The Once And Future King: Sword In The Stone

“What defines Might and Right?” “Might”- great and impressive power or strength, especially of a nation, large organization, or natural force (google.com) “Right”- morally good, justified, or acceptable (google.com) In T.H. White’s The Once and Future King; Sword in the Stone, Merlyn shows Arthur how to become a king by transforming him into different animals. Throughout the story, Merlyn teaches Arthur about might and right. In the span of three magical transformations, Arthur experiences might and right in the forms of might is always right, might is never right, and might gains right. When Arthur and Merlyn visit the king fish, they immediately know he believes that might is always right. In the perch’s pond, the mighty king fish rules by power and only power. “Love is a trick played on us by the forces of evolution. Pleasure is the bait laid down by the same. There is only power" (White 37*) The king fish believes in physical ability over mental strength. He proved

The ants live in a town where once might is gained, you have the right to do whatever you desire. “A. We are so numerous that we are starving. B. Therefore we must encourage still larger families so as to become yet more numerous and starving. C. When we are so numerous and starving as all that, obviously we shall have a right to take other people's stores of seed. Besides, we shall by then have a numerous and starving army.” (White 100-101*) When Arthur turned into an ant, he realized that might relies on numbers. Once a group of ants has the might, they have the right to do whatever they pleased. Arthur learned that you must only trust and rely on yourself, because at any point in time, you could lose all of the might you once had. Arthur also observed that only the ants in power were happy, and everyone else was risking their lives for a bite of food. In the end, the ant’s world is the exact opposite of the