When it comes to classic romantic couples, Lancelot and Guinevere are on the list.And I never found them even slightly interesting.
Consequently, I always found T.H. White's Once and Future King, which is more about Arthur and the knights, more interesting than the musical Camelot, which proposes the inevitable love affair between Lancelot, Arthur's best friend, and Guinevere, his wife.
As I mention elsewhere, romance and adultery are a bad combination. But it's more than that. I've always had a sneaking sympathy for Tristan and Iseult, another adulterous couple from medieval lore. They fall in love when Tristan collects her to marry his uncle. The relationship begins on the boat ride back (and in some versions, is aided by a potion). So--not exactly adultery (at least not at first), yet still kind of skanky.
The thing that bugs me about Lancelot and Guinevere is the angst.
So they commit adultery, which is bad enough. But then they--Lancelot mostly--bemoan the fact. Oh, my sad, sad life where I betray my friend! Oh, I must wander limply around the castle and weep into my mead. I must beat my breast, take my sorrowful self on a self-indulgent journey--where I cause more grief to people (see Elaine and Elaine) because I am so, so sad.
I always started routing for Modred--in a short story that I wrote in college, I had Launcelot's heir, Galahad, leave his father and side with Modred. He was tired of the self-justifications.
