King Arthur And His Noble Knights Character Analysis

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In John Steinbeck’s novel, King Arthur and his Noble Knights, and Mark Twain’s novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, Merlin, the powerful wizard, is a significant character. He is compared and contrasted in both books because of the setting and the plot of the stories. He is compared in King Arthur and A Connecticut Yankee because he is described as an almighty, powerful wizard, but is also naïve and dumbfounded. He is contrasted in the stories because his personality is completely contrary of one another. John Steinbeck and Mark Twain had similar views on Merlin, but they made his personality very different in both novels.
In King Arthur, Merlin is one of the most important characters throughout the story. His wizard-like powers and his ability to see the future makes him a significant character. Merlin's presence is key in Arthur's every step, even his birth. If Arthur is Corleone, then Merlin's his wartime consigliore, dolling out advice and providing a push in the right direction when needed (Shmoop). For example, Camelot needed a
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In Steinbeck’s book, Merlin is a protagonist. He tries to use his powers for good instead of evil. An example of this is when a newborn threat was making its way to Camelot; he sent all the newborn May Day babies out to sea because he knew a new ruler of those babies would take Arthurs throne (Steinbeck). He is very supportive to Arthur throughout all his battles and journeys. He uses his wise intuitions and advice to help him and those around him. In a Connecticut Yankee, Merlin is the ideal antagonist. He constantly belittles the Yankee and uses his magic to try to get rid of him, but that all backfires when he tries to sends the Yankee to sleep and completely goes off his rocker and dies on a length of electric wire (Twain). In this sense he is very thoughtless. He is never wise in a Connecticut Yankee like he is in King