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Once And Future King Literary Analysis

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Man may have invented, may have adapted, but he is still as savage as the day he came to be. He lives off of stealing, and adapts to look innocent, he is a plague contaminating a world of innocence. Throughout the ages, man has ruled over others. For example, Ivan the terrible, who decided to ransack and slaughter a whole town, named Novgorod, out of a mistrust of the citizens. This is not evident only throughout history, but even in books written by man himself. Some novels such as 1984, by George Orwell, Once and Future King, by T.H. White, and Oedipus, by Sophocles. All written about different times, and different events; but all proving one , Man is evil. These stories are no coincidence of ideas, they are three different authors coming …show more content…

One example of this is in Once and Future King, during the search for the Holy Grail. Lancelot finds the reason he was not allowed to win a battle was because of his pride, “Pride made me show off and help the weaker party of the tournament.” This example proves man is evil because Lancelot did not help the weaker side for the armies benefit. But, to prove he is better than everyone else, and make himself feel higher than those around him; which makes all the other knights feel bad about themselves. which makes him evil because he is harming another for self gain. Another example of man being evil because of pride,is in Oedipus, Oedipus, while talking to his wife says, “But I account myself a child of Fortune, beneficent Fortune, and I shall not be dishonored.” Which although not as effective in hurting others is arrogant and evil because it shows how important he thinks he is by him putting others lower than himself. Which is evil and would make him an even worse option on a quest to the Holy Grail. Another example of Man’s natural evil is when, in Oedipus,Teiresias and Oedipus argue over a prophecy and Oedipus says “For, tell me, where have you seen clear, Teiresias, with your prophetic eyes? When the dark singer, the sphinx, was in your country, did you speak word of deliverance to its citizens?” Which is not only evil because it is making fun of someone with a disability just to validate making him, Oedipus, look better, but focuses on an event relevant a distant time ago, which shows he is so engulfed by his own success from twenty years ago and he has not done anything else with his

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