“Then Sir Lancelot never after ate but little meat, nor drank, till he was dead, for then he sickened more and more and dried and dwined away. For the Bishop nor none of his fellows might not make him to eat, and little he drank, that he was waxen by a kibbet (551).”

I chose this quote because there is a motif of basically atrophying mentally and physically because of love or the lack thereof in medieval writings. It’s ironic that a knight, whose entire career is based off of killing those who threatened the king, dies because of his love for that king’s now dead wife. He managed to survive war but cannot survive the loss of someone who was never his. Every time I read a passage like this; I am reminded of Dante’s Vita Nuova two. The speaker in that particular text lost his wife. As a result, he became so frail and unhealthy that even his friends noticed. Another piece of literature that we have read and that I am reminded of is The Knight’s Tale. Arcite physically changes so much because he can’t be with Emilye that he is unrecognizable by his enemy who he starts to work for. Last but not least, we can’t forget another main text. It is by Capellanus and titled “De Amore.” He speaks about one’s heart palpitating and turning pale when in the presence of your lover. These reactions also sound unhealthy. With all this being said, the authors are saying that love can take down the bravest and the baddest man. I imagine that there were a few men who would have agreed with this assessment, especially if they had the chance to fall in love. However, many marriages were arranged and/ or based off of income, so there were probably more who felt that those who were controlled by so-called love were weak. Not to mention, they may have felt like being in love was a delusion.  As a whole, this quote demonstrates that it is a possibility that what Sir Lancelot felt for the Queen was love. He was willing to fight and die for her. When she was no longer around, he became ill just as other authors have written out their lovesick heroes.