Literature Analysis #2

The Once and Future King by T. H. White

1) This book is a retelling of the ancient germanic and celtic epic stories of the legendary King Arthur of Camelot.  The story is broken into four parts.  The first part, The Sword and the Stone, is about the young king, before he knew he was destined for power.  He is taught about the world by the backwards living wizard, Merlin, who teaches him about the world in order to prepare him for ruling.  Merlin teaches about how ants and humans are the only animals who have war, and war should be avoided, unless it prevents more war.  A sense of a fantastical medieval Europe is set up in this book to  give a sense of the plot.  The second book, The Queen of Air and Darkness (originally The Witch in the Wood), is the story of England’s war with Orkney, but on a deeper level, it is where Arthur completely understands that war is bad, and that he should protect his people.  Morgause, the queen of the Orkneys causes many fights and problems, as she is lustful and beautiful, and tries to manipulate men, although she is married to the king of Orkney, Lot.  This book ends with Arthur defeating Lot, holding Lot off of taking Britain for himself, and Morgause seducing Arthur and becoming pregnant. The absent minded Merlin then remembers to tell Arthur that Morgause is his half sister, and that their illegitimate, in bread child, Mordred, will eventually overthrow Arthur.  In the third book, The Ill-Made Knight, we are introduced to Lancelot, an upcoming knight who is ugly and has low self esteem.  He longed to be part of Arthur’s round table, and eventually joined it, as well as starting a love affair with Arthur’s new wife, Guinevere.  Lancelot travels around, helping people accidentally, without much enthusiasm.  He eventually saves a woman named Elaine.  Elaine seduces Lancelot by intoxicating him, and letting him think that she is Guinevere.  Elaine gives birth to his son, Galahad, who eventually joins the round table.  Elaine commits suicide when she realizes that Lancelot will not return to her.  Lancelot then cures a man, which is a miracle, that he should not have been able to commit, as he is not a virgin.  In the fourth and final book, The Candle in the Wind, Mordred and his brothers go to Camelot to accuse Lancelot and Guinevere of having an affair.  They catch the two together, despite many warnings to Lancelot to not affiliate with her.  Arthur is forced to banish Lancelot and hang Guinevere, in accordance to his laws.  Lancelot saves Guinevere, and Arthur and his knights fight Mordred for rule of England.  All the nights, and Mordred die in the battle.  Arthur dies later from a wound.  His remains are sent to float to Avalon, where he might be reincarnated and return to England to rule.

2) The theme of the novel is that people should justly treat their power, even in times of strife, as even though Arthur dealt with much trouble in his life, he was able to rule to the best of his abilities, and respect the people who betrayed him.  

3) White’s tone changes throughout the novel.  In the first book, a tone of wonderment with the world, and a youthful respect for knowledge, but while being shadowed by fear of the unknown is very prevalent, as shown by Arthur’s education from Merlin, especially when Merlin teaches about the lack of war in the animal kingdom.  In the next two books, an adventurous tone is shown, by White’s description of Lancelot’s travels, but a tone of arrival is also given, in instances where Arthur begins to truly understand Merlins teachings from the first book.  In the last book, a sense of decline is sensed, as the state of Arthur’s court crumbles, due to the acts of Mordred (such as when he reports on Lancelot and Guinevere’s love affair, banishing two of Arthurs best friends, and one of his best knights).

4) Foreshadowing is used a lot, as Merlin knows the future and can hint a things to come, such as Mordred’s evilness.  Logos is commonly used when White uses Merlin to connect twentieth century Europe with the medieval times, like when Merlin references Adolf Hitler.  Symbolism is often used often, for instance with the round table, which symbolizes Arthurs’s want for justice, as the shape makes it difficult to rank the knights with seats.  Anecdotes are often shown through Merlin to make the reader understand his teachings, like the anecdotes about the animals, like the fish, that teach the reader and Arthur.  White uses foil between Arthur and Lancelot, to express Arthur’s traits.  Self-fulfilling prophecy is used with the story of Mordred.  Bathos is used in the last book to get readers to understand and accept the demise of Arthur.  Dionysian imitatio was used in the writing process, as White wanted to make the book accessible to modern audiences, and connect it with the evils of the day to make it more interesting to readers, as seen by the modern style writing, and the references to the world wars.  Show not tell is used in the first book quite often to let readers completely understand the setting, one example is when the forest and Arthur’s run through it was explained.  Pathos is often used, in order to get us to feel for Arthur, like when we figure out that Arthur was seduced into incest with Morgause.  Defamiliarization is used in Merlin’s talks by making animals seem more than how we see them.  

Characterization:

1) White uses direct and indirect characterization for every character, in the first book alone, direct characterization is used to describe Kay’s physique, with his muscles, setting him up to be a brute like character with a low IQ, while Merlin’s characterization from the mystical clothes he is wearing, giving readers a sense of education, which is lasting to some extent, as Merlin is smart, but absent minded.  Indirect characterization is used on every character, for example Sir Ector’s actions and dialogue make him seem like a “good o’l boy.”  This characterization is again used on Merlin to show that he is a bit absent minded.

2) White’s syntax and diction does not change much when focusing on different characters, besides the use of more negatively connotated words, like evil, when describing evil characters.

3) Arthur is a dynamic, round character, as he shifts from being a young, curious youth to being an old, brave, and over all great leader for England.  His experiences and actions throughout the book get us to completely connect with him as a person, making the end of the book much more meaningful. 

4) After reading the book, like I stated above, I felt like I not only met a person, but that I saw his whole life flash before me.  This was shown in the context at the end, where I felt genuinely sorry for his demise throughout the last book.