Whereas "Arthur and King Lucius" celebrates the chivalric ideal as it informs and supports the group, the tale of Launcelot celebrates the ideal as embodied in one man. Launcelot's encounter with Tarquin is an obvious contrast between the best of knights and one of the worst: Tarquin fights for personal vengeance and delight in cruelty, scorning the Order of Knighthood and all its laws; Launcelot fights in defense of the Order.
But from this point on, the tale is paradoxical. Forcing men to submit to Kay, then wearing Kay's armor, Launcelot seems to fight not for personal glory but for virtue's sake — the glory going, at least for the moment, to Kay. At the Chapel Perilous he proves his faithfulness; in other battles he proves his wit, his pluck, and his mercy. On the surface Launcelot's love of Guinevere is not a central concern in this tale; but one notices that while various characters speak of the rumor of Launcelot's love for Guinevere, Launcelot himself never admits to it. He in fact denies that he is in a position to love or that Guinevere is anything but faithful to Arthur.
Launcelot's expressed views on love and marriage contrast dramatically with those of Uther and the Arthur of the first tale, ironically recalled in this tale when Launcelot stumbles onto Tentagil Castle. When Launcelot hears that this is the castle where Arthur was adulterously conceived, Malory says cryptically, "'Well,' seyde sir Launcelot, 'I understonde to whom this castel longith.' And so he departed frome them and betaught hem unto God." (The Tentagil episode is not found in Malory's sources.)
