King Arthur Darling Research Paper

In the seventeenth century England, fifteen year old James Matthew, Oppidan Scholar, arrived at Eton resenting every aspect, and even more so when he met Arthur Darling. Arthur was a Colleger who immediately took a disliking to James, due to his arrogant disposition and cascading mass of dark curls combined with piercing blue eyes. James was the illegitimate son of Lord B, the Queen’s man to carry out her orders. Though connected to nobles and nobility, for all that meant, James was only able to count the number of times he had seen his father on one hand. He was ignored by his father on most occasions, so he was raised by his Aunt Emily, one of the few people in the world he truly admired. That first day at Eton, James also met Roger Davies, whom he takes to as Jolly Roger. They went up to James’ garret room of Godolphin House, only to discover that someone had been there before them and painted on the walls: James Matthew Bastard, O.S.B. Instead of being insulted by the words, James wiped one finger through “Bastard” and smeared the paint on his face, marking the start of his infamous reign at Eton.

The night of his swishing, James refused to show pain even when Darling brought out the cat. He endured by thinking of some sort of way to “render my punisher extinct” (Hart 23) throughout, and came to the conclusion that he was having the sense beat into him with every lash. In the middle of his beating, Darling saw that James’ blood was not red, or blue as Eton blood allegedly should be, but instead custard yellow. He referred to James from then on as the mutant, and warned people to stay away from him so as not to catch the