Lancelot's Obsession: Queen Guinevere

Throughout the writings of Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot goes through many obstacles before he can save his obsession, Queen Guinevere. Just at surface level, one would think that Lancelot is a true hero: by helping people, doing amazing acts of strength, and by defeating many people by his sword. While I do believe that said acts are noble I do not believe that makes Lancelot a true hero, but rather a reluctant one. His main concern was not about saving people it was about saving Guinevere. Because most of the events that happen during the story are just obstacles for Lancelot to overcome to reach his end goal and if he saves people that is great, but it was never his intention to be a hero. We see this early on in the story when Lancelot …show more content…
While Lancelot and the sons are being escorted to a later place of refuge a squire comes along and tells them that the men of Logres are terrorizing some people and that they need help. After the message has been delivered the squire then goes off, the eldest of the vavasor’s sons tells Lancelot that they should go help,” ‘Sir,’ said the vavasor’s son, ‘ listen to what this servant has said! Let’s go to the aid of our people who are fighting their enemies!” (Lacy & Wilhelm, 135). Instead of having Lancelot the leader of their little band and a bit of a legend at this point saying to aid their people. One of the sons has to inspire Lancelot to go. When you think of a hero he/she would be the first one to answer a call for help, especially if it is from one of your fellow countrymen, but since it did not have anything to do with Guinevere, Lancelot did not care.
Now I am not saying that Lancelot is a villain by any means. Throughout the story by Troyes, Lancelot does a lot of heroic things. He does them however for nonheroic reasons. Instead of saving people for the good of everyone he does them because he is persuaded to do so or by intern helping Guinevere. So instead of being a true hero, Lancelot is a reluctant hero because the means for his exploits are for selfish

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