guinevere’s character becomes so cold towards Lancelot when he first comes to
Gorre to save her, but in some ways, her coldness also shows me that she’s
still a little badass inside. She’s the damsel, and he’s the hero, but
Guinevere isn’t ready for her “happily ever after.” Somehow, she knows Lancelot
hesitated to ride in the dwarf’s cart in the beginning of the story. Omniscience is badass. (That’s right,
boys. Women know everything. Women have always known everything.) Perhaps she
wants Lancelot to understand that there’s nothing more shameful than thinking
twice about love…
OR maybe Queen Guinevere is
secretly Queen Drama who is obsessed with creating high-energy, tense,
life-or-death situations. Guinevere lets
Lancelot fight Mélégant when he accuses her of sleeping with Kay. It’s not
worth pointing out, since I never read a truly logical story for one of Dr.
MB’s classes, but the logic behind this accusation is…well, stupid.
Nonetheless, Guinevere watches Lancelot do her dirty work for her…for the
second time. I guess I can’t blame her for just wanting to watch Lancelot
sweat, but why does she ask him to lose the fight until he’s losing; then, she
asks him to win? It’s like Guinevere is playing a game the entire story – a
game that she thinks will either prove or disprove Lancelot’s love for her, but she has to know he loves her the entire time. To Guinevere, there is no proof or disproof of love unless she denotes it as such.
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| Yup, this is how I view Guinevere. |
"The Knight of the Cart" by Chrétien de Troyes.
A, I agree that "Guen" still maintains her "badass" by rejecting Lancelot's hesitation at the cart, while I also agree that her behavior in this story appears more of a departure from the tougher more in control woman we've seen in previously. I must also agree that she may be a bit of a drama queen, but such is the nature of love, right? One could say that having Lancelot defend her honor (again) in response to Melegant's accusation is evidence of this. But as you've said, the whole back and forth, lose then win stuff seems over the top for her and SO stupid to put him through such a farse.
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