What do Lanval, The Dead, and The Lady of Shalot have in common, besides you wouldn't recognize all three titles unless you just took a British Literature class? It's that lovers can easily betray each other and each others feeling with or without knowing. The more involved with a character we become, the better we know the character, the clearer we as the reader can feel the emotion of the character.
Lanval is a pretty flat character, not completely static or two dimensional, but not quite 2.5 dimensional either. There is definitely some good background on Lanval, but it is more of information that describes his physical status, not his emotional status. The tale describes a basic layout of who Lanval is, and that he is far away from home, and no one really cares about him, but the tale never really goes into depth about he feels about it. The book simply says “ Now Lanval was in difficulty, depressed and very worried.” (line 33-34 p122) That is a whole two lines to sum about a persons complex emotional state.
When Lanval is down by the river and is introduced to his Lady, she does not hold back with her feelings at all and lets Lanval know that she is in love with him. It doesn't take long for Lanval to reciprocate those feelings. The Lady says “
“Lanval sweet love
because of you I have come from my land;
I came to seek you from far away.
If you are brave and courtly, no emperor or count or king
will ever have known such joy or good;
for I love you more than anything.” (p123-124 l,110-116)
This is coming from a woman who's mere shift is worth more than any king has in his coffers. On top of being rich, the queen is amazingly beautiful, as in the best looking woman in the world. Even greater and more unbelievably the Lady tells Lanval she will give him great gifts that he can keep or give away, as much as he wants. Lanval seems to have scored the most eligible woman in the world, but as he is about to leave, after having dinner and sex, the Queen tells Lanval not to speak of her to anyone, if he does she will not see him anymore. This is a weird request to make, especially since the two are so in love. Throughout this whole section though we are only told what the characters feel, it is like exposition. No one wants to read a story where character's are always blurting out how they feel, it isn't real and it makes it harder to connect with those characters.
There has to be a conflict to face even in every tale and Lanval is not different. Lanval makes his mistake and tells Queen Guinevere that his girlfriend is better looking than the Queen, by doing this he has betrayed his Lady's wishes. Lanval's Lady had told Lanval specifically not to mention her to anyone, that was her only wish, for if he did she would visit him again. With that betrayal Lanval has thrown his whole world into disarray. Guinevere lies her husband King Arthur and says that Lanval has slandered her by saying Lanval's Lady is prettier than Guinevere. To let his wife know that he cares, Arthur puts Lanval on trial for slander against his wife, and unless Lanval can prove that Lanval's Lady is prettier than Guinevere Lanval will be exiled.
Lanval is locked away for days where he resides, and while he is being held he is pining for his love, but she doesn't come to him. People come regularly to check on him to see if he has eaten and to make sure he hasn't killed himself. Lanval is in a bad place like people get when they love have betrayed them. This is a little better than a character coming out and saying how they feel, but the author is still telling us that Lanval is depressed. The thing is, Lanval betrayed the Queen first. The rules of love are different from couple to couple, to say that by betraying the Lady's wishes that Lanval is getting what he deserves. Perhaps the Lady not saving Lanval isn't in retaliation for Lanval's betrayal, but no other reason is given. Most people can connect with Lanval in this part of the story; most people have felt the pain of having a fight with someone they love and not being talked to while their lover figures some things out. This give adds to the idea of who Lanval is as a real person, not just a story book character.
The trial happens and it looks like Lanval is going to be exiled, but at the last minute, his love shows up to prove his claim. Lanval says “ By my faith, that is my love. Now I don't care if I am killed, if only she forgives me.”(P.133, L, 597-599) All is well and the two most beautiful lovers in the world ride off into the sunset. Lanval's betrayal is forgiven, but still punished. The Lady wanted to let Lanval know he had made a mistake and it was a clear message. Disobey me and their will be consequences, but I do love you enough to save you.
Lanval is a lot like a fairy tale. The character's depth isn't to deep, but we do end up caring at least a little bit about them. Instead of letting the reader figure out what is going through the characters mind the author paints a very clear picture. Since there is modest investment the reader does not feel a big mental hit when the main character is hurt by a lovers betrayal. In the tale of Lanval the betrayal is very cut and dry, but not so in The Dead.
Gretta and Gabriel, Gabe for short, are attending a yearly party at Gabe's aunts. The story is told through Gabe's perspective and what is going on in his mind in the stream of consciousness style. Since we are insides Gabe's head we can really get an idea of who the man is and he is a bit of a stuffed shirt. Even though he doesn't show it Gabe is fragile, as is his mental picture of himself, he likes to think that he is a great person who is above politics, but is easily shaken when challenged. He considers himself to to be an academic and quite enjoys being the center of attention even though it seems to make him a little nervous.
At first the length of the story seemed to be off putting. I was like where is the point. I just read thirty pages about how Gabe isn't really sure of himself, how he has to strike back at a person who isn't even at the party anymore because they made a comment about him that he couldn't defend at the time. Or how the housemaid made him feel awkward when he hit on her and how he thought he was above everyone else. Gabe also seemed to make his wife partake in things that maybe weren't of her choice like making her wear goloshes or where they go for vacation. Then after a few reads I realized I felt the impact of his betrayal more than Lanval's, or in the Lady of Shalot. This is because the author invested the time in the character's background and I invested more time in the character.
At the end of the party Gabe notices Gretta acting a little off, he is hoping to get lucky and in his mind he has already pre-planned how it will happen when they get back to their room. When they arrive at the room Gabe puts his plan in motion and it starts to go his way, but comes to an abrupt halt when Gretta burst into tears. It comes out that a song at the party reminded Gretta of a young man who died for her attention and love when she was a fresh adult. The young man who died was named Michael Furey.
Gabe didn't know the boy was dead and thought she wanted to go see him. This is when Gabe really starts to feel that he is being betrayed. The woman he loves, spent half of his life with, has a child with, gave her love to someone else. It is a hit to a person when they find out their lover has had another. To know that the person you share everything with, cares deeply about you, cares/cared about another and you are just finding out now. Gabe asks how the boy died and Gretta says” I think he died for me.” She goes on to explain that he was sick and she was going to leave town to go be at a nunnery. Michael wanted her to stay and the night before Gretta left he came to see her. The thing is it was raining out and Michael told her flat out he wouldn't want to live without her, but she tells him to go home and leaves anyway. A week later Gretta got a letter saying the young boy had died. Gretta betrayed her love for Michael by going off to the nunnery and now she is haunted by what might have been. This is much more in depth than either “Lanval” or “The Lady of Shalot” which makes the reader feel the emotional punch of the betrayal even more.
When Gabe finds all this out he has to be in shock. His life has gone from ideas of lovemaking with his wife and not being home so he does not have any responsibility to this. Still people love other people, it is not like Gabe probably hadn't fancied other women, but Gretta didn't tell him anything about Michael. It probably was her belief that she had killed the boy that kept her from saying anything, but her holding that back is a betrayal of sorts. Gabe also feels like he hasn't truly lived, perhaps the impact of Gretta loving another is the most emotional trauma he has ever been through. It is as if Gabe has betrayed himself by playing it safe all his life, he has never felt anything powerful enough to die for. This is a feeling that most of us have had, that perhaps we have not lived with enough passion. In “The Lady of Shalot” a moment of passion costs the lady her life.
The tale takes place the King Arthur/Camelot universe like “Lanval,” only this time King Arthur's son, Lancelot, is involved. In this tale of tragedy the two people never even meet, not while both are alive anyway. There is little emotion in this tale, the characters are very flat and little to no emotion is felt.
The Lady of Shalot was cursed to only see the world or at least other people through her mirror. It is not clear if she is also meant to stay in one room or in one building, but it would probably be pretty hard to carry around a large mirror to go to dinner or the bathroom. This might be a statement of the time about how women had their place in the house and were meant to stay in that role, at home. Then one day as she is weaving her “web of gay colors.(p618 b2)” The Lady sees Lancelot. It must have been love at first sight, or a moment of true passion, because she leaves her mirror to get a better look at him. When the Lady leaves her mirror the curse that is placed on her breaks and so does the mirror. She takes what time she has left and heads to river, grabs a boat, paints The Lady of Shalot on it, hops in, and heads off to meet Lancelot. The Lady never makes it, she dies in that boat before she can see the face of Lancelot up close. The whole time she is still alive in the boat she is singing her last song.
Even though the characters do not have very in depth emotions tied to them, I still tear up when reading the part of The Lady singing when she goes down the river. She is dying for the idea of love, or at least for the chance of it. She has broke her bonds and is living her best in the short time she has left. Like in the dead he, Gabe is afraid he has never lived, The Lady is forced into it by her curse.
Lancelot betrayed The Lady by not being present until she was dead. I am not saying that it is his fault for not being there, how could he have known? But in the Lady's mind she must have felt some betrayal by Lancelot, he is the one she chose to give up her life for. She would have wanted to at least kiss him once or even got to know his name. All the Lady got was an image, one good look and she knew that this is the one and she off like a bowshot. As she was getting in the boat and as she lay there in the boat singing, breathing her last breathes, was she thinking why?
Some tales have more betrayal than others. The depth of betrayal seems to coincide with the depth of character. The pain and remorse I felt for Gabe was more intense than it was for Lanval or the Lady. Perhaps that is also because I have known the impact felt when your lovers tells you that they have been with another. I have yet to feel the touch of death or nor have I had anything close to the Lanval story happen to me. Both “The Dead” and “The Lady of Shalot” touch on the idea of the candle burning brightly, but burning out quicker because of it. Still that passion that those characters must have felt, to die for their love must be amazing. It could be interpreted that Lanval died for his love as well. The way his story ends, by jumping off a high place then to follow his lady and leave society as he knows it forever, could be taken as him following her into death. The Lady's tale, even with it's short amount of detail on character emotions can make me feel as much as a story about a character I am deeply invested in. Perhaps it is not about the investment in a character, but how the story ends and how the character chooses to face their destiny.