Mordred In The Once And Future King

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

H. White’s The Once and Future King adds more backstory as to why Mordred is evil, placing partial blame for his hatred on his mother. He adds to the story that Mordred was raised by his mother, Morgause, who “existed in him like the vampire” and influenced his later life choices (White 477). White clearly states that Morgause motivated the innocent child into the monster he becomes later in life. In Thomas Malory’s version, Mordred is the only person blamed for Mordred’s hatred. Mordred does not have an sympathetic childhood in Malory’s version. In fact, “ a good man found him, and nourished him till he was fourteen year old” which implies that he was not influenced by his mother or anyone else (Malory 68). No motive for his later crimes is mentioned in the earlier versions because medieval society were unconcerned with quality investigations into crimes. In most societies today, we are accustomed to a justice system that investigates and establishes a motive for the crime. Modern people do not just assume that a person did the crime on his own will without any reason. White was writing to a society of people who are accustomed to full criminal investigations that included a criminal’s motive. Adding that Mordred is raised by his hateful mother, White gives modern readers a reason why Mordred was so hateful, like an actual investigation would give to the public. The addition of his mother’s influence creates sympathy because as a child

H. White’s The Once and Future King, have a more sympathetic tone towards Mordred. Society has become sympathetic towards villains because of the different ideals of the people. Modern people have become more sympathetic to villains and the situations that lead them to become the monsters they are. Since the 1400s, religion, criminal justice, and the role of fathers have changed drastically and causes people to see villains in a sympathetic