The Knight of the Cart (lancelot)

In this romance, there is a battle between reason and love. Both try to thwart the paths of the other. When love is taking control, there is always a sense of reason that prevents Lancelot from doing what he wants, and when reason has the better of him, love makes him go in a different direction. Reason is the logical explanation behind each action taken or decision made by Lancelot. Love is the attraction that Lancelot feels for Gweneviere and it has a way of pushing aside reason, when he tries to make a judgment. These two elements are almost the devil and angel inside of Lancelot. Neither one can be described as good or bad, but can be considered opposites of each other. Also, most times, love is a stronger trait in Lancelot than the process of thought and reason.

Lancelot is portrayed mostly as a love-struck man and not a very logical knight. From the first moment he is introduced, he is seen as someone sick from love. He will do anything to save his love, Gweneviere; even if that meant dishonor. When Lancelot rode on the cart, he was immediately labeled as someone bad. He pushed aside reason for love. "Because love ordered it, and wished it, he jumped in; since Love ruled his action, the disgrace did not matter." (212) There seemed to have been nothing that could stand in the path of Lancelot.

The final decision was that Lancelot did get on the cart in order to follow his love; however, there is a brief moment when he hesitated to do so. "The dwarf immediately continued on his way, without slowing down even for an instant for the knight, who hesitated but two steps before climbing in." (211) This shows that Lancelot indeed does have some reason, but not enough to persuade him to think things through.

When Lancelot falls in love, does he loose his sense of reason? From one perspective, one can say that Lancelot does loose his ability to think of the outcome because he does not care about what happens to himself. In some situations, love happens to be the reason for insensible or rash behavior, as in this romance. Can you really say that all reason is lost because of love, when love itself is the reason?