"There is no excuse for war, none whatever, and whatever the wrong which your nation might be doing to mine -short of war- my nation would be in the wrong if it started a war so as to redress it." (White 233).
I had no clue such progressive ideas would come up in King Arthur! This is making me wonder what kind of a role does Merlin play in this tale with King Arthur? What is he teaching him? And why is it so important?
Great questions! I'd say Merlyn's goal for himself is to make Arthur as good as king as possible. This can become possible using Merlyn's powers to see the future and let Arthur make mistakes to learn from. As long as the mistakes don't injure their futures, Merlyn should really teach everything he knows to Arthur so that when Merlyn's gone Arthur won't flounder about.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I think Arthur would not be half of the king he is without Merlyn. I do not think a king is just born great, but he must be guided by those around him, like Merlyn, who teach him how to be this incredible King Arthur we know.
DeleteI agree that Merlin is correct and very based. I think that his role in the story is supposed to be one half of the angel that is on Arthur's shoulder. As a king, Authur has a lot of responsibilities and, therefore, is forced to make a lot of decisions that are hard. A lot of this would probably have to do with war. Rather than embracing the chaotic nature of King Arthur stories, Merlin can serve as a second opinion or point of view.
ReplyDeleteI can totally see Merlin as the angel on Arthur's shoulder. What is interesting to me is that in the first book we read excerpts from, Merlin was portrayed as a devilish being due to his powers... interesting how that has changed from that book to this one.
DeleteI also thought that it was interesting that such a progressive thought on war came out of Merlyn, but I chalked it up to being that he could see the future and the mindsets that some individuals have now. I think that he is teaching him how to think like a leader. He is no longer responsible for just himself, but now he has to think about how his actions effect everyone in his kingdom. I believe that Merlyn is trying to show Arthur the other side of a war and why we do not need them for sport anymore.
ReplyDeleteI think that we can also chalk up the progressive thoughts due to the time period it was written in, which happens to be mid 20th century! Should have thought about that a little more when reading, but I still think it was interesting how the author was able to wiggle that into there.
DeleteThis quote was another quote that caught my eye during this reading. Even today, war is a very interesting concept that is likely debated topic. In my opinion, I think Merlin plays a very neutral role in this reading. He can be very arrogant and condescending. Merlin both helps King Arthur win battles, claiming that is the right thing, but Merlin also goes behind King Arthur’s back. I think Merlin is attempting to teach King Arthur that war is only good if King Arthur reacts to someone else starting a war because he would not be considered in the wrong.
ReplyDeleteFor sure - remember, as I note in my historical context info, TH White was writing this during WWII, and he was a conscientious objector to the war. So he had pretty strong feelings about it all.
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