Thomas Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur", Tells the story of King Arthur and his knights at the round table. Through this exhilarating story shows the misfortunes, achievements, battles, quests, treason and not to mention courtly love of these knights. Which fuels the burning passion and drive for them to succeed/win the heart of their damsels. These damsels are portrayed as powerful individuals that control knights through sexuality and agency. Malory set them as the ones who align paths for men to reach their knighthood, becoming end goals themselves and even objects within a system to be feared. .
Women in this story are the sign of power in Malory's eyes. They are the Holy Grail in which men would die for unconsciously. This is depicted by Morgan Le Fay through Accolon's actions when he tried to "slay King Arthur, her brother. For ye shall understand King Arthur is the man in the world that she most hateth, because he is most of worship and of prowess of any of her blood; also she loveth me out of measure as paramour, and I her again; and if she might bring about to slay Arthur by her crafts, she would slay her husband King Uriens lightly, and then had she me devised <119>to be king in this land, and so to reign, and she to be my queen"(120). Accolon broke several of his oaths of the round table: treason, quarrel for love, murder and right of giving mercy, all of these actions caused by one woman. Another is Lancelot and Guinevere, Lancelot sees her as this end goal. Therefore, he goes on all of these quests and challenges to show that he is the one. Not only that but he pushes all women aside only to focus on Guinevere. However, the problem is that Guinevere is King Arthur's wife. The influences of sexuality from Guinevere pushes Lancelot to be the best knight. .
Furthermore, this so called "power" ignites the flame of knighthood, because only through accomplishing quests set by these damsels would prove these men worthy of the title of a true knight.
