Essay about Courtly Love as an Ennobler in Romantic...

Lancelot, the knight of the cart, is in love with Queen Guinevere, who constantly compromises his reputation by embarrassing him . Chretien de Troyes writes Lancelot in The Knight of the Cart to be deeply in love, so much so that he constantly sacrifices his reputation for the queen. Classically, â€Å"the romantic hero developed from an extravagant to an ideal character† (Williams 275) in typical Romance literature. Although Romance literature has many variations, Lancelot portrays this transition from the extravagant, noble, knight to an ideal character in the tale. Lancelot depicts what is ideal for what a woman would want, and this in turn does ennoble him. Lancelot is ennobled by courtly love, but unintentionally. By placing himself above†¦show more content†¦He endures the pain without hurting his reputation because no one knows him, which leads to means in which he ennobles himself. This is set off by his suicidal thoughts, prompting a young girl to mistake thi s action as one of embarrassment for his reputation. â€Å"Won’t the news of his disgrace in the cart be known to all? He certainly should want to be killed, for he’s better off dead than living. Henceforth his life is shamed, scorned, and wretched† (de Troyes214). The girl then feels bad because she mocked him, and gives him horses and equipment with extra care to go find the queen. Lancelot was never worried about the embarrassment, but rather his love. The embarrassment, however, led him to both information and equipment to go after her. When he is offered more information, it’s love that makes him â€Å"strong and bold† and he literally offers to do anything (de Troyes 215). Without the girl’s compassion he wouldn’t have had the armor or information to save the queen, which would have made him devastated and humiliated without any chance at redemption. His cart incident is repealed by his ability to save the queen. Lancelot also r einforces his ability to overcome the petty gossip that emerges from his time in the cart. He sees no reason for it to bother him, because he knows why he jumped in, and he doesn’t refrain from expressing this. To spare a man he defeated in battle, he forces the man