King Merlin Research Paper

King of England and his mentor Arthur is a brilliant king in Arthurian Legend that ruled England to become a civilized nation. Merlin, his childhood mentor, helps him a lot on his achievements. Merlin plays many roles in Arthurian Legend including a magician and advisor. According to The Once and Future King by T.H. White, Merlin knows the future because he lives backward in time. Merlin encourages Arthur to believe in himself and the idea that the power of might should be used for right. Merlin’s teaching ends when he is enamored with Niniane.Childhood can decide the future and Merlin affects Arthur greatly due to his childhood along the rest of his life. Merlin teaches him meaningful lessons, and therefore Merlin is absolutely credited

Under Melin’s teaching and help, everything goes smoothly, until Arthur becomes the King of England. Arthur and Merlin were destined to meet despite their seemingly unplanned encounter. According to their first impression, “The magician was staring at him with a kind of unwinking and benevolent curiosity which made him feel that it would not be at all rude to stare back” (White 29). Merlin sounds like he has expected to see Arthur for so long. Coincidentally, Arthur also found interesting about Merlin’s magic and invited him to be his mentor, which started the journey of apprenticeship. Under Merlin’s teaching, Arthur learns a lot about humanity and society, which inspires him in the future when he becomes the King of England. “Power is of the individual mind, but the mind’s power is not enough. Power of the body decides everything in the end, and only Might is Right” (White 52). Black Peter was telling his opinions about power to Arthur, when Merlin transforms Arthur into a fish. Black Peter thought power was the ultimate thing, that there was nothing except for power. This is one of the critical lessons Arthur learned that made him examine the relationship between right and might. It helps him develop his own thoughts about the war and justice. Arthur disagrees with Black Peter’s thinking; Arthur thinks everyone should be equal instead. This foreshadows Arthur’s potential of being a good ruler under

However, Merlin had forgotten to remind Arthur at some point or Arthur did not accept his suggestion, which led to a mess and a huge change in his life. First, Merlin was about to tell Arthur that Morgause is actually his sister, unfortunately, he forgot. “But suddenly, he had remembered it in his sleep---the simplest thing! It was Arthur’s mother’s name which he had forgotten to mention in the confusion”(White 310). Merlin was too tired and sleepy to tell Arthur that Igraine was actually his mother and Morgause was one of her sisters. Disastrously, Arthur spent a night with Morgause who was twice his age. Since Arthur did not know Morgause was his half-sister, this led to a disorder in the relationship to his family. As the result, Mordred was born, whose father was Arthur, his mother’s half-brother. Secondly, Merlin had advised Arthur that Guinevere would destroy Arthur and his kingdom. However, Arthur did not listen and get married with Guinevere. One of the reasons was Arthur has to marry a queen in order to rule the land, plus Arthur was obsessed with Guinevere’s beauty. However, Guinevere had a love affair with Lancelot, which had made Arthur sacrificed his happiness and his life at some point to protect his lover, Guenever, and his companion, Lancelot. Arthur pretends nothing has happened because he does not want either of them get into trouble. Although Arthur tried so hard to protect them, he failed. At the end