The Code Of Honor In The Knight Of The Cart

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During the medieval period, knights were to follow the code of honor. The knights lived by this code, however, if they were to go against it, they would be considered dishonorable. In the Arthurian Romance epic poem, The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot), by Chretien de Troyes, there were many times when the knights went against the code of honor. The author puts little emphasis on chivalry throughout the epic poem, even though it’s a major concept to the knights. Disloyalty was displayed multiple times whether it was towards the king or a lord. Some of the knights had disregarded the nobility and acted on their own. Lancelot exhibited this trait through his love for Guinevere. Guinevere is King Arthur’s wife, yet Lancelot slept with her. He also had no doubts or guilty feeling when committing the dishonorable deed. Despite being the hero in this epic poem, he had not display the act of loyalty a knight should have to the king. Another example is when …show more content…

There were numerous times where the knight Meleagant had fought shamefully. Even if Meleagant is a villain, he is a knight who should follow the code of honor. For example, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight was the villain, but he fought honorably against Sir Gawain. The Green Knight did not use any tricks to try to win, instead he fought fairly. When Meleagant first fought Lancelot, he continued to attack him even though he wasn’t fighting back. King Bademagu saw that Meleagant was losing and asked the Guinevere to stop Lancelot from killing him. Guinevere decided to help the king and told Lancelot to stop fighting. Meleagant saw this and continued to attack Lancelot out of anger and shame. It is unchivalrous to attack an unarmed man and King Bademagu understood this and called his son cruel. Meleagant showed this dishonorable act once again when he imprisoned Lancelot. He used underhanded tactics in order to

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