Arthur was almost cast as a spineless character that gave in to the others’ urges to punish Guinevere for her actions. Not to mention the fact that it was Lancelot that the knights admire and try to model their behavior after; not necessarily after their king. This causes an involved and critical reader to question the reasoning behind this; something that Malory surely expected. It could be that Malory projected himself onto the character of Lancelot in order to defend his own honor and, indirectly, earn back the virtuous title of Knight. Certain similarities between the two of them are undeniable. To start off with the basics, they were both knights, thus they both followed codes of chivalry. Malory made sure to remind his readers…show more content… The theory is that Lancelot represents man’s internal struggle between good and bad. He embodies the fleeting good that man carries within, while attempting to cover the darkness that lies beneath. According to Jesmok, “Malory probes the dark side of humanity, exposing the chaos beneath. He reveals the armed knight as menace as well as savior”(88). This is very similar to Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jesmok brings to her readers’ attention “The Book of Tristam”, in which Lancelot’s desire for battle is almost uncontrollable(81). She also calls into attention the Tale of Lancelot, in which Phelot’s wife used his duty to chivalry to trick and ambush him. Lancelot felt enraged by this and slew Phelot without giving him a chance to defend himself(84). A similar thing occurred when Lancelot was unable to prevent Pedivere from beheading his wife. This time, Lancelot opted out of killing him and decided to instead send him to Guinevere. With this, he kills two birds with one stone; he brings Pedivere to justice and, “ennoble his own already sullied lady.” Here, Lancelot acted to his own benefit and not following the code of chivalry. Jesmok goes one step further and claims that Pedivere is Lancelot’s alter ego, “a suppressed self that will later emerge to attack and murder his fellow knights.” She points out that like Pedivere, Arthur attempted to make his wife pay for her treason and Lancelot tried to stop them both. Here, she definitely went too far because by this argument Pedivere would only be foreshadowing Arthur’s