Love, Lancelot, Guinevere, and Fate

So at the beginning of this class, Lancelot was my favorite knight, he was strong and mighty and being a sucker for romance his affair with Guinevere intrigued me. The story of the Knight of the Cart kept this view of Lancelot for me. In a previous post I mentioned the couple reminded me of Will and Jocelyn from the movie A Knights Tale. I loved his devotion to her and how their love was strong and true. As we progressed my opinions began to change. The biggest change occurred when my group did our project on Camelot. Seeing the illicit affair and the hurt it gave Arthur on the screen started to sour me to their epic romance and love. In most tales featuring their affair at the forefront up until I watched that had little to do with Arthur or his feelings. Watching him love both Lance and Jenny and get hurt by both of them made me hate their relationship. I realized as I read the end of Once and Future King that what really made me hate the character of Lancelot and his relationship with Guinevere was not only that I saw its affect on Arthur that made me not like it; it was the songs! They annoyed me with their constant singing and I just wanted them to go away and stop! As we read Once and Future King my warm feelings towards them began to come back, i'm not sure how much of it had to do with the fact that Lancelot was indeed ugly in this, so I saw real true love in their affair. I skimmed some of the chapters before this morning and saw some of the tenderness they felt for each other. I then rethought their on screen love in Camelot, minus the songs, and saw some of the same tenderness. I fully believe as I stated in class that Lancelot and Guinevere are fated and destined to be together, this however does not mean that they do not have free will. They used this free will to make some really bad decisions, they could have run when they fell in love instead of waiting 15 years, but you know what people say "You do stupid things when you're in love". Not only was their judgement blinded by their love, I think they could not leave Arthur. Lance loved Arthur, it was his best friend who had trusted him and they had been friends for years. Guinevere was Arthur's wife, whether she ever loved him, I'm not really sure but she did care for him. I feel like you cannot have some kind of care for the person you have been married to for years and especially if that person has helped you run a kingdom. I think their loyalty to Arthur kept them from running and that shows more about their character than the fact that they did not try and circumvent their destiny, as we saw so many try to do only to end up in the same place.

This is 2 of 5

Hunchback

I really want to be the first one to say, that after the reading, that's due in a couple of hours, Mordred's description reminds me of the hunchback of Notredame.

Mordred is as shady as they come. Am I the only one who thinks he killed his brothers and blamed it on Lancelot?????

Lancelot and Guinevere had their demise was coming. They both deserved it. King Arthur seems to be a wuss when knowing about this affair and let it continuing it to happen. He is a public figure and EVERYONE knows about this affair. How many times has Guinevere shamed King Arthur? She sucks as a wife. King Arthur even states at the end that he loved his knights of the round table more than his wife. King Arthur could have gotten a new and even better wife, Queen 2.0. One who doesn't sleep with the king's best friend. 

"Arthur, I Am Your Father," said Merlin, but not really

I have to say, I really loved the beginning of chapter 3 in the first book, where Arthur as a boy (Wart) is introduced into the story. The description of his surroundings may seem superfluous, but I argue that those details are vital. Clearly, White wanted to create this innocent and vulnerable environment that Wart is originating from in this story. I think without these lengthy descriptions, I don’t think this reading would’ve had the angle and appeal to it. It’s easy to see how Disney was able to make a movie based on this story and used MUCH of details (compared to other Disney films).

 I think this was especially necessary because Wart was an orphan, and the origin of the relationship he has with Merlin really needs to be explained. In past readings we only see the tip of the iceberg with their bond and the history of it (when they met, how, etc), and even though Merlin is Arthur’s tudor/guide…I really argue that he’s more of a father figure to Arthur. I think this vulnerability in the beginning of this reading was perfect to lead into the beginning of Merlin and Arthur’s relationship (Merlin taking him in, teaching him things, taking care of him…).


 And like I mentioned in class earlier, I think this reading is trying to show how really the round table, King Arthur’s ideals and his foundation for ruling was all based on Merlin’s teachings- which is exactly why I think this reading is really all about Merlin. And after finishing this reading…I’ve started to think of Merlin as kind of a representation of modern ideals and moral clichés, which was the “father-ish-figure” to Arthur so that he’d grow up to rule according to these ideals. And that the round table was a reflection of the modern ideals themselves, and when King Arthur dies the round tables dies with him…perhaps reflecting some modern ideals that we have instilled in some societies and governments that will most likely die as did the round table. I’m not sure if that was a serious mind f**k or just another way of viewing this reading and the whole Merlin and Arthur relationship.


This is 3 out of 5

King Arthur and Oliver Twist

First off, this is the type of readings I was expecting when I first signed up for this class. A young King Arthur who is tutored by a quirky loveable Merlin. So, I am taking three literature courses this semester and our class discussion had me thinking about texts I read in another class.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens seems to have influenced this text. For those of you who haven't read it, Oliver Twist is an orphan who gets caught up by a gang, Fagin and his gang, who steal and pickpocket for a living. Although Oliver Twist is being influenced by bad all around him, he has good morals and WANTS to do good, despite everything going on around him. Oliver Twist's life is threatened several times and is cared for by good people, for example, Mr. Brownlow. At the end of the book, Fagin and his gang die and Oliver Twist gets adopted by Mr. Brownlow, who cares for him as his own. Does this not sound like Wart/King Arthur???? He is an orphan. Merlin becomes his tutor, and he seems to love him, well that's how I view it. He overcomes battles of evil/darkness. Of course, it's not an ever after ending, but we all know he becomes a truly great and wonderful king, who is waiting in Avalon to come back and rule again.

The first picture above is a famous scene of Oliver Twist. At this point in the novel, Oliver Twist is living in a sort of foster home for boys, except, they have to work hard each day in a factory and get only one bowl of gruel, which is mostly water, than anything else. He is then punished because he asked for some more food. The two pictures of Oliver Twist and King Arthur favor one another. They both have a dirty blondish, light brownish hair color and they are both small and have skinny physiques that look like they need to eat a lot. They also both have some air of innocence about them.

The reason I said the text reminds me of Oliver Twist instead of Oliver Twist is similar to this story is because Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist in the 1800's. It came out in a serialized form in 1837-1839. After a very quick comment to our Professor, Dr. MB told me that he, Charles Dickens, influenced a lot of writers. I can see that in the text that we're reading now. Can You?

Noah's Tardis Emporium? What?

Alright, I’m not going to lie. I haven’t read as much as we just did in The Once and Future King in any other book since summer. Yay for college work overload!

Anyway, I think this reading has been my favorite so far. To be honest, I have grown up thinking of Merlin as some old dude with a long beard and a robe covered in stars. Of course he’s a funny character because who can take a man seriously with that fashion sense? Also, Arthur has never been that brawny and such a handsomely awesome death machine warrior king. I guess I have Disney’s Sword in the Stone to thank for those associations because I’ve never taken an interest in the adult versions of King Arthur stories. I know I’m a terrible human being, but I’ve missed a lot of “classic” movies. So needless to say, it was a relief to read something I’m used to visualizing instead of some demonic creepy baby nonsense and assuming Arthur never started from the bottom (sorry Drake ruined that phrase for everyone).

I like reading about Arthur as a child before he became king because he actually does stuff instead of sitting on his throne chowing down while some form of the oddest entertainment takes place. Wow, I thought my Netflix weekend marathons were lame.

So did anyone else think Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium meets Noah’s Ark while reading about Merlin’s hoarding problem? Except, Dr. Who let Merlin use his tardis to accommodate all that random stuff in such a small place. Wow, my nerdy-childish side is showing. That’s embarrassing. Anyway, apparently Merlin borrowed Marry Poppins' bag as well and used it as a hat. So dead mice and worms… no wonder he doesn’t mind Archimedes pooping everywhere.

Overall, I like the comedy in this reading. Other stories have had humor, but it’s usually funny because something is happening that is very unrealistic. 

The Death of a King

The poem about Arthur's death really grabbed my attention. For most of the class, we have been talking about knights more than Arthur, therefore, it was nice reading about Arthur for a change, even though it was mainly about throwing Excalibur in the lake and his death.
       The best part of the poem in my opinion is when Sir Bedivere goes before King Arthur for the second time after not throwing Excalibur into the lake and King Arthur threatening to kill Sir Bedivere if he does not do it the third time even though the King is dying from a mortal wound. I kept thinking, "what kind of power Arthur had that allowed him to keep on living with his body being so weak and injured?"
     The ending is also a very important part that i feel will eventually be brought back up later in the class and possibly in the readings. At the end, the poem says that the King vanishes into the light and the sun rises to bring the new year. The way that I see this, Arthur does not die, but is taken somewhere to be healed and then brought back in some point in the future to be king again. 
         Reading about Arthur was a nice change. Hopefully Arthur is brought back in some of our future readings.