THIS CHARMING MAN: THE ARGUMENT AGAINST MERLYN AND HIS INTENTIONS TOWARDS ARTHUR
A Paper Presented to Mr. Davenport
Regis Jesuit High School
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course Honors British Literature
by
Miranda Moll
November 29, 2015
“Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many.” - Phaedrus.
This quote applies to the character Merlyn in The Once and Future King by T.H White. Merlyn is a major character who is a bit absent minded and has already lived the future. While Merlyn is perceived as someone who helps Arthur throughout his reign, he is actually hindering the protagonist. Some examples are the education Merlyn gave Arthur. While they did their job of teaching him life lessons, they also restricted Arthur and his
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As Donald Hoffman explains, "The relations between Merlin and Arthur are unlike those ever held towards a king even by an enchanter in any legend. Even in Homer there is no one described, except the gods, as having such authority over a ruler" For example, when Arthur walked up to the top of the castle to ask Merlyn for some advice, Merlyn refuses to speak to him unless he is summoned. When Arthur met Merlyn, it was when he was a vulnerable child who had just realized that he has no upward mobility. Merlyn shows up and gives him a distraction until it comes time for him to be a slave to his brother. This created a sort of attachment for Arthur making Merlyn Arthur's childhood friend. When he pulled the sword out of the stone he needed guidance and Merlyn was there for him. Having Merlyn for Arthur to lean on never gave Arthur the motivation he needed to take responsibility and be king. As a result of this when Merlyn left and Arthur had to make some decisions, he ended up sleeping with his sister and killing babies which ultimately led to an angry Mordred, who eventually kills his own
King Arthur, a courageous man, who was able to pull out a sword from a rock as simple as possible. As for everyone else who tired, it was almost impossible. This was just the beginning stage of Arthur becoming a king. The thing that Merlin didn’...
In T.H. White's Once and Future King, fate plays a very important role in Arthur's life when he meets Merlyn and Merlyn becomes his mentor. When they first met, Arthur was confused as to why Merlyn was going all the way home with him until Merlyn said, "Why not? How else can I be your tutor?" (37) Arthur realizes he had been on a quest to find his tutor. This quote is important to the theme because it was Arthur's first quest on his journey towards king. This reason this quote is so important is because Merlyn is preparing Arthur to become a great leader. After all of Arthur's training with Merlyn, Merlyn tells Arthur that he might not know it yet but he will be, "Hic jacet Arthutus Rex quandum Rexque futurus... The Once and Future King." (287) This quote foreshadows that Arthur, will in fact, become the great leader. If it were not for training with Merlyn, he would not be the great leader he developed into throughout the book.
Who was King Arthur? Most people would tell of a great King; a devoted circle of heroic knights; mighty castles and mightier deeds; a time of chivalry and courtly love; of Lancelot and Guinevere; of triumph and death. Historians and archaeologists, especially Leslie Alcock, point to shadowy evidence of a man who is not a king, but a commander of an army, who lived during the late fifth to early sixth century who may perhaps be the basis for Arthur. By looking at the context in which the stories of King Arthur survived, and the evidence pertaining to his castle Camelot and the Battle of Badon Hill, we can begin to see that Arthur is probably not a king as the legend holds.
Because this book takes place mostly in the Forest Sauvage and in the surrounding areas, Merlyn has ample opportunity to provide Arthur with numerous out of body adventures, all of which help him prepare for the life he is destined to live. The first adventure that Merlyn provides Arthur occurs on the grounds of the castle. Merlyn turns Arthur into a fish, specifically a perch. Both Merlyn and Arthur go swimming in the moat of the castle. While in the moat, Merlyn introduces Arthur to Mr. P, the King of the Moat. When Arthur swims up to Mr. P, he sees “… a face which had been ravaged by all the passions of an absolute monarch - by cruelty, sorrow, age, pride, selfishness, loneliness and thoughts too strong for
The Legend of King Arthur is in comparison to The Epic of Gilgamesh because Arthur's closest companion was Merlin, and Gilgamesh's closest companion was Enkidu and neither Gilgamesh nor Arthur forgot their friends. Enkidu only came in contact with Gilgamesh after becoming a man. Enkidu released the animals from the hunter's traps when they ere caught, so to make him a man the prostitute slept with him so that the animals would be ashamed of him and reject him. King Arthur became aware of Merlin when he was a young man. When Arthur was born Merlin placed him in the care of Sir Ector, throughout his boyhood Arthur learned the ways of chivalry, knighthood and how to become a gentleman. At the tournament one day Arthur pulled Excalibur from the stone and this is what brought upon Arthur meeting Merlin once again. In The Legend of King Arthur, Merlin exclaimed, "it is the doom of men if they forget." Gilgamesh along with Enkidu together fought and killed Humbaba, protector of the Cedar forest, and the Bull of Heaven, sent as punishment to Gilgamesh for killing Humbaba. King Arthur nor Gilgamesh forgot their faithful friends.
and material wealth to the members of his court. However, in the tale of Lanval, Arthur tends to
Throughout history, the story of King Arthur and the Round Table is one of the most read and written about stories. One of the reasons the story captivates so many people is the different interpretation of the characters by different authors. Mordred, the villain in the story, is represented differently in each retelling of the story. In the early stories, he is evil for the sake of being evil. In more modern versions, authors choose to add a backstory to make his hatred seem reasonable to readers. Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur and T. H. White’s The Once and Future King both exemplify how the public outlook of villains has become more sympathetic over time due to the differing perceptions of religion, criminal justice, and the role of
To begin, Merlin’s reasons for leaving feudal society are too logical to call him “mad.” One place where logic can be heard is where Merlin says, “Surely a malignant fate cannot have been so vindictive as to take from me all these my companions, men such that many a king and many a distant kingdom have stood in fear of them till now” (55). What Merlin is addressing is the fact that someone is to blame fo...
"The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind. And if it didn't stay behind, well, you might have to stomp it out. Slave life; freed life-every day was a test and a trial. Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you were a problem"1
“If the human race didn’t remember anything it would be perfectly happy" (44). Thus runs one of the early musings of Jack Burden, the protagonist of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. Throughout the story, however, as Jack gradually opens his eyes to the realities of his own nature and his world, he realizes that the human race cannot forget the past and survive. Man must not only remember, but also embrace the past, because it teaches him the truth about himself and enables him to face the future.
There are two things in life one must understand in order to survive: One, it is better to give than to receive. Two, you cannot save people, you just have to learn to love them. Life is a beautiful horror film that we live everyday. With time, we as humans learn things we never knew, and forget things we once understood. We have this tendency to want to take control of EVERY situation, and sometimes ignore the fact that some things are completely out of our control. The say the as we age, we also gain wisdom, and while this is true, it is only true to an extent. In “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur, we are able to see the fact that life is a struggle that we cannot avoid, how easy it is to forget what it’s like to struggle, and what it is like to stand idly by while watching others go through times of turbulence.
William Shakespeare once stated, “Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.” Throughout a lifetime, many individuals encounter obstacles, and overcoming hindrances often elicits a positive response providing a sense of motivation and drive toward success. Hardship can contort our perspective on the world around us and makes us multifaceted individuals. However, incessant adversity can burden any individual, and the effect of this distress can be devastating to one’s prosperity. Sometimes, the excessive demand placed upon someone is destructive, instigating his or her downfall. As evidenced by literary, historical, film, and personal examples, Horace’s notion that adversity can bring forth hidden talents
When an individual falls too far into ambition he or she will start to think irrationally and rush into decisions. Shakespeare reveals that too much ambition makes individuals rush and
The famous lines of Polonius often seriously quoted may seem like a conventional, practical, and wise advice. At first glance, the quote seems complicated and hard to grasp at first because it is difficult to truly understand own self. But, Shakespeare teaches us that is worthy and practical to take time to truly understand oneself for the future. Furthermore, Shakespeare emphasizes that by understanding oneself, Better decisions, better associates, and better environment could be established leading up to a satisfying life. However, his advice, "to thy own self be true" often lacks true originality and sincerity since it begs the question if Polonius is ever really a “good father” or if he clustered all his care into this “wise advice” as
This means exactly what is said, you can discover things about yourself when you are put into situations you can’t control. This quote is important because it tells you a good life lesson.