Launcelot Vs. Meliagrance

One cannot flip through the different news channels or scroll through a news column without seeing a story or two about violence. Violence has become a regular occurrence and rarely do people think about the motives behind crimes, robberies, and fights. Similar to society today, the Arthurian world is full of violence and brutality. Each aggressive action that a knight commits has some sort of rationale behind it that motivated the knight to act violently. The individuals in Arthur’s world rely on violence toward others and engaging in violent actions to display their power to and get what they want.

Launcelot and Meliagrance strive to show their dominance over others by fighting for love and honor. Throughout Book XIX of Le Morte d’Arthur

Meliagrance displayed his power over Sir Launcelot because he was able to take something of Launcelot and use it to his advantage. Not only did Meliagrance have authority over Launcelot in that moment he also had the Queen and her knights under his control because after much fighting and people dying the Queen decided to surrender and go with Meliagrance to his castle (2). In this moment, Meliagrance was given the power to rule over a group of people that he previously could not have through the use of violence. Sir Launcelot definitely has power over many people in the Arthurian world because of his strength and good battle skills. However, there are many instances where he must fight for his honor in order to keep his dominance over the Arthurian world. Launcelot has just heard news that Queen was taken and he must go and get her back because he did not want to be shamed by society. The best archers of Sir Meliagrance killed Launcelot’s horse thus, he must find another way to get to Guenever by riding in the cart, “Then Sir Launcelot leapt onto him [the carter], and gave him such a buffet that he fell to the earth stark dead.” (5). Launcelot killed the cart driver because his

Sir Meliagrance believes that one of the ten knights that were in the room with the Queen slept with her over the night and challenges Sir Launcelot to a battle in order to prove that he is right (9). The problem is that Meliagrance knows that he is going to lose because he is fighting against Launcelot and in order to win Meliagrance planned a trap, “ he [Launcelot] trod on a trap and the board rolled, and there Sir Launcelot fell down more than ten fathom into a cave” (10). Meliagrance did this violent act in order to further his own interests and well-being. If Launcelot did not attend the battle, Meliagrance would win, Queen Guenever would be burnt at the stake, and the mention of any of the treason that he committed would be gone. Meliagrance believes he deserves to be given mercy and not punished for any of his wrongdoings because he pleads for mercy multiple times to Launcelot and the Queen. Launcelot also uses the technique of fighting to get what he wants; in this case, it is the woman, Queen Guenever. During the battle between the two knights, Launcelot does not want to give mercy to Meliagrance so instead, he gets approval from the Queen and tells Meliagrance that he will fight unarmed and with his left hand tied behind his back (12). With this disability Launcelot still can win, “and then with great force Sir Launcelot