'An Unlikely Hero Called Wart'

An Unlikely Hero Called Wart

“Oh, dear, oh, dear, I wish I had never seen that filthy sword at all” (White 893). This quote comes from T.H. White’s comedy of “Arthur Becomes King of Britain,” where a young King Arthur (called Wart) is a very surprising and unlikely hero. Wart is a servant of Sir Kay and Sir Ector, with meager social status and respect, until he finds an object that would change his life. Little did he know that he would become a great hero and would turn out to be King Arthur, a man who has been written about in stories by many authors and played in movies by many actors. He would grow up to be the man whose legend has been passed down from generation to generation, has touched the lives of many people, and has sparked their

Wart is not part of a higher class and Sir Kay didn’t always treat him with equal respect, but that didn’t stop him from being kind. When the king of their land, who had no next of kin, died, the people needed a new leader. So, King Pellinore, who is a king of a neighboring land, told them about a sword in a stone that appeared next to a church and that whoever pulled it out would become king. A lot of people, of every status and age, wanted to try and pull it out so a tournament was being held to find the new king. Sir Kay thought that he was the one to do it so he, Sir Ector, and Wart headed to the tournament. Sir Kay and Wart were about the same age, but because Sir Kay was born into higher status, he thought that he was above Wart. Once they got to the tournament, Sir Kay realized he forgot his sword and he needed it for contests, so he asked Wart to go find his. Wart felt a little disrespected by him asking him to do this task. “‘To offer me money!’cried the Wart to himself.

The Sword was the thing that made him live up to his purpose. Wart’s true father wasn’t Sir Ector, but was really a king. He didn’t know that he came from a line of royalty and he also wasn’t didn’t know that Merlyn had seen the potential in him to be king. Sir Kay told Wart, “I was never your father nor of your blood, but I wote well ye are of an higher blood than I wend ye were.”* (White 892). One of the reasons no one expected Wart to become a person of power is because they thought he wasn’t born of royal blood, but it turned out that he was. Also, Merlin, a powerful and great magician, had tutored Wart, even though Wart was thought to just grow up to be a squire. Both of these things show that Wart was possibly destined to become a great leader, but they also make it much more surprising that he did. These factors add to the point that he is an unlikely hero. This story is about the beginning of the making of King Arthur and how Wart turned out to be a real hero. The sword, which is a very important part of the story, had magical powers because it was able to tell who was the rightful king. “Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England.”* (White 884.) King Pellinore saw that this was written on the side of the sword and told this to Sir Ector, Sir Kay, and