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Julia Hopkins
Mrs. Carter
English 2 Honors
18 February 2015
Imperfect Humans in The Once and Future King
In T. H. Whites The Once and Future King, there are many themes
revealed. These themes are exposed through characterizations, settings,
events, points of view, symbols, and tones. While they are all important, the
theme that stands out the most is human nature is imperfect. White
suggests this theme through different events and characterizations of
different characters throughout all 4 books.
In the story, The Sword in the Stone, the imperfection of human
nature is exposed during a sword fight between King Pellinore and Sir
Grummore. This conversation between the two characters exposes the
imperfection of humans: Pax, said King Pellinore, mumbling rather [] You
said Pax!I said Pax Non under my breath (White 1.7.50-51). Usually,
knights are known to be noble and perfect human beings, but this quote
proves how even the most noble are just as imperfect as the next person.
In book 2, The Queen of Air and Darkness, imperfection is revealed
through Arthur. At the end of the story, White shocks the readers by saying
Whatever the explanation may have been, the Queen of Air and Darkness
had a baby by her half-brother nine months later. It was called Mordred
(White 2.14.244). Arthur seemed to be a person who doesnt make a

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mistake, however, we learn that he is imperfect just like every other human
being.
Another character that we see imperfection through is Lancelot. In
book 3, White says His [Lancelot's] word was valuable to him not only
because he was good, but also because he was bad [...] For one thing, he
liked to hurt people (White 2.6.262). Lancelot was a kind knight and
everyone believed he did nothing wrong. He was the best at fighting and
always spared a life if they asked him to. But he wasnt as perfect as he
seemed to be. He was cruel, just like the quote states. He had to restrain
himself from hurting others. He may have seemed perfect to those around
him, but it is impossible for anyone to have complete perfection.
A big event that showed the imperfection of humans is when Lancelot
killed Gareth and Gaheris in The Candle in the Wind. In this book, Lancelot
states why he killed the two armorless men: It was because I had forgotten
my knighthood that God made me kill poor Gareth, and Gaheris too (White
4.9.457). Lancelot was an imperfect knight who had forgotten his
knighthood. Because of this, God made him kill Gareth and Gaheris. In
reality, he killed them because they were in his way.
Even though a large amount of The Once and Future King is about
how imperfect human nature is, there is a small portion that does talk about
perfection. White brings this up when he has Lancelot say If people reach
perfection they vanish, you know (White 3.27.335). Once a person reaches
perfection, they are no longer human, and therefore disappear in thin air.

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This is because all humans are imperfect and there is no way to get around
it.
There is more that one place where White talks about how reaching
perfection will kill you. For example, in "The Ill-Made Knight" White states If
you achieve perfection, you die. There had been nothing left for Galahad to
ask of God, except death. (3.36.366). This quote further proves that all
humans are made to be imperfect. If we were to reach perfection, there
would be nothing left for us to learn about and we would have no goals to
work towards. We would have no reason to continue on with our lives.
Throughout The Once and Future King, imperfection is shown in good
and bad ways. It's the reason why the Knights cheated, Arthur had a baby
with his half sister, Lancelot was bad, and Gareth and Gaheris were killed.
The book later talks about how everyone is imperfect, and those who are
perfect die because there is nothing left for them to ask of God. We have to
learn that even though perfection seems like a wonderful thing, it's the
opposite. It causes us to lose the reason for living. Without imperfection, we
would all be the same.

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Works Cited

Print.

White, T. H. The Once and Future King. New York: Putnam, 1958.