Similarities Between 'The Censors And Morte D' Arthur

The Appeal to the Authority. In modern society, the idea of authority is quite perplexing and argumentative. But what is the authority? Authority is something that controls something else’s actions, in politics, it usually just means any form of state. Authoritarianism, and moreover, totalitarianism is the idea of having a strong national government, authoritarianism differs from totalitarianism by not issuing full control of everyone’s life. Two short stories related to historical events actually talk a bit about the rule of authority, “The Censors”, by Luisa Valenzuela and “Morte d'Arthur” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Despite the fact that these stories were made and released hundreds of years apart, they have a surprising amount of similarities.

These lines show us how “The Censors” uses the idea of authority in a negative light, describing it similarly to the terms of totalitarianism. The government becomes so strong that it manipulates one of their own people to turn himself in and be executed. In “Morte d’Arthur”, Bedivere is told by Arthur to “‘[...]take Excalibur, And fling him far into the middle mere[...]’”and when Bedivere comes back after deciding not to and lying to Arthur instead, he is told “‘Thou hast betray'd thy nature and thy name, Not rendering true answer, as beseem'd[...]’”. Bedivere eventually decides to do it, against his better judgment, so he “clutch'd the sword, And strongly wheel'd and threw it” (Lord Tennyson). These lines show us how the Bedivere went from lying about throwing the sword because he wanted to keep it as a memorial to listening to Arthur, which in this case, was for the best and the most respectful

“The Censors” depicts authority as inherently evil and totalitarian while “Morte d’ Arthur” depicts authority in a more human light, describing it as noble and honorable. In “The Censors”, Juan knows that “they probe the letters, sniff them, feel them, read between the lines and their insignificant punctuation, even the accidental stains” (Valenzuela), showing how the government takes censorship very seriously. This trend goes beyond just “The Censors” and extends to many western-made books depicting something that governments do, like “1984” by George Orwell. Despite the many books criticizing authority, there are also many that honor authority figures as noble and great people, like our other story “Morte d’Arthur” and many more. Unlike “The Censors”, this story makes the authority figure an actual person instead of a group of people, allowing more humanization and thus, more respect. Arthur is also depicted as intelligent, predicting the exact events that’ll happen when his sword, excalibur, is thrown into the lake, those being “The great brand Made lightnings in the splendour of the moon, And flashing round and round, and whirled in an arch, Shot like a streamer of the northern morn, Seen where the moving isles of winter shock By night, with noises of the northern