1 Discussion Questions/Quote “Lancelot tried to have a Word. He considered it, as the ignorant country people still consider it, to be the most valuable of possessions […] His word was valuable to him not only because he was good, but also because he was bad. It is the bad people who need to have principles to restrain them. For one thing, he liked to hurt people. It was for the strange reason that he was cruel, that the poor fellow never killed a man who asked for mercy, or committed a cruel action which he could have prevented. One reason why he fell in love with Guenever was because the first thing he had done was to hurt her. He might never have noticed her as a person, if he had not seen the pain in her eyes” (339). 1.How does White characterize Lancelot’s loyalties here? In other words, what does this quote tell us about Lancelot as a character? 2.How does this trait affect/reflect White’s message(s) about love in Book III thus far? 3.Why is important to note that Lancelot recognizes pain in others and this inspires feelings of love?

Discussion Questions/Quote “When I started the Table, it was to stop anarchy. It was a channel for brute force, so that people who had to use force could be made to do it in a useful way. But the whole thing was a mistake. No, don’t interrupt me. It was a mistake because the table itself was founded on force. Right must be established by right: it can’t be established be Force Majeur. But that is what I have been trying to do. Now my sins are coming home to roost. Lancelot, I am afraid I have sown the whirlwind, and I shall reap the storm” (428). 1.How does the entrance of Gareth help us to understand the importance of this quote? 2.Explain the difference between Force Majeur and Right. 3.Explain the connection to the unicorn in this scene. 4.How does this prove everything we are saying about violence?

Discussion Question/Quote “He loved Arthur and he loved Guenever and he hated himself. The best knight in the world: everybody envied the self-esteem which must surely be his. But Lancelot never believed he was good or nice. Under the grotesque, magnificent shell with a face like Quasimodo’s, there was shame and self-loathing which had been planted there when he was tiny, by something which it is now too late to trace. It is so fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible.” 1.What is White’s message here about love and loyalty regarding children? 2.What is White saying here about our perceptions of others? 3.What is White implying about the perceptions of ourselves?

Discussion Questions/Quote “For Guenever the dread of Elaine’s arrival was not unconscious. She had known from the first moment that Elaine was bound to come. For her, however, as for all women, the dreads were in advance of the male horizon. Men often accuse women of driving them to unfaithfulness by senseless jealousy, before there has been any thought of un- faithlessness on their own part” (388). 1.What is White’s message here about loyalty and faith when it comes to gender roles? 2.Why should Lancelot be loyal to Guenever? Why does he have the right to not be loyal? 3.Do you think it’s fair for a man to blame a woman for being unfaithful? Who is to blame?

Discussion Questions/Quote “Long ago, when I had my Merlyn to help, he tried to teach me to think. He knew he would have to leave in the end, so he forced me to think for myself. Don’t ever let anybody teach you to think, Lance: it is the curse of the world” (432). 1.Do you agree or disagree with Arthur (last sentence)? Why or why not? 2.How does this statement relate to Arthur’s present problems? What was Merlyn trying to teach Arthur that has now “cursed” him? 3.How will Arthur’s lack of “thinking” harm him later?

Discussion Questions/Quote “All these people gave themselves up, not to Arthur, but to Guenever. Lancelot had kept himself away for a whole year, but there was a limit to his endurance. Thinking of her all the time and longing to be back with her, he had allowed himself this one indulgence. He had sent his captives to kneel at her feet. It was a fatal course of action” (362). 1.How does this tie to the topics of love and loyalty? 2.What is truly the most important part of this quote? 3.Explain why Lancelot’s sending captives to kneel at Guenever’s feet was such a dangerous course for him to take? 4.How does this translate to current day?