Reserving "the honoure to God" and fighting not for his own sake but for his lady, Launcelot is the ideal embodiment of "vertuouse love." In "The Poisoned Apple" he fights for his lady's life, despite her cruel treatment of him. (It should be observed, however, that Malory's moving presentation of Guinevere's irrational jealousy makes her treatment of Launcelot not so much "cruel" as poignantly and infuriatingly feminine, so that Launcelot's return to defend her comes as no surprise.) In "The Fair Maid of Astalot" he fights because to stay away might be to endanger her reputation. In "The Great Tournament" he fights because she asks him to — and fights despite a wound which makes it all but impossible for him to ride.
"The Knight of the Cart" introduces new complications: here Launcelot does not fight, though he wants to with all his heart, and the reason is that Guinevere forbids it. (Launcelot's huge and beautiful horse has been stupidly murdered by Melliagaunce's archers. Torn apart by arrows fired by cowards who will not stand and fight, the horse trails its master until it drops. When Guinevere sees Launcelot approaching on his cart, Malory says, "she was ware where cam hys horse after the charyotte, and ever lie trode hys guttis and hys paunche undir hys feete." Malory could hardly have provided more shockingly dramatic justification for the rage Launcelot stifles at his queen's request.)
At the end of "The Great Tournament," on the other hand, Launcelot kills Melliagaunce because, looking to the queen for a signal, he sees that "anone the quene wagged hir hede uppon sir Launcelot, as ho seyth 'sle hym.' " He offers to lash one hand behind his back and fight with his left side exposed because he cannot honorably slay a beaten knight otherwise. "The Healing of Sir Urry," a secular parallel to Galahad's healing of the Maimed King, is Malory's dramatic demonstration that within his sphere Launcelot is virtuous.
But the fact remains, Launcelot's absolute faithfulness to Guinevere forces him into a loyalty conflict. He now jousts consistently on the side opposed to King Arthur. Worshipfully loving "one bettir than another," Launcelot has had to choose between queen and king.
