Who Is the More Flawed Man: Lancelot or Arthur?

The integrity and honor of a man is based on many aspects in life. One may look at the actions of a person to determine how they react to certain situations. Deceitfulness and loyalty are common attributes of a person from which judgments can be obtained. Friendships are also a reliable source to ascertain one's self-morals and principles. In T.H. White's, The Once and Future King, the reader is presented with the lives of two very different men and their actions allow the reader to formulate different opinions about these men. Either one of them could be seen as the hero of Camelot or the down-bringer of it. Camelot is a place of deceit and sin and while many people think that the most honorable people in Camelot are Arthur, the king, and Lancelot, Arthur's best knight, these men have many of their own problems. So, who characterizes the lesser of the two evils? Arthur is able to accomplish many positive things such as using might for right and staying loyal to his friends, where Lancelot is a disloyal man whose only loyalty is to the code of knights, which he eventually breaks, showing that he is the more flawed man.

Throughout Arthur's rule, he learns from his experiences, as some of his decisions come back to haunt him. One of Arthur's faults results in being seduced by his half-sister, Morgause. In order to kill the child they have, Arthur sends all of the children of England of a certain age out on a boat to be killed. Arthur claims, "I wanted to destroy Mordred for his own sake" (548). Arthur didn't want his son to be raised as a mistake between he and his half-sister but this may be one decision, which his country's citizens frown upon. Everyone with children will be deprived of them, causing hatred towards Arthur and he cannot risk such a devastating blow to his reputation in his career. Arthur's desire to avoid fate becomes evident here. He should have just gone to Morgause and taken care of the problem himself but he does not. Arthur, however, shows many good leadership qualities. He is a just leader who stresses the technique of using might for right, which was necessary for Camelot to evolve and to gain the trust of his people. The times are described, "When the old King has came to his throne it has been an England of armored barons, and of famine, and of war" (529).