The Ill-made Knight

I wanted to point out that I love how different writers have taken on the character of Lancelot. In the Knight of the Cart, we see Lamcelot as a beautiful, skillful knight who much choose reason and honor over love. Then later, in the Lady of Shalott, we again see Lancelot as this perfect, chivalric Knight who inspires love in courtly ladies (even if they only see him through the lens of a dirty mirror.... And it brings a curse upon them).

Now we get to TH Whites adaptation, and we see Lancelot in a much different light. He's actually really creepy to be honest. He is ugly and "ill-made" and his self loathing and desire to be perfect is what sends him into fits of masochism and self harm. But it is also what inspires him to hone his skills and enables him to be the knight he is. His love for both Arthur and Gwen causes great conflict for him, and I think it makes us see him in as a human being with his own internal motivations, despite his rather weird tendencies. I think it is really cool that TH White took his character development in a completely different direction. It separates physical perfection from ones worth as a knight, and I think speaks volumes about the fact that this perfect brotherhood, this round table, is inherently imperfect because the men who constitute the order are intrinsically flawed themselves. Thus, the fall of Camelot becomes inevitable. It also relates to White's earlier assertion that knighthood is it's own unique kind of prison, because it places a plethora of unrealistic demands upon the men that take on the mantle (kind of a parallel to the magical mantle the women had to wear).

Lastly, it gives new motivation for Gwen's love for Lancelot. I think the fact that she can love him despite his hideous appearance makes her, to me at least, much less shallow.