The Once And Future King Lessons Essay

Throughout T.H. White's novel, The Once and Future King, the main character and adopted son of high society, the Wart, is given many lessons to prepare him to one day inherit the throne. Knowing his future and destiny, the Wart's tutor, Merlyn, transforms the Wart into several animals and demonstrates to him the dangers and responsibilities of being a king. The Wart is taught that as a king, he is responsible for his people and must respect them. The Wart, now known as Arthur, eventually removes the sword from the stone, making him the King of England. Through many challenging lessons, Merlyn ultimately teaches Arthur what he must do to be an efficacious and respected king. One of the most essential of the many lessons given to the Wart comes in the beginning of the story. In Chapter 5 of the first book, the Wart asks Merlyn if he could be turned into a brave yet unaggressive. Merlyn turns him into a fish and goes on to explain: "For this …show more content…
Merlyn advises the Wart that all the magic for transformations has been used up and that this lesson will be his last. In this final lesson, the Wart learns to 'love his home' from the badger. "...I can only teach you two things-- to dig, and to love your home" (White 188). The Wart has a long conversation with the badger and learns great things about war. He realizes that man is the 'king of the animals' but is the only species that wages war on each other. The badger makes an analogy to explain more in-depth what is wrong with the human race. "But the packs of wolves from the Forest Sauvage attack our flocks of sheep every winter. Wolves and sheep belong to different species my friend" (White 194). This analogy truly teaches Arthur that as a king, he must not kill and conquer others but prevent war and protect his people. This last lesson given to the Wart prepared him for his future of being the