Before we move onto the Mists of
Avalon, I’d like to conclude my thoughts on the age difference found from our
past readings to T.H. White’s version of King Arthur. With our presentation on “The Sword in the
Stone” and T.H. White’s version of the young Arthur or ‘Wart’, we get a new
perspective of Arthur in his very younger days.
He was very scrawny and naïve to most of his surroundings. Comparing this to previous versions of Arthur
where we didn’t even get to experience him as a child. I think seeing Arthur’s
up and comings were a great new way of understanding Arthur and even if they
are told in different versions, we’ve come to notice different tales told in a
variety of versions (i.e. Dracula). It was also interesting to see Merlin in a
new light. As discussed in class as previously reading being the son of the
Devil, Merlin is just as real as you or me, except his a powerful magician with
a tremendous beard. I enjoyed Merlin’s silly approach to things in the story,
as well as Arthurs. It was a lot better than the serious Merlin in the early
readings who predicted everyone’s death.
Also seeing the difference
between a clean and organized Merlin (Death of Arthur) rather than a
disorganized messy Merlin (Once and Future).
Overall I felt that the “Once and
Future King” version of Arthur gave me a better perspective at a more ‘real-er’
version of him. Hearing a godlier version of him in the “Death of Arthur” books
felt a little too overwhelming even though the things he did were pretty
badass. I felt that the version in T.H.
White’s version was more relatable only for the fact that he seemed more human
and seeing him grow from a thin boy to a king, we could see his uprising and
how he changed the throne and led the knights of the roundtable. As I said in class, if I could have the best
of both books combined into one Arthur, I would have envisioned my Arthur as
the Aragorn type in which he had a personality, feelings, and could lead an
army of undead.
-J.H |
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I agree with you! I think seeing him as the scrawny, yet loving and curious Wart would have made it all the more impressive to see him with such power as an adult!
ReplyDeleteI was introduced to Merlin from Disneys version of "sword in the stone" and always imagined him to be this funny old man who was really kind and showed arthur the ways of the world... Who also happened to be a badass magician. Reading "prose Merlin" I was surprised to see this wildman
ReplyDeleteWho predicted every bodies deaths. He's a much more serious character, which I think demonstrates how serious people took magic and sorcery in the Middle Ages. If I met the historic Merlin, I would likely run away in fear and then suffer a threefold death
ReplyDelete