English 83

So I don’t know exactly what went on between Guinevere and Lancelot in “King Arthur’s Death,” because I didn’t read it. I read “The Death of King Arthur” by Thomas Malory and thought it was the same thing. My bad.

Anyway, in Malory’s version I thought it was really disconcerting how Lancelot and Guinevere admitted they were in love (to each other), and yet Lancelot kept insisting that he was so devoted to Guinevere that he would prove by combat that she was true to Arthur. Malory doesn’t say if they had sex or not. When they meet in the Guinevere’s chamber for the last time, he just writes “the queen and Sir Lancelot were together, and whether they were abed other at other manner of disports me list not thereof make no mention, for love at that time was not as love is nowadays.” (161)

I’m curious…did they have sex in the version I was supposed to read? Because I also forgot to buy it in the first place, so I can’t look it up and find out.  And if so, did Lancelot still go on about what a true and faithful wife she was?