King Henry I: A Literary Analysis

My translated journal involves people and places that are non-fictional, others that are fictional but based off of non-fictional models, and some that are completely fictional. William, the main protagonist and the journal’s keeper, falls under the second category. Basing the main character off of a real person—such as the illegitimate children of Henry I—allowed me to get a good grounding for the backstory, setting, and the conflicts that the character may struggle with. I attempted to make William seem like a normal person and yet I focused too heavily on the plot rather than his expression of emotions. Luckily, the majority of the story’s plot occurs over a relatively short time span in which a lot of personal growth for William happens; the shifting of the setting, addition of characters, and rapidly occurring events allow the reader to have a deeper connection with William even though the he is a rather superficial character. I believe that even with William’s flawed writing, the story manages to keep a solid foundation and sets an accurate picture of this time period. A few of my sources were

Having William be an illegitimate child to King Henry I was one of such choices. At one point, the abstract for “The illegitimate children of Henry I” says, “The number of Henry I of England’s offspring was remarkable, even by contemporary standards” (Thompson). Because Henry I had so many illegitimate children it would have been easy for one to go unrecorded such as William. Another choice that worked well was to kill off William’s adoptive parents; doing so is a cliché yet also an effective plot device. Killing William’s father started up the stories plot and killing his mother advanced it to the final section. Having William become Griffin’s pupil also worked out well because it wrapped everything up and lead to the conclusion of the story. It lead to his wife and future is good and