Lancelot

A young man just out of high-school decides he needs to find out who he is. To do this, the

young man takes a trip; a trip to find himself. In T.H. White's, The Once and Future King, Lancelot too has

to figure out how he is. He needs to know where he is going, and how he wants to get there. Until

Lancelot figures out who he is, he will not be able to start his adventurous future. Lancelot must learn who

he is before going any farther in life. Finding his own identity allows Lancelot to begin his future.

One of the first things that Lancelot has to do is learn to deal with the fact that he is uglier than

most of the children around him. Without this important self-concept, he will not be able to go on with

himself proud of who he is. Then Lancelot must establish his goals. His goals are indeed an important

part of his identity, for they are what push him to become what he will be. When he decides that his goals

are to become a true knight, and to be able to preform miracles, then he knows what he needs to achieve

in the time ahead. Lancelot must also decide who is going to be who in his life. He needs to know who is

going to be his friend and who is going to be his enemy. To become a knight that is true and pure, he

must decide who can help him. A person who can help him with the future. Being knight is something

Lancelot wants to do, but first he must decide and learn how to act. Becoming a knight will change his

identity, so this he must learn. One of the most important parts of his identity will be to decide what he will

have to do with one of the most powerful things in the world of man; love. Lancelot must decide whether

or not to choose a life of celibacy. With this choice it determines if his identity will be hurt by the thought of

him being impure, and not quite as good of a knight. Then Lancelot must decide whether or not he must

be the best knight. Or to allow himself to call mercy on the one he fights, or choose to fight to the death.

Finally, one of the most important things is for Lancelot to find out if he wants to be religious or not. In the

book, his identity is important around his religious beliefs, for the story of the Holy Grail has to do with the

identity of religious standings that he has chosen.

In order to determine what he wants to do with his life, just like the young man on his journey,

Lancelot must first decide who he is. Only after that can he live on and fulfill whatever destiny he has to.

Nicholas Sine

English Honors

Period 4

February 11, 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, if not for Merlyn, would know very little about life. Even still, Arthur was told everything

about life before he could experiance it. Merlyn taught Arthur what happened, what is going to happen,

and everything in between. Therefor, he couldn't understand enough of his present life to understand his

future life. Arthur would let others do things for him that would make big differences in his future. First, he

was married on his father's consent. Second, 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. Throughout the portion of the book where Lanceltot and Guenever were having their affair,

Arthur takes a silent role. There is little written about his thoughts and feelings on the matter. Arthur does

not want to know what will happen in his future.

" '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. Arthur does

not really want to know how he will die. He thinks it would change how he lives his life. It would put too

much weight on his shoulders. Arthur is very scared of failure. Faliure is probably his main reason for not

wanting to know anything about his destiny.

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.

Nicholas Sine

English Honors

Period 4

February 11, 1998

Guenever

There are situations when people have to make choices that are very difficult. There is a woman

who has been offered two different jobs, both she likes for different reasons, and both seem to be decent

jobs. The woman knows she must choose one and so in her heart, she has to decide which one she likes

best. In T.H. White's The Once and Future King, Guenever is faced with a situation similar to that of the

woman. Guenever has to choose between loving one man or being loyal to another. In Guenever's heart,

love goes to battle with loyalty.

It is known that Guenever was torn in a battle between two men in which both shared her love, but

in different ways. Guenever was split between two men. She was smart enough to know that either way,

she would probably loose one of the two, and this made her decision even harder. Guenever loved Arthur

more like a father. This is because she was very young when she married him and at the time, did not

know what love was. Although she loved Arthur very much, it was not that of a husbandly love, it was a

fatherly love, she felt she had to be loyal to Arthur. Guenever loved Lancelot in a whole different way.

Lancelot and Guenever had a love like of that you would find in a marriage. Again, Guenever was young

when she married Arthur so when she met Lancelot, she realized that she loved him even more. Now this

is where the pressure builds on Guenever. She had to choose what was more important, love or loyalty.

Being loyal would have made Guenever stay with Arthur and being loving would make her stay with

Lancelot. Over and over in Guenever's mind, she had to make a decision. Guenever had no other

choices.

Guenever found that in life you have to make choices that will not always be easy. Like the

woman who had to choose between two different jobs, Guenever had to choose between two men. If she

chose one it would be because of love, if she chose the other, it was because of loyalty.