Stephanie Pham

Mrs.Angus

Period 2

English 2 Honors

October 16, 2015

​ ​Argumentative Essay: The Once And Future King

If Arthur never talked to the animals as a child, he might have had a bad and very

corrupt kingdom. ​The Once And Future King,​ a fantasy written by T.H. White was written after

World War Ⅱ. This is about a boy named Wart who learns about life and its lessons with the

help of his tutor Merlyn. These lessons will stay with Arthur in the future when he becomes King

Arthur, king of England. ​Although it is said that the geese have taught Arthur the most and are

the most influential to Arthur’s kingdom this is not true. During Wart’s childhood each animal

has taught him something special for him to live by and is important in their special and unique

way.

Each animal teaches Arthur something special, that special thing that Mr. P, a fish who

is the ruler of the moat teaches Wart that brains is better than brawns. The Wart learns that

intellect can be used against even the most influential beings. This is after Mr. P tries to eat the

Wart, who is a fish himself with the help of his magical tutor Merlyn. Although Mr. P has power

and strength, he lacks intelligence. He believes that “Might is Right” like he states here “Power

of the body decides everything in the end, and only Might is Right” (White, 52). In the future,

King Arthur decides to use Might for Right. He encourages his Knights of the Round Table to
use Might for Right and to not use might to kill people and scare them. He learns to not use his

power and dominance as advantage like Mr. P did. And his principles will stay in England for

years to come. The Wart learns a lot from the hawks as well when he turns into a merlin and

visits the castle’s mews. All the hawks in the mews have a certain military rank and the structure

of their government is a military styled one. They are all very important and are respectful and

disciplined especially towards the peregrine who is the oldest hawk in the mews. The peregrine

is their leader and has power over the other lower ranking hawks. The Wart has to prove himself

to them and become an official member of the mews using his intelligence and also his bravery.

He had to go and sit next to Colonel Cully, an insane goshawk who is used to killing other

things, until the bell rings three times. Cully warns the Wart not to sit next to him and to stay

away from him. Even though the Wart is absolutely terrified, he manages to stay with Cully until

for the three bell chimes. What the Wart realizes is Cully is weaker than he is so he decides that

Cully deserves mercy instead of fear. This teaches Wart to be more merciful and to show

bravery. In King Arthur’s kingdom, he applies this to his knights and this can be seen when Sir

Lancelot sees a husband trying to kill his wife because she commits adultery. Lancelot tells and

threatens the man not to kill his wife. And even though Lancelot tries to convince the husband

not to touch her, the husband chops his wife’s head off. This infuriates Lancelot and the man

begs Lancelot for mercy. And Lancelot seeing as the man is begging for mercy, he decides to

spare the man and not kill him.

Another animal that helps King Arthur develop a good kingdom are the ants. When

Merlyn tranforms the Wart into an ant, the Wart learns that each ant has its own designated job

and they all have to contribute and do their part. They each have their own tasks that they do
repeatedly. They have a leader that controls them and the ants somehow do not know that. The

ants have no creativity or any original thoughts and they cannot make their own decisions. They

do not have a mind of their own. The Warts discovers this when an ant struggles to organize

three corpse in a tiny burial chamber. “The new ant put down the cadaver vaguely and began

dragging the other two in various directions. It did not seem to know where to put them. Or

rather, it knew that a certain arrangement had to be made, but it could not figure out how to make

it” (123). If the ant had its own mind, it would have placed the corpse away quickly and a lot

more easily. Arthur learns from the ants that he cannot control everyone and that he needs to give

them some freedom and to let his people have their own thoughts and opinions. The next animal

that Merlyn sends the Wart to is to the geese but not after Archimedes, Merlyn’s owl companion.

Archimedes teaches the Wart that “no owls do not kill for pleasure’ (164). After talking to

Archimedes, Archimedes sends the Wart to the geese. Arthur learns the hard way that the geese

do not kill their own kind and that is is a horrible thing to do. The geese have a leader called the

Admiral who leads them all to the south when the winter comes. And once they reach their

destination the Admiral is merely a respected elder. So basically when the geese need a leader, a

leader comes in and takes charge. Both Archimedes and the geese teach the Wart that blood

sports are bad and should not be used to entertain anyone. Killing other people is a terrible thing

to do and it is just wrong. The final animal that the Warts transforms into is the badger. The

badger tells Wart a parable about how Man became superior and received power over all

animals. The story is about how God made all animals and almost every animal requested a

special trait or feature to survive only one animal decided to stay as they were because they felt

like it was rude to do to God as he had created them they way he envisioned them. And that one
animal was Man. He only asked for tools and without them he would be defenseless. The badger

tells Wart that although Man is superior to all animals, they certainly are not the luckiest. He tells

Wart that Man is the one of the few to fight against their own kind. “ Do you know that Homo

sapiens is almost the only animal which wages war?” (193). This makes Wart realize the issue of

war and how bad war is especially since the war is against its own kind. War does not bring

much satisfaction, but it could leave some guilt.

*** Although each animal plays their part in helping Arthur create a good kingdom, the

geese have influenced Arthur the most. The geese helps Arthur realize that people should not be

killing each other at all. Killing each other is something that should never be done even if it is

thought to be for the right reason. And King Arthur learns from each animal to do a certain thing

and how to not to a certain things. He sees how each animal leads in their own different way.

Take the hawk for example, the hawks are about respecting elders and those who are at a higher

level or ranking then you are. That principle should not be used by a king. Another principle that

should not be used is from the ants, which is to take full control over your people and brainwash

or mind control them to the point where they have no creativity or no individual thoughts. But

the geese on the other hand chose their leader through a decision made by all, their leader has to

have the ability and skill to get things done. The geese taught the Wart that a good leader must be

thoughtful and make the right decisions that will benefit for all their people. Just like when the

Admiral was leading all the geese to the South during the winter after being chosen by the other

geese.

​All the animals did their fair share in teaching the Wart how to lead in their own way and

taught him something special and important that will help him in the future as King Arthur, king
of England. The geese were not the most influential animal though.Each animal contributed in

teaching Wart how to lead. ​ The reason why is because the Mr. P taught him to use Might for

Right instead of Might is Right before trying to chase and eat the Wart. The hawks taught him to

be merciful and brave after they forced him to sit with a demented hawk. And Archimedes and

the geese both taught the Wart that killing is wrong and that it should not be used for fun and

entertainment. And the ants taught him that everyone entitled to their own opinions and they can

do things the ways they want to and not be completely controlled over. These are the things that

a great leader like King Arthur should use to have a good kingdom.