Summary: Chapter 1
King Ban’s son Lancelot is skilled at games, but horribly
ugly. Arthur once explained to the young Lancelot his attempt to
end the principle of might makes right and asked Lancelot if he
wanted to help Arthur do so when he was older. Lancelot said he
would indeed like to join Arthur. Fiercely dedicated to Arthur,
Lancelot committed himself to a life of training.
Summary: Chapter 2
Uncle Dap, an expert on all things related to knighthood,
trains Lancelot. For three years Lancelot does nothing but learn
about knighthood and practice sword fighting and jousting. The narrator says
that Lancelot will eventually go on to be the greatest knight in Arthur’s
court. Lancelot practices by finding the weak points on armor, lifting
weights, and sparring against his brother and cousins in mock swordfights
with strict rules.
Summary: Chapter 3
One day, Merlyn tells Lancelot that Lancelot will be the
best knight in the world. He explains that Arthur has married a
woman named Guenever and that Arthur already has one hundred knights
at his Round Table. Lancelot is disappointed that Arthur has not
invited him to join the table. Merlyn appears with his beloved Nimue,
and they vanish for a sort of magical honeymoon. Lancelot decides
to leave for England immediately.
Summary: Chapter 4
Uncle Dap accompanies Lancelot as his squire. On their
way to Arthur’s castle, in Camelot, they encounter a knight in black
armor who challenges Lancelot to a joust. Lancelot defeats the knight,
who turns out to be King Arthur. Arthur is thrilled to see Lancelot
and knights him back at Camelot. At first, Lancelot is jealous of
Guenever because he is fiercely protective of his friendship with
Arthur and thinks she is coming between them. Guenever tries to
be friendly despite Lancelot’s rejection, but one day he lashes
out at her. Once Lancelot sees that he has hurt Guenever’s feelings,
he no longer sees her as an evil interloper.
Summary: Chapter 5
Lancelot and Guenever, now reconciled, begin spending
more time together. Uncle Dap and Lancelot argue about Lancelot
and Guenever’s relationship, and Lancelot ultimately says that Uncle
Dap can remain in Camelot only if he refrains from insinuating anything about
Lancelot and Guenever. Arthur is too kind to believe rumors of this
relationship, having managed to bury Merlyn’s warning in the back
of his mind. To erase his doubt, Arthur decides to bring Lancelot
with him to fight the Romans. Lancelot is angry that he is not left
behind to guard Guenever, but he goes nonetheless. The war lasts
several years—Arthur eventually becomes the overlord of most of
Europe, with Lancelot as his new champion and friend.
Summary: Chapter 6
[H]e had a contradictory nature which
was far from holy. . . for one thing, he liked to hurt people.
See Important Quotations Explained
Lancelot and Arthur return to England determined that
nothing can divide them, and they are welcomed with great cheer.
When Guenever greets them, however, it becomes clear to Lancelot
that she can indeed come between him and Arthur. If he were a less
principled man, the narrator says, Lancelot might simply run off
with Guenever. Instead, he fights his attraction. But since he cannot
stand to be around Guenever when Arthur is around, he decides to
leave the court and go on a quest.
Analysis: Chapters 1–6
In the third book of The Once and Future King,
White introduces Lancelot, a staple figure of English literature;
however, White takes a very different approach to the great knight
than that of the romantic interpretations we are used to seeing.
Traditionally, Lancelot is a handsome and brave fighter, and his
affair with Guenever, while forbidden, is portrayed as sweepingly
romantic and passionate. White offers no such portrayal. From the
very beginning, everything about the Lancelot he shows us is painful
and distorted. As a young boy, Lancelot is incredibly ugly, and
although he is touchingly loyal to Arthur, he is a sullen loner.
Even the title of the book, “The Ill-Made Knight,” signifies a character
who is poorly put together. Lancelot is a talented fighter, but
this quality never seems to be particularly great or triumphant.
Instead, it appears as though Lancelot fights well because he is
incapable of anything else. Furthermore, everything that Lancelot
does to escape his fate only traps him further in it. By immersing
himself in quests to try to forget Guenever, Lancelot becomes a
hero, which in turn makes her fall more in love with him.
The similarities between Lancelot and King Arthur highlight
the eventual contrast in how each man reacts to Guenever’s infidelity. Each
grows up an outsider: Arthur is a runtish orphan dubbed “the Wart,”
while Lancelot suffers insults for his ugliness. Frustrations of youth
spur both men to hone their natural talents: Arthur engages in political
discussions with Merlyn; Lancelot pursues chivalric ideals under
the tutelage of Uncle Dap. Arthur and Lancelot are both outsiders
pursuing abstract systems of individual perfection—one political
wisdom, the other chivalry—and, respecting each other’s commitment
to personal excellence, they develop a close friendship. Lancelot’s
eventual treachery with Guenever is insidious because it is a betrayal
of a friendship and of the values on which that friendship is established.
Arthur’s esteem for others and his trust in their adherence to a
shared code proves to be his undoing, because he cannot suspect
his wife and good friend of transgressing this code.
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