The Once And Future King Sparknotes

The story, The Once and Future King, takes place in England during the medieval times. In the book I, Arthur, also known as “Wart”, the adopted son of Sir Ector and brother of Kay. Merlyn, a wizard, is hired by Sir Ector to tutor Wart. In his lessons Wart learns how to lead and govern. During the next six years, Kay is knighted and Wart becomes his squire. When Uther Pendragon, the king of England, dies, a prophecy is proclaimed; The next rightful king will be whoever can pull a mysterious sword out of the rock. The boys go to London for a tournament to see who can remove the sword. In his quest for a replacement sword for his knight, Wart stumbles upon the sword in the stone and pulls the sword from it, later being announced King of England. In book II, young King Arthur experiences the struggle to hold on to his power. A new enemy emerges, causing wars to break out in England. With Merlyn’s guidance, Arthur decides that he will use his power and the strength of his fellow knights to defend those who cannot defend themselves, thus creating the Round Table. In the heat of the war, Morgause, Lot’s wife (maybe former wife), goes to Arthur’s court to “reconcile” Arthur with Lot. While in the court Morgause uses magic to seduce him. Arthur, unaware Morgause is

In book I, Merlyn teaches Arthur that the combination of force, strength and justice are correct morals to have in order to be a successful ruler. In book II, the formation of the Round Table was Arthur’s way of trying to balance force with justice. The reason the table is round is to even out the power so that there’s no hierarchy. Arthur aims for situations and conflicts to be resolved with reason and equally amongst the knights. In book III, on his deathbed, Arthur realizes and accepts that the idea of justice may only be a distant dream. He accepts that maybe the world’s justice is meant to be