Chapter 1
Brief Summary
Agravaine becomes an alcoholic; Mordred did not change over the years. There is a description of the birds in the Orkney palace in Camelot. Mordred truly hates Arthur and Agravaine hates Lancelot so Mordred plans a rebellion against Arthur but Agravaine shoots down his idea by saying no one would follow them because it is a rebellion based on personal reasons. Agravaine wants revenge over Lancelot. They plan to split up Arthur and Lancelot by using Lancelot and Guenever’s affair that way Arthur and Lancelot will be weaker. Explanation of how Mordred came to be.
Chapter 2
Brief Summary
All Orkney brothers are gathered around including Mordred. Mordred and Agravaine get into a fight with Gawaine, Gareth, and Gaheris. Mordred and Agravaine threaten to expose Lancelot and Guenever in front of the King so he is forced to have them killed. Gawaine stands in their way and Agravaine draws his sword, all is mayhem until the Page announces the Kings arrival.
Chapter 3
Brief Summary
Description of love in the Middle Ages and descriptions of England before Arthur and during Arthur’s reign. Men literally loved the buildings that they constructed. Description of the people and their stories. The Medieval scientists were referred to as magicians. Names of cocktail drinks, description of the different types of knights and people you might see pass by your window.
Chapter 4
Brief Summary
Lancelot and Guenever are sitting by a window singing, they stop singing and Lancelot asks her to run away with him but she patiently tells him no because Arthur would have to declare war on them and then they would fight and one or both of them would be killed and there was no sense to it. Arthur comes in but leaves and tells a Page to announce him so that Lancelot and Guenever won’t think he was eavesdropping. Arthur then enters and sits with them and tells them the story of Mordred and how he tried to get Mordred killed by having him and a bunch of other babies sent out to sea in a boat but miraculously Mordred survives and comes back. Lancelot says that Arthur did not do anything wrong, Arthur tells them to be careful because if anything bad about them is proven then he will be forced to behead Lancelot and burn Guenever at the stake.
Chapter 5
Brief Summary
Agravaine and Mordred are in the courtroom waiting for Arthur to come in and Gawaine, Gareth and Gaheris are trying to stop them from accusing the Queen and her lover. Gawaine, Gareth and Gaheris ask Arthur for permission to be left out of any accusations and they leave. Mordred and Agravaine make the accusation and Arthur tells them that they have permission to try to prove it when he goes hunting but that he hopes that if they can prove it that Lancelot kills them before they can prove it and if they can not then he will have Mordred and Agravaine killed anyways.
Chapter 6
Brief Summary
Gareth comes to warn Lancelot about Mordred and Agravaine’s plan to catch him and Guenever together and he begs Lancelot not to go to the Queen. Lancelot does not think that they will do it or that Arthur would let them set that trap for him so he goes anyways but forgets his sword in his room.
Chapter 7
Brief Summary
Lancelot is brushing and braiding Guenever’s hair and they are talking about all kinds of stuff, Lancelot tells Guenever what Gareth told him and she wonders if Mordred and Agravaine might have forced Arthur to let them do it, she tries to get Lancelot to leave before they trap them but it is too late. Lancelot opens the door enough for one knight to come in and he kills him. Lancelot then sees that it is Agravaine, and he takes off Agravaine’s armor and sword. He tells Guenever that if they live through this that she must run away with him but she tells him that she will stay and if she needs him that she will call for him, they exchange rings and Lancelot opens the door to fight off the other 13 knights.
Chapter 8
Brief Summary
The Queen is to be burned at the stake but Lancelot got away. Gawaine, Gareth, and Gaheris believe that Lancelot will appear just to rescue her; Mordred is out raged that the King is not trying to prevent that from happening and is accused of being a coward because he was the only survivor of the trap because he ran away. Mordred is crying. Arthur enters and tells Mordred that he wishes that he had never been born; he then asks Gawaine, Gareth and Gaheris to be part of the guard so that Lancelot will not come rescue the Queen although he really wants Lancelot to save her. Gawaine flat out says no. Gareth and Gaheris say that they will but they will not wear armor. Mordred goes to get the executioner and Gareth and Gaheris go down to the guard. Arthur breaks down crying when they leave and Gawaine comforts him telling him that he did what was right and that everything will come out right. People start preparing Guenever for her execution. Arthur and Gawaine watch from the window and then Lancelot shows up and saves Guenever. Arthur and Gawaine celebrate but then Mordred comes and tells them that Lancelot killed Gareth and Gaheris when he was saving Guenever.
Chapter 9
Brief Summary
Description of Lancelot’s castle. Arthur is besieging him, Lancelot is ashamed of accidentally killing Gareth and Gaheris, Lancelot and Guenever send a message to the Pope to ask him to stop the war.
Chapter 10
Brief Summary
Mordred is convincing Gawaine that Lancelot killed Gareth and Gaheris on purpose. The court decides to forgive Guenever, and banish Lancelot and declare war on his French castles.
Chapter 11
Brief Summary
Guenever is in one of Arthur’s northern castles but she would rather be in the London castle where there is so much to do. Guenever reads a letter she received from Arthur to her lady Agnes that is about the fight between Arthur and Gawaine, Lancelot had the chance several times to kill Gawaine and end this war but he did not. Mordred is left as Lord Protector. Agnes and Guenever are both scared of Mordred and think he is listening to their conversation. Agnes opens the door to check and Mordred is standing in the doorway. Agnes leaves the room and Mordred comes in to tell Guenever that he plans to tell everyone that Arthur and Lancelot killed each other and that he is now the new King and will marry her.
Chapter 12
Brief Summary
Gawaine is thinking about quitting this war and forgiving Lancelot when a letter from Guenever arrives for Arthur and it tells about Mordreds plan. She tells Arthur that she ran away to the Tower of London and that Mordred has her under siege with cannon.
Chapter 13
Brief Summary
Lancelot receives a letter from Gawaine that he wrote a few hours before dying of a wound on the head that he received from Lancelot. In the letter he asks for forgiveness and forgives Lancelot, he also asks Lancelot to come to England to save Arthur and Guenever and defeat Mordred.
Chapter 14
Brief Summary
Description of Arthur’s tent, Arthur is worn out because of all of the fights and obstacles he has had to surpass. Arthur thinks about all of the ways he has tried to channel Might for Right and realizes that he should have gotten rid of Might altogether. Arthur begins thinking about the different reasons for war (possessions, fear) Arthur calls for his Page and gives him a letter to deliver to the Bishop but then calls the Page back and asks him how old he is, what his name is, and where he is from. He then tells the Page that he is to not fight in the war tomorrow and that he must leave that same night to go back to his town and spread Arthur’s story about a King that had a good idea about chivalry and a Round Table but it failed, and he was in a war where no one survives except a young Page. The Page, Thomas, tells the King that he is wrong, that the King wins the war, but Arthur tells him that he knows what he is saying and that only that Page lives and that he must tell this story to everyone that will hear. The Pages name was Thomas Malory. After the Page leaves Arthur remembers his lessons with Merlyn and everything is clear all of a sudden. War is fought for nothing. Absolutely nothing. Arthur knows that one day he will return with a new Round Table so he was at peace in his heart when he went out to fight the next morning. It was time for King Arthur of England to die.
~*~ Thoughts ~*~
I think that Arthur prosecutes Lancelot and Guenever because he believes in justice so much that he lets it control him. I think that Arthur knew that Lancelot would succeed in rescuing Guenever so he prosecuted them because he wants everyone to see how serious he is about doing what is fair.
I think that the ultimate cause for the fall of Camelot is Might. Arthur channeled Might throughout his reign and so at the end he discovers he should have just gotten rid of it altogether instead of using it.
I think that Gawaine was really a good guy even though he made a mistake by listening to Mordred. Arthur was an amazing King as well as friend and husband. Lancelot was an honest and faithful man. Guenever was just extremely real to me, and Mordred was just a conniving rat.
I think that it was very sad that Arthur dies but I think that the way that the book makes it sound like he will return one day really gives me hope that overpowers the sadness.
I think that Arthur prosecutes Lancelot and Guenever because he believes in justice so much that he lets it control him. I think that Arthur knew that Lancelot would succeed in rescuing Guenever so he prosecuted them because he wants everyone to see how serious he is about doing what is fair.
I think that the ultimate cause for the fall of Camelot is Might. Arthur channeled Might throughout his reign and so at the end he discovers he should have just gotten rid of it altogether instead of using it.
I think that Gawaine was really a good guy even though he made a mistake by listening to Mordred. Arthur was an amazing King as well as friend and husband. Lancelot was an honest and faithful man. Guenever was just extremely real to me, and Mordred was just a conniving rat.
I think that it was very sad that Arthur dies but I think that the way that the book makes it sound like he will return one day really gives me hope that overpowers the sadness.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Ill-Made Knight
Chapter 1
Brief Summary
Lancelot is a 15 year old prince from France whose father has taken him to England to help Arthur. Lancelot has only spoken to Arthur once but already loves him and his ideals. Arthur offers him to be a knight of the round table and Lancelot, of course, accepts. Lancelot is extremely self-conscious; he claims that when he becomes a knight he will not be known as Sir Lancelot but as the Ill-Made Knight.
Chapter 2
Vocabulary: fforbeshynge, bagge, jakete, schertes, pyssying, iijpeire, gantelez
Brief Summary
Comparison between jousting and cricket, description of the armory in Lancelot’s castle in France, description of training for knights, comparison between knights-in-armor and divers, Lancelot loves training.
Chapter 3
Brief Summary
To Lancelot, Uncle Dap is like Merlyn is to Arthur. Merlyn visits Lancelot and tells him about Nimue and Guenever and catches him up on everything that’s been happening with Arthur lately. Lancelot decides to run away to England to become a knight of the round table and takes Uncle Dap as a squire.
Chapter 4
Brief Summary
Lancelot is now in England and encounters a knight dressed in black on his way to Arthur’s castle, they battle and Lancelot wins. He then discovers that the dark knight was really Arthur. Arthur is happy to see Lancelot and takes him back to the castle in the meanwhile he catches him up on the chivalry changes. King Pellinore accidentally killed King Lot of Orkney and 3 of the Orkney brothers are Knights of the Round Table. Arthur gives Lancelot a jerfalcon. Lancelot does not consider Guenever a person until one day when he hurt her feelings.
Chapter 5
Brief Summary
Uncle Dap and Arthur notice that Lancelot and Guenever are falling in love. Uncle Dap reacts by lecturing Lancelot; Arthur on the other hand decides to take Lancelot with him to fight in the Roman Wars. Dictator Lucius allies with several other kings to declare war and get ransoms from England. The English win.
Chapter 6
Brief Summary
Lancelot is true to his word and thinks it to be the most valuable thing he posses, he is good but bad at the same time because he likes hurting people but wants to help. Guenever comes between him and Arthur and Lancelot decides to go on an adventure to get away from Guenever.
Chapter 7
Brief Summary
Description of how horrible it was to be poor in the ‘Might is Right’ time. Lancelot is on a quest to forget Guenever. Lancelot is riding around and he spots Sir Carados taking Sir Gawaine prisoner, Lancelot challenges Sir Carados and kills him. Lancelot continues riding on and he finds his cousin Sir Lionel, they ride together until Lancelot gets tired and lies down under a tree to sleep. Sir Lionel sees Sir Turquine chasing after 3 knights so he decides to challenge him. Sir Lionel loses and Sir Turquine takes him and the other 3 knights as prisoners. Lancelot, still asleep, is then found by a passing pageant by 4 Queens who are all witches. They argue over who will get him but one Queen, Morgan le Fay, casts a spell on him so they take him to her castle and let him decide which one he will take as his mistress. He rejects all of them and a damsel that is sent to give him food tells him that she can help him escape, he accepts her help. Description of tournaments. Lancelot agrees to help the damsel’s father, King Bagdemagus, win the tournament. He must travel through the forest to find the abbey where he is to meet the King but on his way he gets lost. He finds a pavilion and no one around so he sleeps in it but is suddenly awoken by a man sitting on his left foot. The man challenges Lancelot and so they fight while both are stark naked. Lancelot injures the other man (Sir Belleus). Sir Belleus’ wife starts yelling when she sees her husband with a gash across his stomach and starts calling Lancelot a murderer. Lancelot moves Sir Belleus to the pavilion and examines the wound which turns out to be a minor cut. Sir Belleus is grateful of Lancelot’s kindness so he lets him sleep there for the rest of the night and tells him the way to the abbey. Lancelot invites Sir Belleus to be part of the round table. Lancelot meets with the king and they settle everything, they win the tournament. Lancelot then goes to the magic apple tree that he fell asleep under and stops a woman to ask her for an adventure, knowing who he was, she sent him after Sir Turquine. Lancelot wins and sets all of the prisoners free.
Chapter 8
Brief Summary
Lancelot is riding and he sees a falcon get caught in a tree and a maiden tells him that it is her falcon and wants him to get it for her so he takes off his armor and climbs the tree, sets the falcon free and as he is climbing back down a fat knight rides up and challenges him without letting him put on his armor of get his sword. Lancelot was tricked by this knight’s wife who set her falcon loose to get Lancelot out of his armor. The fat knight tries to behead Lancelot but Lancelot manages to slit the fat knight throat. Later on, Lancelot was riding through a swampy area and he sees a knight chasing after his wife saying that she was an adulteress. Lancelot tells the other knight to swear he will not kills his wife and the knight does not swear, he instead tricks Lancelot by telling him that there were soldiers behind him, when Lancelot turned around the knight beheaded his wife. Lancelot wants to kill the knight but the knight begs for mercy. Then at the Pentecost feast all of the prisoners that Lancelot conquered kneeled to Queen Guenever instead of to Arthur because Lancelot had them all dedicated to her.
Chapter 9
Brief Summary
Arthur is depressed because his whole “Might for Right” society is not working out the way he expected, the knights were competing to see who could save more maidens and stuff like that and trying to prove they were better than another. The whole idea of a round table was so that there would not be any competition.
Chapter 10
Brief Summary
This chapter seems to have been written to make us understand Lancelot better. I wonder why in so many books I have read they all said that Lancelot was handsome but in this one it says that he is hideous. I feel horrible for him.
Chapter 11
Brief Summary
On his second quest, Lancelot is going to see King Pelles because his castle is haunted, when he arrives at the village of Corbin, where the Kings castle is located, he is received by all of the commoners telling him to save their princess, she is locked away in a tower and in a boiling tub. Lancelot saves her and she is introduced as Elaine. King Pelles invites Lancelot to stay with them.
Chapter 12
Brief Summary
Lancelot and King Pelles’ butler get drunk and Lance gets a message from Queen Guenever (Jenny) and Lancelot goes to her, they have sex and when morning came Lancelot discovers that he has been tricked. It was not Guenever, it was Elaine.
Chapter 13
Brief Summary
6th sense is balance, 7th sense is knowledge of the world. Guenever and Lancelot are united again and betray Arthur’s trust by having making love.
Chapter 14
Brief Summary
Arthur must leave to help Lancelot’s father in a war and Arthur asks Lance to stay in England. Lance and Jenny (Guenever) become lovers. Lancelot tells Guenever about his childhood daydreams.
Chapter 15
Brief Summary
Arthur returns to England after being away for a year. News comes to Lancelot that he has a son with Elaine named Galahad. When Guenever finds out she is very upset but she forgives him, although the seed of jealousy and hate is planted in their love.
Chapter 16
Brief Summary
Elaine is going to Camelot to see Lancelot and show him their son. Lancelot and Guenever fear Elaine’s arrival, both for different reasons. Arthur suspects that Lancelot and Guenever are having an affair but is to loving to behead them for treason and he is hopeful that his suspicions are wrong. Arthur speaks to Lancelot and Lancelot tells him a half true story about Elaine but leaves out Guenever. After Arthur leaves, Guenever talks to Lancelot and tells him that she will not stop him if he chooses to marry Elaine.
Chapter 17
Brief Summary
Elaine arrives and is greeted by Queen Guenever. Guenever is very unhappy and tells Lancelot that he should visit his baby but he is not to have sex with Elaine, in order to make sure that Lancelot is not with Elaine she is going to call him at night to check on him. Lancelot goes and visits Elaine and their son but leaves immediately after because Elaine practically threw herself at him.
Chapter 18
Brief Summary
Lancelot is called to go to the Queen but in reality it was Elaine and they had sex again but once again it was one of Elaine’s tricks. The next day Guenever calls both of them to her chamber and yells at them both. Elaine reveals the truth and Lancelot does not know what to do, he has been deceived again. The Queen does not believe her so she tells both of them to get out of her castle, Lancelot goes crazy and jumps out a window and runs away.
Chapter 19
Brief Summary
King Pelles and Sir Blaint are talking about a Wild Man; Sir Blaint had locked him up in a tower room and kept him there for a year and a half. The Wild Man was thought to be Lancelot but King Pelles thought that Lancelot had been killed by a wild bore. Sir Blaint tells King Pelles that he set the Wild Man free on a bore hunt and that the Wild Man never came back.
Chapter 20
Brief Summary
Lancelot (Wild Man) is in Corbin and runs to the castle being chased by boys throwing rocks at him. The King, being naïve, took Lancelot in and made him a jester and made him sleep in the pigeon coop. On a festival day, the King gave out robes to everyone and he realizes he did not give one to the Wild Man so he gives him his own expensive robe and sets him free.
Chapter 21
Brief Summary
Elaine is at her father’s castle with her son and a few of her women from the convent. One of her women was playing a ball game and she finds Lancelot sleeping next to the well. Elaine recognizes him immediately and tells her father to help her. They take him to a good room with a feather bed and food and a doctor and everything. When Lancelot wakes up the doctor has the palace orchestra play music for him because the cure to madness was music. Lancelot comes back to his senses.
Chapter 22
Brief Summary
Elaine takes care of Lancelot and she offers him to live with her in a castle. Lancelot tells her that he does not love her and that she would be unhappy living with him but she is convinced that she will be happy. Lancelot sets some rules (no marriage) and Elaine agrees. They move into their new castle which used to be Sir Blaints castle but he moved out. Lancelot now lives under the name of Chevalier Mal Fet (the ill-made knight).
Chapter 23
Brief Summary
In a tournament Lancelot wins and all the other knights are frightened because they do not know that it is him. Soon thereafter two knights came to fight him and the first was quite a match but before Lancelot could win, the knight asked him who he was, Lancelot told him that he was Sir Lancelot and the other knight was Degalis and the third knight was Ector. Degalis and Ector are Lancelot’s brothers.
Chapter 24
Brief Summary
Lancelot’s brothers try to convince him to leave Elaine and come with them but he is not convinced. Then, Uncle Dap arrives. When Lancelot goes out to greet him, Elaine stalls him and asks him if he is going to leave and he says no, she also asks him if he’ll come back if he leaves and he says that he is not leaving but if he were to leave that he would come back. Uncle Dap does not say anything to Lancelot, he just shows Lancelot his old armor and Lancelot puts it on and rides away to court.
Chapter 25
Brief Summary
Everything is back to normal with Lancelot back at court, description of the new generation of knights, comparison between England before Arthur and during Arthur’s reign, Gareth and Mordred come to court.
Chapter 26
Brief Summary
Lancelot and Arthur are talking about Queen Morgause and all the scandals surrounding her (she and Lamorak have an affair even though she is three times his age). Lancelot dislikes Mordred even though he does not know that he is Arthur’s son. Gareth gets a message saying that his brothers Gawaine, Agravaine and Mordred killed their mother Queen Morgause because Agravaine found her in bed with Lamorak. Mordred stabbed Lamorak to death.
Chapter 27
Brief Summary
Gawaine and Mordred leave Agravaine because he is weak in their eyes, they go to court to beg pardon of Arthur and he forgives them although he is upset with what has become of his table. Arthur tells Guenever and Lancelot that he wants to make the knights go on a quest to find the Holy Grail so that they will not be idle. A messenger comes to tell Lancelot that King Pelles wants him to knight Galahad.
Chapter 28
Brief Summary
All the knights including Lancelot set out to find the Holy Grail. Gawaine comes home after a year and a half and tells Arthur and Guenever about his quest. He is told many times throughout his quest that he will not find the Holy Grail because of the blood he has shed in order to find it.
Chapter 29
Brief Summary
Lancelot’s cousin Sir Lionel is next to come back home and he tells Arthur and Guenever about his brother Bors’ quest. Bors encounters many difficult obstacles but passes them all because he strongly believes in his morals and his dogma.
Chapter 30
Brief Summary
Sir Aglovaine is the son of King Pellinore and he wants to kill Gawaine, Mordred and Agravaine for revenge. Arthur does not try to stop him; he just tells him that he trusts that since he is a Pellinore that he will make the right decision. Aglovaine tells Arthur and Guenever about his quest to find the Holy Grail which ends up being about a letter from his sister which is about their brother Percy.
Chapter 31
Brief Summary
Everyone that is still alive is showing up at court but Lancelot still has not shown up, people fear that he may be dead but one day he appears and goes directly to his apartments to rest. Uncle Dap goes to Arthur and Guenever to tell them what Lancelot has told him. Galahad, Percy and Bors have the Holy Grail but cannot bring it to Camelot and only Bors will be coming back home. Percy and Galahad will not.
Chapter 32
Brief Summary
Guenever is all dressed up for Lancelot but what he loves about her is not her looks but her personality. Lancelot sits with Arthur and Guenever to eat breakfast and tell them about his quest for the Holy Grail. In his quest Lancelot loses three jousts, this is because he has not confessed his sins. Lancelot then confesses his sins two different times to two different hermits.
Chapter 33
Brief Summary
Description of the holy boat that Lancelot was in with Sir Aglovaine’s sister who was dead. Galahad arrives on the boat and eventually Galahad has to get off the boat to pursue the Grail and Lancelot cannot because he is not pure. Lancelot arrives at a castle where he has to surpass many holy obstacles to reach a chapel within and hear mass from outside the chapel because the Holy Grail was inside and Lancelot could not go near it.
Chapter 34
Brief Summary
Compares Guenever to a lioness and a man-eater although she is just a ‘real’ person after all, Guenever wants Lancelot to be her lover again but he is devoted to God. Guenever is set upon getting him back.
Chapter 35
Brief Summary
Guenever asks Lancelot to leave so that she does not lose her sanity. Lancelot leaves court for her.
Chapter 36
Brief Summary
Description of fashion, dinner party hosted by Guenever because her popularity is lagging but in her party someone poisons the apple that was meant for Gawaine but it was eaten by a man named Patrick and he dies. Everyone suspects Guenever so there is a trial by combat to prove she is innocent. Sir Bors is her champion although he does not like women and she wanted Lancelot but he was nowhere to be found.
Chapter 37
Brief Summary
Sir Bors finds Lancelot so Lancelot fights in Sir Bors place. Lancelot defeats Sir Mador.
Chapter 38
Brief Summary
There is a tournament in honor of Guenever’s innocence and it is near the town of Corbin where Elaine lives. Lancelot goes to the tournament and he visits Elaine because she must be very upset after the death of their son, she is still waiting where he left her. Elaine tells him that he is going to stay with her forever.
Chapter 39
Brief Summary
Lancelot gets beaten at the tournament unfairly three to one, and he is wounded badly. Elaine nurses him back to health and she asks him to wear her token while jousting and he accepts, Guenever finds out about this token and she lets all her anger out on Sir Bors, Lancelot tells Elaine they need to talk.
Chapter 40
Brief Summary
Guenever and Lancelot fight a lot and Elaine commits suicide because she no longer has anything to live for since she finds out that Lancelot does not love her, Guenever turns all of a sudden and reproaches Lancelot and tells him that if he would have been kinder to Elaine then she would still be alive. Guenever pities Elaine.
Chapter 41
Brief Summary
Lancelot gets shot on the rump by a lady archer but he still competes in the next tournament. In this tournament Arthur and Lancelot joust, Lancelot defeats all of the Orkney brothers except Gareth who is on his team. Mordred and Agravaine plot to kill Lancelot, Sir Meliagrance is madly in love with Guenever. Arthur and Lancelot are talking about Tristram and King Mark when a page comes in and tells Lancelot that the Queen and her bodyguards where ambushed and they were taken captive by Sir Meliagrance. Lancelot is on his way.
Chapter 42
Brief Summary
Lancelot goes to Sir Meliagrance’s castle and when Sir Meliagrance finds out Lancelot is on his way he begs the Queen to forgive him and he surrenders. Lancelot and Guenever fall in love again.
Chapter 43
Brief Summary
Lancelot and Guenever are lovers again, Sir Meliagrance thinks that one of the wounded soldiers has been sleeping with the Queen so he accuses her of being a traitor to the King, Lancelot agrees to defend her in a combat but Sir Meliagrance tricks him and makes him fall into a pit.
Chapter 44
Brief Summary
Lancelot gets out of the pit the morning of the combat, Sir Meliagrance surrenders again when he sees Lancelot. Lancelot then offers to fight him without his helm, with his left side uncovered and his left hand tied behind his back and Sir Meliagrance happily accepts. Lancelot kills Sir Meliagrance.
Chapter 45
Brief Summary
This chapter basically summarizes the whole book by describing the changes in England. Sir Urre is a Hungarian knight who is cursed with wounds that only the best knight in the world can heal, he goes to Arthur’s court and Arthur lets all his knights try leaving Lancelot last. Lancelot prays to God that he can heal the knight for the knight’s sake and he heals him. Everyone cheers but Lancelot cries.
~Thoughts~
I think that the love triangle between Lancelot, Elaine and Guenever is really unfair not only because love is meant to be shared by two people not three, but because Elaine is the only one that was not loved back, she was just a third wheel.
I was also wondering why T.H. White depicted Lancelot as ugly and I think it was to stress the point that people loved him for his talent and personality (which is a little bit twisted too) and not for his looks.
I think that besides Gareth not one of them is good. They have all done at least one thing that would classify them as a bad person, Gareth is with Lancelot in the tournament instead of with his brothers which takes a lot of guts and also he disapproved of Mordred, Agravaine, and Gawaine especially after they killed his mother.
I definitely respect Arthur for choosing to ignore Lancelot and Guenever’s affair because it would be very difficult to deal with that kind of betrayal and I think that Arthur took the high road. I do not think that I would react the same way because I would not be strong enough to live knowing that the two people I love most are betraying me so I admire Arthur’s strength in that sense.
Brief Summary
Lancelot is a 15 year old prince from France whose father has taken him to England to help Arthur. Lancelot has only spoken to Arthur once but already loves him and his ideals. Arthur offers him to be a knight of the round table and Lancelot, of course, accepts. Lancelot is extremely self-conscious; he claims that when he becomes a knight he will not be known as Sir Lancelot but as the Ill-Made Knight.
Chapter 2
Vocabulary: fforbeshynge, bagge, jakete, schertes, pyssying, iijpeire, gantelez
Brief Summary
Comparison between jousting and cricket, description of the armory in Lancelot’s castle in France, description of training for knights, comparison between knights-in-armor and divers, Lancelot loves training.
Chapter 3
Brief Summary
To Lancelot, Uncle Dap is like Merlyn is to Arthur. Merlyn visits Lancelot and tells him about Nimue and Guenever and catches him up on everything that’s been happening with Arthur lately. Lancelot decides to run away to England to become a knight of the round table and takes Uncle Dap as a squire.
Chapter 4
Brief Summary
Lancelot is now in England and encounters a knight dressed in black on his way to Arthur’s castle, they battle and Lancelot wins. He then discovers that the dark knight was really Arthur. Arthur is happy to see Lancelot and takes him back to the castle in the meanwhile he catches him up on the chivalry changes. King Pellinore accidentally killed King Lot of Orkney and 3 of the Orkney brothers are Knights of the Round Table. Arthur gives Lancelot a jerfalcon. Lancelot does not consider Guenever a person until one day when he hurt her feelings.
Chapter 5
Brief Summary
Uncle Dap and Arthur notice that Lancelot and Guenever are falling in love. Uncle Dap reacts by lecturing Lancelot; Arthur on the other hand decides to take Lancelot with him to fight in the Roman Wars. Dictator Lucius allies with several other kings to declare war and get ransoms from England. The English win.
Chapter 6
Brief Summary
Lancelot is true to his word and thinks it to be the most valuable thing he posses, he is good but bad at the same time because he likes hurting people but wants to help. Guenever comes between him and Arthur and Lancelot decides to go on an adventure to get away from Guenever.
Chapter 7
Brief Summary
Description of how horrible it was to be poor in the ‘Might is Right’ time. Lancelot is on a quest to forget Guenever. Lancelot is riding around and he spots Sir Carados taking Sir Gawaine prisoner, Lancelot challenges Sir Carados and kills him. Lancelot continues riding on and he finds his cousin Sir Lionel, they ride together until Lancelot gets tired and lies down under a tree to sleep. Sir Lionel sees Sir Turquine chasing after 3 knights so he decides to challenge him. Sir Lionel loses and Sir Turquine takes him and the other 3 knights as prisoners. Lancelot, still asleep, is then found by a passing pageant by 4 Queens who are all witches. They argue over who will get him but one Queen, Morgan le Fay, casts a spell on him so they take him to her castle and let him decide which one he will take as his mistress. He rejects all of them and a damsel that is sent to give him food tells him that she can help him escape, he accepts her help. Description of tournaments. Lancelot agrees to help the damsel’s father, King Bagdemagus, win the tournament. He must travel through the forest to find the abbey where he is to meet the King but on his way he gets lost. He finds a pavilion and no one around so he sleeps in it but is suddenly awoken by a man sitting on his left foot. The man challenges Lancelot and so they fight while both are stark naked. Lancelot injures the other man (Sir Belleus). Sir Belleus’ wife starts yelling when she sees her husband with a gash across his stomach and starts calling Lancelot a murderer. Lancelot moves Sir Belleus to the pavilion and examines the wound which turns out to be a minor cut. Sir Belleus is grateful of Lancelot’s kindness so he lets him sleep there for the rest of the night and tells him the way to the abbey. Lancelot invites Sir Belleus to be part of the round table. Lancelot meets with the king and they settle everything, they win the tournament. Lancelot then goes to the magic apple tree that he fell asleep under and stops a woman to ask her for an adventure, knowing who he was, she sent him after Sir Turquine. Lancelot wins and sets all of the prisoners free.
Chapter 8
Brief Summary
Lancelot is riding and he sees a falcon get caught in a tree and a maiden tells him that it is her falcon and wants him to get it for her so he takes off his armor and climbs the tree, sets the falcon free and as he is climbing back down a fat knight rides up and challenges him without letting him put on his armor of get his sword. Lancelot was tricked by this knight’s wife who set her falcon loose to get Lancelot out of his armor. The fat knight tries to behead Lancelot but Lancelot manages to slit the fat knight throat. Later on, Lancelot was riding through a swampy area and he sees a knight chasing after his wife saying that she was an adulteress. Lancelot tells the other knight to swear he will not kills his wife and the knight does not swear, he instead tricks Lancelot by telling him that there were soldiers behind him, when Lancelot turned around the knight beheaded his wife. Lancelot wants to kill the knight but the knight begs for mercy. Then at the Pentecost feast all of the prisoners that Lancelot conquered kneeled to Queen Guenever instead of to Arthur because Lancelot had them all dedicated to her.
Chapter 9
Brief Summary
Arthur is depressed because his whole “Might for Right” society is not working out the way he expected, the knights were competing to see who could save more maidens and stuff like that and trying to prove they were better than another. The whole idea of a round table was so that there would not be any competition.
Chapter 10
Brief Summary
This chapter seems to have been written to make us understand Lancelot better. I wonder why in so many books I have read they all said that Lancelot was handsome but in this one it says that he is hideous. I feel horrible for him.
Chapter 11
Brief Summary
On his second quest, Lancelot is going to see King Pelles because his castle is haunted, when he arrives at the village of Corbin, where the Kings castle is located, he is received by all of the commoners telling him to save their princess, she is locked away in a tower and in a boiling tub. Lancelot saves her and she is introduced as Elaine. King Pelles invites Lancelot to stay with them.
Chapter 12
Brief Summary
Lancelot and King Pelles’ butler get drunk and Lance gets a message from Queen Guenever (Jenny) and Lancelot goes to her, they have sex and when morning came Lancelot discovers that he has been tricked. It was not Guenever, it was Elaine.
Chapter 13
Brief Summary
6th sense is balance, 7th sense is knowledge of the world. Guenever and Lancelot are united again and betray Arthur’s trust by having making love.
Chapter 14
Brief Summary
Arthur must leave to help Lancelot’s father in a war and Arthur asks Lance to stay in England. Lance and Jenny (Guenever) become lovers. Lancelot tells Guenever about his childhood daydreams.
Chapter 15
Brief Summary
Arthur returns to England after being away for a year. News comes to Lancelot that he has a son with Elaine named Galahad. When Guenever finds out she is very upset but she forgives him, although the seed of jealousy and hate is planted in their love.
Chapter 16
Brief Summary
Elaine is going to Camelot to see Lancelot and show him their son. Lancelot and Guenever fear Elaine’s arrival, both for different reasons. Arthur suspects that Lancelot and Guenever are having an affair but is to loving to behead them for treason and he is hopeful that his suspicions are wrong. Arthur speaks to Lancelot and Lancelot tells him a half true story about Elaine but leaves out Guenever. After Arthur leaves, Guenever talks to Lancelot and tells him that she will not stop him if he chooses to marry Elaine.
Chapter 17
Brief Summary
Elaine arrives and is greeted by Queen Guenever. Guenever is very unhappy and tells Lancelot that he should visit his baby but he is not to have sex with Elaine, in order to make sure that Lancelot is not with Elaine she is going to call him at night to check on him. Lancelot goes and visits Elaine and their son but leaves immediately after because Elaine practically threw herself at him.
Chapter 18
Brief Summary
Lancelot is called to go to the Queen but in reality it was Elaine and they had sex again but once again it was one of Elaine’s tricks. The next day Guenever calls both of them to her chamber and yells at them both. Elaine reveals the truth and Lancelot does not know what to do, he has been deceived again. The Queen does not believe her so she tells both of them to get out of her castle, Lancelot goes crazy and jumps out a window and runs away.
Chapter 19
Brief Summary
King Pelles and Sir Blaint are talking about a Wild Man; Sir Blaint had locked him up in a tower room and kept him there for a year and a half. The Wild Man was thought to be Lancelot but King Pelles thought that Lancelot had been killed by a wild bore. Sir Blaint tells King Pelles that he set the Wild Man free on a bore hunt and that the Wild Man never came back.
Chapter 20
Brief Summary
Lancelot (Wild Man) is in Corbin and runs to the castle being chased by boys throwing rocks at him. The King, being naïve, took Lancelot in and made him a jester and made him sleep in the pigeon coop. On a festival day, the King gave out robes to everyone and he realizes he did not give one to the Wild Man so he gives him his own expensive robe and sets him free.
Chapter 21
Brief Summary
Elaine is at her father’s castle with her son and a few of her women from the convent. One of her women was playing a ball game and she finds Lancelot sleeping next to the well. Elaine recognizes him immediately and tells her father to help her. They take him to a good room with a feather bed and food and a doctor and everything. When Lancelot wakes up the doctor has the palace orchestra play music for him because the cure to madness was music. Lancelot comes back to his senses.
Chapter 22
Brief Summary
Elaine takes care of Lancelot and she offers him to live with her in a castle. Lancelot tells her that he does not love her and that she would be unhappy living with him but she is convinced that she will be happy. Lancelot sets some rules (no marriage) and Elaine agrees. They move into their new castle which used to be Sir Blaints castle but he moved out. Lancelot now lives under the name of Chevalier Mal Fet (the ill-made knight).
Chapter 23
Brief Summary
In a tournament Lancelot wins and all the other knights are frightened because they do not know that it is him. Soon thereafter two knights came to fight him and the first was quite a match but before Lancelot could win, the knight asked him who he was, Lancelot told him that he was Sir Lancelot and the other knight was Degalis and the third knight was Ector. Degalis and Ector are Lancelot’s brothers.
Chapter 24
Brief Summary
Lancelot’s brothers try to convince him to leave Elaine and come with them but he is not convinced. Then, Uncle Dap arrives. When Lancelot goes out to greet him, Elaine stalls him and asks him if he is going to leave and he says no, she also asks him if he’ll come back if he leaves and he says that he is not leaving but if he were to leave that he would come back. Uncle Dap does not say anything to Lancelot, he just shows Lancelot his old armor and Lancelot puts it on and rides away to court.
Chapter 25
Brief Summary
Everything is back to normal with Lancelot back at court, description of the new generation of knights, comparison between England before Arthur and during Arthur’s reign, Gareth and Mordred come to court.
Chapter 26
Brief Summary
Lancelot and Arthur are talking about Queen Morgause and all the scandals surrounding her (she and Lamorak have an affair even though she is three times his age). Lancelot dislikes Mordred even though he does not know that he is Arthur’s son. Gareth gets a message saying that his brothers Gawaine, Agravaine and Mordred killed their mother Queen Morgause because Agravaine found her in bed with Lamorak. Mordred stabbed Lamorak to death.
Chapter 27
Brief Summary
Gawaine and Mordred leave Agravaine because he is weak in their eyes, they go to court to beg pardon of Arthur and he forgives them although he is upset with what has become of his table. Arthur tells Guenever and Lancelot that he wants to make the knights go on a quest to find the Holy Grail so that they will not be idle. A messenger comes to tell Lancelot that King Pelles wants him to knight Galahad.
Chapter 28
Brief Summary
All the knights including Lancelot set out to find the Holy Grail. Gawaine comes home after a year and a half and tells Arthur and Guenever about his quest. He is told many times throughout his quest that he will not find the Holy Grail because of the blood he has shed in order to find it.
Chapter 29
Brief Summary
Lancelot’s cousin Sir Lionel is next to come back home and he tells Arthur and Guenever about his brother Bors’ quest. Bors encounters many difficult obstacles but passes them all because he strongly believes in his morals and his dogma.
Chapter 30
Brief Summary
Sir Aglovaine is the son of King Pellinore and he wants to kill Gawaine, Mordred and Agravaine for revenge. Arthur does not try to stop him; he just tells him that he trusts that since he is a Pellinore that he will make the right decision. Aglovaine tells Arthur and Guenever about his quest to find the Holy Grail which ends up being about a letter from his sister which is about their brother Percy.
Chapter 31
Brief Summary
Everyone that is still alive is showing up at court but Lancelot still has not shown up, people fear that he may be dead but one day he appears and goes directly to his apartments to rest. Uncle Dap goes to Arthur and Guenever to tell them what Lancelot has told him. Galahad, Percy and Bors have the Holy Grail but cannot bring it to Camelot and only Bors will be coming back home. Percy and Galahad will not.
Chapter 32
Brief Summary
Guenever is all dressed up for Lancelot but what he loves about her is not her looks but her personality. Lancelot sits with Arthur and Guenever to eat breakfast and tell them about his quest for the Holy Grail. In his quest Lancelot loses three jousts, this is because he has not confessed his sins. Lancelot then confesses his sins two different times to two different hermits.
Chapter 33
Brief Summary
Description of the holy boat that Lancelot was in with Sir Aglovaine’s sister who was dead. Galahad arrives on the boat and eventually Galahad has to get off the boat to pursue the Grail and Lancelot cannot because he is not pure. Lancelot arrives at a castle where he has to surpass many holy obstacles to reach a chapel within and hear mass from outside the chapel because the Holy Grail was inside and Lancelot could not go near it.
Chapter 34
Brief Summary
Compares Guenever to a lioness and a man-eater although she is just a ‘real’ person after all, Guenever wants Lancelot to be her lover again but he is devoted to God. Guenever is set upon getting him back.
Chapter 35
Brief Summary
Guenever asks Lancelot to leave so that she does not lose her sanity. Lancelot leaves court for her.
Chapter 36
Brief Summary
Description of fashion, dinner party hosted by Guenever because her popularity is lagging but in her party someone poisons the apple that was meant for Gawaine but it was eaten by a man named Patrick and he dies. Everyone suspects Guenever so there is a trial by combat to prove she is innocent. Sir Bors is her champion although he does not like women and she wanted Lancelot but he was nowhere to be found.
Chapter 37
Brief Summary
Sir Bors finds Lancelot so Lancelot fights in Sir Bors place. Lancelot defeats Sir Mador.
Chapter 38
Brief Summary
There is a tournament in honor of Guenever’s innocence and it is near the town of Corbin where Elaine lives. Lancelot goes to the tournament and he visits Elaine because she must be very upset after the death of their son, she is still waiting where he left her. Elaine tells him that he is going to stay with her forever.
Chapter 39
Brief Summary
Lancelot gets beaten at the tournament unfairly three to one, and he is wounded badly. Elaine nurses him back to health and she asks him to wear her token while jousting and he accepts, Guenever finds out about this token and she lets all her anger out on Sir Bors, Lancelot tells Elaine they need to talk.
Chapter 40
Brief Summary
Guenever and Lancelot fight a lot and Elaine commits suicide because she no longer has anything to live for since she finds out that Lancelot does not love her, Guenever turns all of a sudden and reproaches Lancelot and tells him that if he would have been kinder to Elaine then she would still be alive. Guenever pities Elaine.
Chapter 41
Brief Summary
Lancelot gets shot on the rump by a lady archer but he still competes in the next tournament. In this tournament Arthur and Lancelot joust, Lancelot defeats all of the Orkney brothers except Gareth who is on his team. Mordred and Agravaine plot to kill Lancelot, Sir Meliagrance is madly in love with Guenever. Arthur and Lancelot are talking about Tristram and King Mark when a page comes in and tells Lancelot that the Queen and her bodyguards where ambushed and they were taken captive by Sir Meliagrance. Lancelot is on his way.
Chapter 42
Brief Summary
Lancelot goes to Sir Meliagrance’s castle and when Sir Meliagrance finds out Lancelot is on his way he begs the Queen to forgive him and he surrenders. Lancelot and Guenever fall in love again.
Chapter 43
Brief Summary
Lancelot and Guenever are lovers again, Sir Meliagrance thinks that one of the wounded soldiers has been sleeping with the Queen so he accuses her of being a traitor to the King, Lancelot agrees to defend her in a combat but Sir Meliagrance tricks him and makes him fall into a pit.
Chapter 44
Brief Summary
Lancelot gets out of the pit the morning of the combat, Sir Meliagrance surrenders again when he sees Lancelot. Lancelot then offers to fight him without his helm, with his left side uncovered and his left hand tied behind his back and Sir Meliagrance happily accepts. Lancelot kills Sir Meliagrance.
Chapter 45
Brief Summary
This chapter basically summarizes the whole book by describing the changes in England. Sir Urre is a Hungarian knight who is cursed with wounds that only the best knight in the world can heal, he goes to Arthur’s court and Arthur lets all his knights try leaving Lancelot last. Lancelot prays to God that he can heal the knight for the knight’s sake and he heals him. Everyone cheers but Lancelot cries.
~Thoughts~
I think that the love triangle between Lancelot, Elaine and Guenever is really unfair not only because love is meant to be shared by two people not three, but because Elaine is the only one that was not loved back, she was just a third wheel.
I was also wondering why T.H. White depicted Lancelot as ugly and I think it was to stress the point that people loved him for his talent and personality (which is a little bit twisted too) and not for his looks.
I think that besides Gareth not one of them is good. They have all done at least one thing that would classify them as a bad person, Gareth is with Lancelot in the tournament instead of with his brothers which takes a lot of guts and also he disapproved of Mordred, Agravaine, and Gawaine especially after they killed his mother.
I definitely respect Arthur for choosing to ignore Lancelot and Guenever’s affair because it would be very difficult to deal with that kind of betrayal and I think that Arthur took the high road. I do not think that I would react the same way because I would not be strong enough to live knowing that the two people I love most are betraying me so I admire Arthur’s strength in that sense.
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