The Once And Future King Sparknotes

The story, The Once and Future King, takes place in England during the medieval times. In the book I, Arthur, also known as “Wart”, the adopted son of Sir Ector and brother of Kay. Merlyn, a wizard, is hired by Sir Ector to tutor Wart. In his lessons Wart learns how to lead and govern. During the next six years, Kay is knighted and Wart becomes his squire. When Uther Pendragon, the king of England, dies, a prophecy is proclaimed; The next rightful king will be whoever can pull a mysterious sword out of the rock. The boys go to London for a tournament to see who can remove the sword. In his quest for a replacement sword for his knight, Wart stumbles upon the sword in the stone and pulls the sword from it, later being announced King of England. In book II, young King Arthur experiences the struggle to hold on to his power. A new enemy emerges, causing wars to break out in England. With Merlyn’s guidance, Arthur decides that he will use his power and the strength of his fellow knights to defend those who cannot defend themselves, thus creating the Round Table. In the heat of the war, Morgause, Lot’s wife (maybe former wife), goes to Arthur’s court to “reconcile” Arthur with Lot. While in the court Morgause uses magic to seduce him. Arthur, unaware Morgause is

his half sister, sleeps with her. The incest, since it is a great sin, is the cause of Arthur’s inevitable end. Book III, focuses on the knight Lancelot and his inner wars. Lancelot becomes Arthur’s best friend and greatest knight. In an attempt to hide his blooming emotions towards Guenever, Lancelot begins a series of quests. Towards the end of his journey he sleeps with a girl named Elaine. His actions cause Guenever to become enraged and jealous. Her jealousy causes Lancelot to become insane and flee into the woods where later, Elaine finds him and helps him recover. As Arthur’s kingdom begins to crumble he keeps his knights occupied with the task of the Holy Grail. Sir Bors, Sir Percival and Sir Galahad are the only three knights that are pure enough to touch their holy objective. As Lancelot returns a humbled and religious man, his love for God keeps him away from Guenever but their affair ultimately starts again when he rescues her from a kidnapper. In book IV, Mordred, Arthur’s incestual son, seeks revenge against his father. He and his friend Agravaine push Arthur to acknowledge his best friend's affair which forces him to hold a trial against Lancelot and his queen. In his quest to rescue Guenever from being executed, Lancelot kills Gareth and Gaheris. Arthur sends troops to Lancelot’s castle, while the pope sends emissary for a truce. In Arthur’s absence Mordred takes his throne causing Arthur to return home to reclaim his kingdom. In the end, Arthur is comforted that his legacy will live on.
The first theme of The Once and Future King is that strength and force will not result in honest justice.

In book I, Merlyn teaches Arthur that the combination of force, strength and justice are correct morals to have in order to be a successful ruler. In book II, the formation of the Round Table was Arthur’s way of trying to balance force with justice. The reason the table is round is to even out the power so that there’s no hierarchy. Arthur aims for situations and conflicts to be resolved with reason and equally amongst the knights. In book III, on his deathbed, Arthur realizes and accepts that the idea of justice may only be a distant dream. He accepts that maybe the world’s justice is meant to be

violence.
The second theme is that quests help people to find out who they are or want to be. The first quest to appear in The Once and Future King, is in book I. (King Pellinore’s endless search for the questing beast) This endless journey is foreshadowing Arthur’s own inevitable failure to harness his power as King and use justice during his reign. In book II, Arthur’s lesson under Merlyn’s guidance as an ant is about leadership and governing. He sees how ants blindly follow their queen’s orders; they unquestioningly obey her. In book I, Arthur also resorts to staying with Cully when Kay disobeys Hob’s instructions causing Cully to fly off into the woods. Arthur went deeper into uncharted areas of the woods demonstrating his valor and integrity.
Both themes interact with each other by ultimately needing one another and working together to accomplish one goal. Arthur needed strength with valor, integrity with force in order to serve justice to all.