Exactly how steamy is this story?
PG
The Victorians were pretty famous for not talking about sex, and Tennyson is no exception. Even though the story revolves around a sexual sin that brings down the Round Table—the affair of Lancelot and Guinevere—we don’t really get any sex.
We do get a little sexiness in the character of Vivien, whose “lissome” figure and clingy outfit sex her up for her seduction of Merlin, but that is never consummated. She’s the only character who actually talks about the physical aspect of Guinevere and Lancelot’s relationship, in a made-up story in which the two touch one another and kiss. Other than that, Lancelot and Guinevere’s affair is a rumor—something spoken of but never seen. Even when Mordred exposes them in Guinevere’s chamber, they’re just sitting together (gasp). You’ll have to look elsewhere (like to Hollywood) if you want to see Arthurian sex.