King Arthur

King Arthur is the protagonist of The Once and Future King and the novel's narrative and emotional center. The novel follows Arthur's life from beginning to end, and the major events in his life shape the story. After Arthur becomes king, his ideas about government reshape English society, and these changes determine the plot, chronology, and setting of the four books that make up the novel. Even the novel's title promises that although the story ends with Arthur's death, he will always be England's ruler. Despite Arthur's extraordinary importance to the novel, however, he is a fairly simple character. As a child, Arthur (then called the Wart) is honest, trusting, modest, and good-hearted, and he preserves these qualities when he becomes king. King Arthur shapes his government with an important new philosophy that makes him a great king, but the ideas are Merlyn's rather than Arthur's...