What Is The Character Of Queen Guinevere

Many authors of the King Arthur legends had foreshadowed that Queen Guinevere was going to chaos and downfall of Camelot. She went from committing adultery with his ‘Best’ knight to siding with her nephew. Even Merlin had said that Gwen was someone to watch for and that Arthur should keep him out just in case he got hurt. Either way, she was perceived as bad. Queen Guinevere was one of the main reasons that Camelot had fallen; Lancelot’s and Guinevere’s affair did the most damage.

Guinevere and Lancelot’s affair contributed to the fall of Camelot by denting Arthur’s relationship with both, causing a civil war with Mordred, and bringing about the fates of both of them. As stated in the introduction of this essay, the affair had many dents to the relationship of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. According to many sources, it said that Arthur didn’t seem to notice, busy, innocent, or he even supported the relationship of the two. However, that’s not the case as King Arthur was not having it and noticed the affair. He had said that he will fight her mate in battle. They would fight and then argue about who is in Guinness's favor. It seems that Arthur and Lancelot had more and more battles until Gwen gave up and returned to Arthur. This completely dented their relationship.

Then there is Lancelot, he was the king’s best knight after all. He was basically famous around England. He would have knights follow around and his kingdom. King Arthur thought it was admiration from Guinevere’s side. When in all actuality, Lancelot had feelings for her too. They also believed that they had everything in control. Guinevere and Lancelot had their own little secret and sneaked around. It was going well on their terms until Mordred decided to reveal the adultery. Arthur seemed a bit upset, but it never went into detail about the emotion. While the affair tore away friendships, Camelot had suffered through the consequences of the affair and emotional effect. The treachery wasn’t only about relationships. It was about the destruction of Arthur, by his young nephew, Mordred.

Mordred, the son of King Lot and Morguesase, was the reason that the affair was evened out in the first place. After, Arthur killed him, and he killed Arthur. Without Mordred, chaos wouldn’t have led to the end of Camelot. Mordred had it in his plan to expose Lancelot and Guinevere’s affair. He had asked Sir Agrarian and other knights to expose the fling by leading Sir Lancelot to Queen Guinevere's room. It did not go as well as he hoped in as Arthur had already known about his wife’s adultery, but he wished it wasn’t necessarily put into the light with the other knights. If so, he seemed more or so okay with the fact they were having a secret relationship. Later, Mordred and Arthur declare war on each other which, according to most stories, causes the death of both of them. Although Mordred’s plan was elaborate, he knew what he was doing as well as the lovers. Giving Mordred to start a war with Arthur, eventually, both of them dying instead of ruling Camelot.

The fates of Guinevere and Lancelot are tragic and impactful towards modern stories and impacted the resolution of Camelot. Guinevere’s fate is seen as tragic, as her death was justice to what she did Arthur. After the fling was revealed, Guinevere was sentenced to be burned on a pole for adultery. Many civilians agreed she deserved it. Lancelot was able to escape before they could get there. He was hidden for a while until he found out Queen Gwen was getting burned. He saved her and took her to safety. After this, she became a nun. She died a sad soul and felt guilty for the death of Arthur.

Lancelot’s death was shortly after. When late King Arthur’s and Gawain’s was shed into light; he decided that he decided to go back to England. He chooses to look for Guinevere and finds her at a nunnery. His love of Guinevere, makes him become a priest. With his visions, he goes to Amesbury to see his former lover, Guinevere, found dead. He buries her next to Arthur and dies shortly after. Both of their fates were treacherous but understandable to the reader’s eyes. After the events of the affair, everything backfired and they died unhappily.

Lancelot’s and Guinevere's affair had messed up the future of Camelot, which caused the destruction of the Camelot, and eventually destroyed both of the lovers’ fates. Without the affair, Camelot probably would have still been standing, Mordred defeated, and Guinevere and Lancelot would have been alive. The only problem with that is that Guinevere and Lancelot would have been unhappy either way. Saying all this still doesn’t change the fact of the affair happened, but it does give Guinevere's point of view and Lancelot’s and why their motives were messy but loving at the same time and how it affected King Arthur and Camelot altogether.