Character Analysis Lanval

In Marie de France’s Lanval, the main character is a man named Lanval who seems to be an all around honorable man. The story starts out with Lanval being part of King Arthur’s following. He is a prince from a far away kingdom, and so he is ostracized. Because of this, he tries his hardest to make friends with the knights- he is valiant, brave, generous, and everything a knight should be, but it is for this reason that they begin to dislike him (pg 1408, line 19). When Arthur “forgets” to give Lanval a gift in celebration as he as done with all the other knights, no one says a thing. Instead of whining or even simply asking the king as many would, he says nothing. It is also stated in the text that “he had spent all his wealth, for the king gave him nothing, nor did he ask,” (pg 1408, line 30) so it is assumed that Lanval is frivolous with his money. He is also known among the knights for his generosity (pg 1408, line 21).
The knight soon decides to leave the city and
In his anger, he had broken his promise to his lady, and now expects to never see her again. He is distraught; his friends now must check on him every day to make sure he is taking care of himself (pg 1416, line 411). It seems like he became dependant on his lady, and now he just doesn’t know what to do without her. He quickly gives up hope, and in turn, gives up his will to live. The story is all tied together when, on the last day of his trial, his lady comes to prove his statement correct without a doubt and save him from impending doom. They ride away together to a distant land and presumably live happily ever after.
In this story, Lanval seems to have the whole “handsome, brave knight” character type down. He seems to do no wrong, is loyal to a fault, and is honest even when his life literally depends on it. What little faults he seems to have are at the very least honorable to some extent. All in all, Lanval seems to be the purest form of the word