Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2011-08-20 04:00 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2011-08-20 04:00 pm
[ SECRET POST #1691 ]
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 13 pages, 314 secrets from Secret Submission Post #242.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 2 3 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 1 - repeats ]
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments and concerns should go here.
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(Anonymous) 2011-08-21 03:17 am (UTC)(link)Er? You do know Arthur cheated on her like a bastard, right? I say good on her for grabbing her happiness where she could find it. Even so, who she chose to love has nothing to do with her capabilities as queen (unless one considers "standing around being chaste while the menfolk do important stuff" a big criteria for the job, of course).
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"Like a bastard" = nice choice of words, lol. Well, it depends what version (as always). Sometimes Morgause uses magic to look like Guinevere in order to conceive Mordred.
Don't get me wrong, I think Guinevere's actions were very human and understandable under the circumstances. Arthur was even pretty forgiving about it and upset mostly because it put him in a position where he was expected to sentence her for treason. After all, he always had to be the king first and her husband second, and he left her alone for years while he was off chasing a pipe dream on the quest for the grail. What drew her to Lancelot was that he was so devoted to her and would do anything for her. But she should have expected that marrying Arthur would mean accepting big responsibilities they'd both have as king and queen. Not only was her infidelity considered a serious betrayal of the crown, but it was with one of his greatest friends and most trusted knights in his service, and the loss of that trust was one thing that led to the round table and Arthur's rule dissolving into a mess. I don't feel she was a bad person, but a good queen just wouldn't be that careless about how her actions affected others.
Sure, it's bullshit that she should be expected to be such a flawless pillar of virtue as the queen even though Arthur cheating on her would be no big deal, but I just can't see her as this admirably defiant female because I don't think she saw the situation that way. Neither she or Lancelot thought Arthur deserved to be betrayed, they just wanted what they wanted and of course were doomed to their fate.
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(Anonymous) 2011-08-21 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)But she should have expected that marrying Arthur would mean accepting big responsibilities they'd both have as king and queen.
She didn't have a choice in the matter, though. Arthur wanted/needed to marry her, so he sent word to her father, who agreed, and Guinevere was delivered to Camelot to be Arthur's queen. Her consent didn't really factor into the equation.
What's interesting is that Arthur knew all along that Guinevere and Lancelot were inevitable (Merlin even tells him so in one or two versions). He accepted it, as long as Guinevere didn't leave the marriage. Of course, her sexual misadventures have been given a lot of focus, but if we look at the time when those tales were set, rather than the morality of the medieval writers who retold them, they're not a problem in themselves. It's when Guinevere is so overcome by her love for Lancelot that she's no longer satisfied just being lovers - she wants to live with him away from Camelot, as husband and wife - that the trouble starts. When Arthur is off doing war against Lancelot toward the end of the legends, Guinevere actually has to lock herself in the tower of London to avoid marriage to someone else, which suggests being married to her did give a man some right to rule. Possibly a portion of the population were allied to her family and would follow any "king" who had her for a wife. So in that sense - with her locking herself away to avoid Arthur's enemies gaining an advantage on home field - she did her duties admirably.
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(Anonymous) 2011-08-22 04:11 am (UTC)(link)Makes me wonder why they never had children with Guinevere.