The Sword in the Stone of the Arthurian Legend Essay -- Arthurian Lege

The Sword in the Stone of the Arthurian Legend King Arthur and the knights of the round table belong to a long line of books and stories of the Arthurian legend. Merlin, Lancelot, The lady of the lake, King Arthur, and Excaliber are all very important in the Arthurian legend. In this essay we will talk about King Arthur, the knights of the round table, and Merlin in the famous story, The sword in the stone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Sword in the stone is a book about an adopted child named wart. He is of royal blood and does not know this. One day when Wart is in the forest, he finds a magician named Merlin. Merlin comes home with Wart and agrees with Sir Ector, Wart’s guardian, to become Wart’s tutor. Merlin goes about educating Wart by Transforming him into different animals. Through each transformation Wart experiences different forms of power, each being a part of how he should rule as king.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first transformation takes Wart and Merlin into the castle’s moat as a fish. They then meet the largest fish in the moat, which is an alligator who is the ruler. The alligator takes what he wants because of his size. In a speech about power, he tells Wart that â€Å"Might is right,† and might of the body is greater than might of the mind. Because of the way the alligator rules, his subjects obey him out of fear for their lives. Wart experiences this firsthand when the gator tells him to leave. He has grown bored of Wart, and if Wart does not leave he will eat him. The king uses his size as his claim to power, therefore his subjects follow him out of fear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Wart’s next transformation into a hawk, he soars into the castle’s mews. All the birds into the mews have a military rank. Their leader is an old falcon, who Sir Ector keeps just for show. The birds who rank below the falcon, hold her in the highest regard because of her old age. She applies her power over the other birds with no concern for their lives. In one instance, Wart is ordered to stand next to the cage of a crazy hawk who almost kills him. On the other hand, her seasoned age brings respect, since she had not been released once she outlived her usefulness as a hunter. This allows her to maintain a powerful grip over all the birds she rules through fear and respect.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Wart’s next make over Wart is transformed into an ant and posted within an ant colony. There is a single leader of the ant... ...ncelot killed the man responsible for this thievery he said, for shame that a knight not withhold or respect his high calling. Lancelot also showed his dedication to his knighthood and his King when he was tempted to sleep with Gwynevere but didn’t sleep with her by riding out and looking for adventure to prevent anything bad happening disrespecting King Arthur and his knightly standards by sleeping with her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sir Lancelot is the best example of the loyalty of the Knights of the round Table in all of his actions. Lancelot did not let love get into any of his affairs and yet showed compassion and proved that he was not out to win personal gain. The Knights of the Round Table were noble in their actions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That’s the story of how we know the story (or stories) today. King Arthur was raised and taught by the wise Magician named Merlin who has helped many kings before Arthur be great. Who created the Round Table and the Knights that sit around it and among those the famous Lancelot. Without Merlin there is no Arthur, without Arthur there is no Lancelot. So we now know that even though it’s called the Arthurian legend, all of them are big contributors to the legend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚