A Review of The Quest of the Grail Part VI

                                                                  

                                                                     Chapter Seven:

After leaving an old hermit, Lancelot comes to a wood where he meets ways with a squire. The boy rebukes Lancelot and says that the grail deservedly went to the knight as Lancelot has been an unworthy Christian. At first, Lancelot was guilty of his sins as he met an old hermit in the woods. However, Lancelot becomes relieved that one of his friends was found to have not died in mortal (which would lead to hell). Likewise, Lancelot is reminded of how God is quick to return mercy to the repentant. The knight was additionally praised for having once been entirely pure (at least sexually speaking) in both mind and body. Finally, Lancelot is described in the dialogue as having once been a man of humility. 

Though Lancelot anticipates seeing the grail, the old man does not expect Lancelot to see it. The story implies that Lancelot was once a virgin, but has forsaken purity. In general, Lancelot is not portrayed as a lustful character that was never pure (as he is sometimes demonstrated to be in Hollywood films). Much of the seventh chapter of The Quest of the Holy Grail is concerned with the dialogue between the old man and Lancelot. In general, Lancelot learns of what he has lost: the opportunity to be a pure knight and help the grail be recovered. Displaying penitence, however, Lancelot prepared to return to the quest. The chapter continues as Lancelot turns to God for the forgiveness of his sins. The knight continues morning that he did not see the grail when he had been blinded by his sin. The chapter ends as Lancelot receives a vision from the Virgin Mary and then rides off into a local forest. The story then switches back to Gawain. 

                                              

                                                                  Thoughts:

How often do we see the Holy Grails in our life when our eyes are centered on our own desires? How often do we see the beauty of Celestial things when our hearts are hardened to sin. 

Lancelot is a symbol of all of us. He struggles with sins, and loses his way to find the grail because his eyes were not on God. Through spiritual discerment, we have the obligation of searching out what is God's will in our lives (Romans 12:2). Lancelot had to live with the guilt of his sin, and while eventually being penitent over it, he lost out on the beauty of Christ's gifts that he could have observed from an earlier stage of his journey. 

The Quest of the Holy Grail was written before Piers Plowman, Pearl, Pateience, Everyman, and The Pilgrim's Progress, yet in many ways, it foreshadows each of these works. Concerning it, it should be acknowledged that it is one of the foundation works of allegorical literature. Within The Quest of the Holy Grail are many of the same spiritual struggles that characters like Everyman and Christian are confronted by in other works of literature.