King Arthur
What Makes People Change?
People tend to change after living through certain situations. The events can be positive or negative, good or bad. In the book about Kind Arthur and his knights, the characters change when they go through various circumstances. For example, King Arthur changed dramatically as he becomes a king at the age of fifteen. Most characters went through life drama as they experienced various situations. Some of them became vulnerable to greed or lust, while others strengthen their faith. The current paper demonstrates how and why the main characters of “King Arthur” changed.
“King Arthur” is a well-known myth of V-VI centuries that describes the life of legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. There are many controversial views regarding the existence of King and his Knights. Despite the mythological connotation about the gathering, many authors dedicated books to describing their courage and greatness in defending Britain against Saxon invaders. Most of the characters go through transformations in the course of the legend. Changes are important prerequisites of personal development, maturity, and progress in life. Experiencing different situations that bring emotional distress may sometimes cause changes in human essence. Therefore, the readers observe how the protagonists of the legend have changed in response to the circumstances they faced throughout the myth (Radford).
King Arthur is the main character of the myth. He is a powerful leader and daring warrior. Arthur is a hero, who fights giants and monsters and protects the country from foreign invaders. He was the son of King Uther, who was grown and tutored by the magician Merlin. With the help of the wizard and a chance, young Arthur took a magic sword from a stone. The legend says that a person, who had the power to take the sword, was to be called a born king of England. Consequently, at the age of fifteen Arthur became the King of Britain. As a young boy, Arthur was honest, trustworthy, kind, and modest. As a king, he preserved most of the positive traits. He received his ideals from Merlyn. He reorganized the government based on a new order that made him a great king. As Arthur grows older, he became wiser. Unfortunately, Arthur discovers that his wife was cheating on him with one of his powerful knights called Lancelot. The King was enraged and distressed. He decided to kill Lancelot and the princess. In the response to the affair, Arthur’s character changed dramatically. Before he was soft, friendly and honest; but after he turned into a mad man.
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Another important character of the legend is Lancelot. He is Ban’s son, who is the strongest knight in the world. Lancelot stays loyal to Guinevere (Kings Wife) during his life. He welcomes Tristam to his castle so that Isolde and Tristam can live together in peace. Unfortunately, he is tricked into sleeping with Elayne. Lancelot changes completely after the event. He becomes nearly mad with grief. At the same time, he is passionately in love for Guinevere. The relationship becomes the best savior and worst torture for him. His strong personality got completely destroyed after living though the horrifying event. His change was caused by a romance with women that belong to the other man (Knowles).
The lady that also underwent through change of character is Guinevere, who is king Arthur’s wife. She was saved by Lancelot and dared to cheat on Arthur with him. She dominates the second half of the novel. Unlike other characters, she does not have any special abilities. Moreover, she is attractive, but also petty and jealous. She loves Lancelot and Arthur simultaneously; however, she loves Author more passionately. Guinevere changes dramatically after she started her romance with Lancelot. She has to lie to her lover about being a loyal wife. Although she knows that her actions are wrong, she could not stay away from Lancelot, because he saved her life. The story comes to the point when she reaches for Lancelot at the presence of the king. Therefore, as she gets older, she changes completely. Guinevere desires to stay young; thus, she applies too much make up to cover up her flaws. She became less self-confident as she aged (Malory).
Mordred is another figure that goes through a dramatic change in the course of the legend. He is the Arthur’s son from his sister, the son of king Lot of Orkney. Merlin thinks that Mordred will end Arthur’s life. The expectation becomes reality when Arthur leaves Mordred in charge of England. While Arthur is waging a war against Rome, Mordred claims a throne and marries his wife Guinevere. Mordred’s betrayal forces Arthur to come back to retake the power that rightly belongs to him. They fight each other and Arthur kills Mordred in the Battle of Camlann. Mordred was known to be loyal and trustworthy before Arthur left him in charge. After being granted power and influence by Arthur, Mordred changed dramatically. He became very selfish and took his chances. Mordred changed due to the increase in power and control when being a king.
Gawain is yet another character with a unique story. He is Lot’s sons and Arthur’s nephew. He has a trustful relationship with Lancelot because he is a member of the Round Table. Gawain is a great fighter. Although the knight goes after Grail, he does not succeed. He is an example of piety, loyalty, and humanity. However, he has extremely powerful ego, so that he would tell a lie to save himself. Nevertheless, he remains loyal to the king and family, as he is kind hearted and protects the poor and underprivileged from injustice.
In conclusion, people tend to change when they undergo challenging and unique experiences. The personalities of many characters went through alterations over the course of the legend. Some remained true to oneself, but many personalities adopted the dark side. I see myself in King Arthur’s character. Just like Arthur, I am kind, loving, honest, and like helping others. I am trustworthy, and cannot hurt others on purpose. Moreover, just like Arthur, I am very reluctant to take revenge on the people I know, even if they hurt me.
