Assigning Value in Le Morte d'Arthur

In the third excerpt of Le Morte d’Arthur, I noticed a difference between what the Knights of the Round Table valued and what we may value today.  King Arthur and company tend to focus on the big picture while I’m stuck losing the forest for the trees.  Most of the characters involved easily overlook Lancelot and Gwynevere’s transgressions, only to focus their attention on maintaining their group dynamic.  Arthur even goes on to say, “I regret less the loss of my queen … than of our fellowship, which was surely without equal in all Christendom” (502). From a modern perspective, this points to a lack of humanity on the part of all those involved, but perhaps Malory’s contemporary readers were more interested the ideas that Arthur’s Round Table represented than any person-to-person dealings within the story.  This is echoed in the Armstrong article, which includes the argument that women in literature can gain power by being portrayed as helpless victims.  Gwynevere, in this excerpt, is constantly at risk of execution and hardly gets any dialogue, but ultimately, through almost every other character’s indifference, sets into motion the downfall of Arthur’s boys club.