A Connecticut Yankee Analysis

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A Time Traveling Yankee (A Connecticut Yankee by Mark Twain) Written in 1889, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is regarded by many scholars as the most important of American Arthuriana. Twain strips Arthurian legend of much of its glory and grandeur, thereby making it possible for his contemporaries to identify with his main character; Hank Morgan. However, in doing so Twain also diverted from history quite a bit. Most, if not all, of the social structure of King Arthur’s court is based on Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, which is the first real account of the King Arthur legend. Twain also mentions the Grail quest that is central to Malory’s work. But Twain also talks about knights clad in iron and the British…show more content…
He describes Sir Sagramor as his opponent in a joust: “Out from his tent rode great Sir Sagramor, an imposing tower of iron, stately and rigid, his huge spear standing upright in its socket and grasped in his strong hand, his grand horse’s face and breast cased in steel, his body clothed in rich trappings that almost dragged the ground—oh, a most noble picture. A great shout went up, of welcome and admiration…show more content…
Hank is not a fan of Catholicism to say the least: “There you see the hand of that awful power, the Roman Catholic Church. In two or three little centuries it had converted a nation of men to a nation of worms” (43). Hank experiences that without title and heritage people are nothing in King Arthur’s time and he feels this is because of the church. He says that the church “invented the divine right of kings” (44). He is also proud that his knights who carry advertisements will influence people in a way that the Church cannot control: “This would undermine the Church. I mean would be a step toward that. Next, education—next, freedom —and then she would begin to crumble” (85). However, Christianization of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms did not start until the end of the sixth century. Therefore, Catholicism was by no means recognized as the main religion during King Arthur’s time. In fact, the Old English word for God and king can be the same: “æðeling” (“atheling”). The words that were most often used to describe the king are “cyning” (‘kuu-ning’), and “æðeling”. The word for God is simply “God” or “æðeling”, which means Christ in this context. From the end of the sixth century Catholicism slowly conquered the land from the south via the Roman invaders. Old English did have a word for the symbol of the Roman
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