Nicholas Sine

English Honors

Period 4

March 9, 1998

Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quandam Rexque futurus

" The past is gone; the present is full of confusion; and the future scares

hell out of me! " --David Lewis Stein. Like Mr. Stein, Arthur, from T.B. White's

The Once and Future King, is horrified by his destiny. Whether it is one day into

the future, or the day he dies, Arthur is terrified. Arthur can't handle the truth

pertaining to his present and future life.

Arthur was afraid he could do nothing to control his life. Arthur liked to let

others make choices for him because of this. Being a king gave him a lot of

control in many different events, however the decisions pertaining to his life

made him nervous. Arthur let his dad make a very large choice for him. He was

married on his father's consent. Most people would somehow punish their

spouse if they found that they were sleeping with another person. Arthur knew

that Lancelot and Guenever were lovers and he waited for Mordred to take

action on it. Arthur tried to find out as little as possible about Guenever and

Lancelot. The way he looked at it, if he waited for somone else to start

prosecuting Lancelot and guenever, it was one less decision for him to worry

about. Arthur does not want to know what will happen in his future because he

fears there is nothing he can do to change it.

" 'What is confounding me,' exclaimed the magician, pulling out his

hair in tufts, 'is that I can't remember whether it is in the future or in

the past.' 'Never mind about it.' said Arthur. 'I don't like knowing

the future anyway. I had much rather you didn't worry about it,

because, it only worries me.' "

Here, Merlyn tries to give him great wisdom that no one else can have and he

turns it down. Knowing what is destin to happen yells in his face that he is not in

control anymore. Arthur does not really want to know how he will die; it terrifies

him. Arthur panics from fear of failure. Faliure is probably the main reason

Arthur is scared of his future. Arthur is very indecisive. He gets extremely

stressed over any decisions. You can tell this becasue he never makes any

really strong decesions. Arthur is afraid that he may make a bad decision.

Arthur has accomplished everything and lost nothing. When he was

young he was second best compared to his brother. Now he is the king and

essentially the best. To most, Arthur's life would be ideal, but to him it was

horrifying. Arthur's life was one big game. He could never loose so he kept

betting it all. Now he was afraid that just once he will not win, and loose

everything.