I agree totally, but there was none of that in The Mists of Avalon. It was the idea that gripped me so hard and stuck in my young mind for days, much like the time a girl in my elementary school class asked the nun what a "mistress" is. She said it was the girlfriend of a married man. My thought was that's sounds nice, I'd like to be that.
Mists is the King Arthur story told from a woman's perspective, which fascinated me. Gwenhwyfar is childless and the reason she and Arthur invite Lancelot into their bed, and into Gwenhwyfar, is to make a child in the king's bed while Arthur was in town so that he (a male, hopefully) would be the legitimate heir. Gwenhwyfar is in love with Lancelot and welcomes the opportunity on both levels.
Fortunately for me, however, that's where life stopped imitating art. Clair accidently got pregnant by hubby (she wasn't screwing Red at the time). She was distraught thinking it would upset hubby and/or, but I was ecstatic. We took the day off from work went out and celebrated with lunch, new clothes, a baby thing or two. I didn't care what hubby would think, we were having this baby. Turns out he was shocked and as happy as me. We also decided that I would try to get pregnant ASAP, and as in the book tried to conceive with both hubby and Red. Unlike the book, I quickly was pregnant.