A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: A Study of Social and Political Satire

An American writer and humorist; Mark Twain's work is characterized by broad irreverent humor with biting social or political satire. Twain's writing is known for its realism of voice, place and characters that speak to every generation as he exposes oppression and people's prejudice, hypocrisy and how ugly people can be while writing a brilliant story. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was the last of Twain's novels written during the height of his career. The story satirizes oppression in Feudal England and shows Twain's more mature writing as it hints at some of the cynical and dark themes, he would obsess over in his final years. He thought it would be his last book, however he went on the write many more stories and novelettes.

Twain developed an interest in the Arthurian principals, after a friend had given him an edition of the medieval Morte D'Arthur of Thomas Malory in 1884. "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is widely known as a satire. Twain had written "The story isn't a satire at all peculiarly, it is more especially a contrast." After all, what would it satirize, a bygone legendary era whose characters may have never existed? Twain wrote in the preface, "The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, but they are not necessary of the 6th Century or even necessarily about England." The scenes instead show pathos and injustices become generalized as the contradictions and faults of human behavior throughout the ages. It is contrasted against the modern man's view of himself and the enlightened age.

The slavery scenes of the book most likely never existed in Britain however; they are true to life descriptions of Russian serfdom as well as American slavery in the South. The Yankee, Hank is the protagonist that Twain writes as a modern, knowledgeable but is nonetheless "an ignoramus." Hank's voice is not necessarily Twain's. Twain uses this self-assured, strong willed American to criticize modern society's penchant for destructive progress. At the time of the book, Twain had already grown more cynical of man's capacity to act sensibly. He adds this cynicism in "A Connecticut Yankee" with a dark prophecy of the political faults he realized in his own time. The Yankee grows in power and conviction that his way is the best way. He becomes more totalitarian, violent, and less in control of his circumstances until the only way to escape is a war of mass destruction.

A Connecticut Yankee like Huckleberry Finn was not popular or remembered for its darker undercurrents. It is instead, more remembered for its brilliant writing, imagination, novel invention, and American storytelling. Full of the contradictions of what is right and wrong that plagued Mark Twain in his later years. It derives its brilliance, humor and its themes from a juxtaposition of times and its attendant values. The mythic King Arthur embodies his age and the age of romantic chivalry. Hank Morgan is a figure of the Nineteenth Century barren of sentiment, freedom minded, and shrewd. Within this context several topics and themes occur such as the church. Twain's Yankee's greatest fear and ultimate enemy is the Roman Catholic Church, which to him embodies the evils of manipulating religion for political purposes. He states, "The established church is only a political machine bereft of the spiritual functions that it purports to serve." Hank accuses the church for shoring up the ills of the Sixth Century society with its superstition, heredity nobility and social inequality.

Slavery appears prominently in the work as a social disgrace, that Hank seeks to abolish. The scenes Twain writes are about the oppression and dehumanization of slaves that are drawn largely from Russian, German sources. It is also a part of the universal points with slavery in the United States. Hank and King Arthur become slaves and is made empathic to the plight of slaves. Twain uses their story as condemnation of those whom can claim the morality of a matter only on a superficial level, however who cannot move to action unless prodded by real experience. Merlin verses Hank in the book. Merlin represents superstition, bogus magic, and the old order while Hank is the banner-bearer of "The magic of science civilization and progress. There is constant rivalry in the embodiment of the larger social project that Hank is trying to achieve in making England into an industrialized nation. Hank does this in proclaiming the eclipse and in the restoration of the Holy Fountain. Hank uses the same reliance on superstition that Merlin does against him. Hank's industrial miracle can be manipulative as Merlin's smoke and mirrors hoaxes.

Merlin appears to be defeated each time the civilization destroys itself. Training verses Nature is a central theme to all of Twain's satires and is the question of the power of training against an inherent human nature. On most levels, Hank believes that training and influence determine the good or bad outcome of a society. His project of civilization is based on the belief that he can train the English people to think and live differently. However, he is at a loss to explain why despite training, people revert to foolish and destructive practices, even after a technological and economic. Hank finds this insufficient to keep them from abandoning his system for the Church's favor, when considering their heredity and nobility. He cannot explain why intelligent people kowtow to their "Betters" when it is only a superficial title that distinguishes them. Hank himself becomes an object of this line of criticism as he becomes a dictator, using violence to shore up his power. In the end, his creation folds in on itself from the dream of a peaceful democratic evolution; he emerges with the destruction of war.

For Twain, the contradictions and depth of the problem are enough to make one "Want to hang the entire human race" for its foolishness; against his own belief that people can improve his Yankee says, "Men are all fools. Born so, I guess." Twain's contradictions and depth of the problems are enough to make one, "Want to hang the entire human race." Its foolishness is against his own belief that people can improve his Yankee when he says, "Men are all fools. Born so, I guess." Arthur the person is an interesting, yet subtle theme in the work. Hank "The Boss" is at the center of the action, Arthur, and his relationship to the legend that Twain parodies are strong undercurrents. It is interesting that while Twain might have satirized and reduced Arthur to a cuckold monarch, impotent and useless to Hank's New England, he did not shrivel the beloved character of the legend.

It is true that the King Arthur Hank serves yields his political authority to the Yankee, however he retains the authority of character that shines out in the legendary accounts. For Hank, the draw of Arthur is not his military exploits or the magical elements relating to his reign. It is, however, the ideal that he represented an ideal of integrity and courage. Hank frees a peasant family from Morgan Le Fay's dungeon. The family exclaims that it is Arthur's word," Which is gold," rather than the weight of authority that Hank carries as that you can trust. Arthur's described as "Just and Fair" judge who does the best "According to his lights." Twain seems to acknowledge the best part of the Arthurian canon; the sense of honor and valor that surrounds the person of Arthur himself even as he ravages the time and its conventions and laws. Mark Twain wrote Connecticut Yankee, when there had been a revival of interest in Arthurian legends, which surround the mythical British King who, supposed to have unified England under his banner. In literature and art, Arthur's time was romanticized as the age of chivalry, of honor and driven by high ideals masked by beauty as well as battle and intrigue. The premise of scientific fantasy in the story is another interesting literary sign of the time in Twain's novel. The stranger in the novel asks Twain if he has ever heard of the "Transmigration of souls," and the "Transposition of epochs and bodies," in other words, time travel. H.G. Wells gave birth to the Science Fiction genre, not long after the publication of Connecticut Yankee.

Hank embodies everything Mark Twain considers as a self-assured, barren of sentiment, and no-nonsense modern American. Above all, as Twain hints at in the novel, the Yankee is a "Technocrat." Hank knows how to make anything from cannon to "Labor saving machinery," and is always in search of a new way to mechanize and streamline. The Yankee's love for technology is progress and will emerge as a key theme and force conflict later in the novel, with the inefficiencies and "irrationality" he finds in King Arthur's court. Mark Twain gives a taste of the satirical approach that he will take towards the Arthur story and the age of chivalry. The world of knights and damsels are painted in the story as a kind of circus with ridiculous rules and patterns driven by irrational machismo. Hank does not even recognize the name, "Camelot." He does not note its connection to King Arthur and instead thinks it to be the name of the asylum. The knight and prisoner moves along, as the Hank character notices that he is oddly out of place; however, Twain concludes that everyone he sees must also be a mental patient.

Contrary to the often romantic and heroic retellings of the Arthur story, Twain sets about on his social commentary on the contrasts between the legend and what he projects to be historical reality of the inequality of the time. Legend has it that the time of Arthur was one of prosperity and peace. Twain paints the town outside the gates of the fabled Camelot as inhabited by peasants that were no better than slaves living in poverty and filth. Twain weaves sardonic humor often to satirize institutions and people. Twain is serious, when it comes to the descriptions of inequality in Connecticut Yankee. With muckraker-like reporting of social conditions, he depicts the indifference of the gentry and "Gallant. knights in armor toward the people. The people coldly pass as the commoners bow and scrape in automaton-like deference. Most of the humor that Twain uses is in the language of the novel itself. Twain adapts and exaggerates some of the stilted courtly prose in the Morte D'Arthur to bring ironic twists into the speech of the knights in contrast with the Yankee. He writes, for example that Clarence "Is no more than a paragraph, that the boy shrugs off without understanding the insult. The words Mark Twain used to describe the fortress of Camelot, as "Full of loud contrasts." The space is grand, yet crude to cut to conform. The people too, are a mixture of courtly grace and rough instincts.

For example, these courtiers interrupt their storytelling knights to watch the hundreds of dogs that are lying about the round table, yapping and fighting over the gristly bones thrown by the feasting courtiers. The Yankee describes the court as a "Childlike and innocent" lot, credulous beyond anything he has ever seen. Hank believed every tall tale that comes before even though it is a known fact that all of the knights exaggerate and lie to make their exploits greater. The stories of gore and gruesome battle become acceptable by virtue of the "Guileless relish" with which they are told. The Yankee here is already asserting his superior intellect over these people. Hank believes they are no more mentally developed than children. While he, with his rationality and know-how is confident that he can "Boss the whole country inside of three months," if necessary. Hank, even in the midst of this improbable and fantastic situation, loses no time in trying order and reason his way through his predicament. Hank's consciousness knows that he is in the year 528, even though, he refuses to accept it without scientific evidence. It may seem improbable, that Hank would suddenly remember that the first total eclipse of the sun would be on June 21, during the 6th Century. This is precisely the type of cold, objective evidence that the Yankee needs to assure himself that he is in King Arthur's court. An ambitious northerner, he "Wastes no time," when his "Minds made up and there's work at hand and begins to think of a plan to master his situation.

Hank's calculating rational has a cold edge as he watches maimed and captive knights endure their wounds in silence as they stand in the great hall. Instead of feeling pity, he concludes that their strength In addition, fortitude is Mere animal training since they must have done the same thing to others in their day "Here is a theme that the character of Hank and Twain will often revisit; the question of how much human behavior is refined through learning and how much is inherent to human nature. Mark Twain is already setting up the main themes that he will constantly reframe during the course of the story. In his preface, he claims that the "Ungentle customs and laws" and barbarism depicted in the book are not meant as a libel against the 6th Century, as such things have always existed and continue to exist to the present day. It is this issue of barbarism that is contrasted with law and order that becomes the theme's focus for Twain. The character of Clarence, while young, possesses an openness that makes Hank like him and sets him apart from the rest of the court, who will regard, Hank as A practical monster. He will become an important help to Hank later in the story. Hank reduces the collective stories of the Knights of the Round Table to a heap of lies and exaggerations. On the one hand, the beautiful rites and adventures of Arthur's time are based on a perfect skill with stretching the truth into fantasy, and a special credibility that marks everyone in that society.

Merlin is not introduced to the story as a potent and piercing figure. He is instead introduced, as an old man with the same weary tale to tell. Merlin becomes an important symbol throughout the book the type of fantasy and bogus magic that holds the romance of Arthur's court. Twain's purpose in writing Connecticut Yankee was to prove Arthurian legends to be a bunch of useless lies to undermine Twain's ability. The stories still have a magnetic draw, however instead of emphasizing the romantic elements of the legend. Twain finds a rich source of humor by playing up the inappropriate, illogical and arbitrary within the Arthur story itself. In chapter 4, Twain attacks manners of the lords and ladies of Arthur's Court. The subject of "Chivalry" in Twain's story brings connotations of the utmost reserve and gentility. Hank describes the bawdiness and ill manners of the ladies in court as being barbaric as the armed combat of their counterpart knights. Hank goes on to say in the story that in morals, the nobility has never distinguished from the masses. Perhaps only in modern times have we established a distinction between manners of the upper and lower classes.

Superstition becomes a recurring theme throughout the novel, and it is with this power that the character of Hank harnesses to capture the imagination and the respect of the people. The general belief is what Hank has noticed earlier has become magnified when it applies to the supernatural or magical. Hank, in his cunning and willingness to manipulate his odds uses people's trust to his advantage. The act of showmanship, emerge as a very important part of Hank's character even when it is involved in dire and life threatening situations. Hank never loses a sense of the flair as he always increases a dramatic effect with every chance in the story. This element of Hank's character adds to the brand of humor twain sells in his book. There is something also very telling about the way twain has chosen to characterize his nineteenth Century man: as a showy and shrewd, character who knows how to play a crowd. Twain is merciless on the Roman Catholic Church, claiming it as "Awful power" that had "Converted a nation of worms. "He attributes the social issues of Europe with all of its injustices to the Church's materials and principals that support the "Divine right of kings" and the meek humility of the masses to their betters. Twain makes this very clear attack connect to modern Europe, whose societies still retain the residual effects of this legacy. For Hank and Twain, there is nothing more ridiculous and meaningless in political and human terms than the idea of a man who would bow and scrape before another because of his title or rank.

Hank's full intent in the novel is to subvert the current order and institute the type of civilization he deems best, one that closely resembles nineteenth Century America. He believes that "Unlimited power is the right thing when it is in safe hands," And since it is his hands that he considers the safest, and he sets out reprogramming the people by degrees. Hank sets up in political, rather than spiritual terms when he sets up Protestant Sunday schools of various denominations. A united church, Hank argues always gets "Into the wrong hands" and stifles liberty. Hank's system has numerous sections of Christianity that keep a balance of power allowing the people free exercise of They are religious impulses while keeping the threat of an institutional church. Hank's talk of freedom and liberty become slightly uneasy at his tendency to believe he has all of the solutions as well as the command to institute them. The talk echoes that of most modern dictators, who with love for country and people vie for total control of a system in order to reform according to their vision. The author's influence with the elements of Malory's Morte D'Arthur makes a considerate portion of the satire and humor found in the book.

Twain does not have to invent most of the situations. He merely lifts it from the legend and retells them through Hank's skeptical modern voice. In the stories, knights did go questing based on the stories of strangers. Twain takes the Arthurian knight and logically extends him into the practical arena. The freemen's situation in the novel is not to be able to buy, sell or leave the property, without ceding a large portion of the proceeds to the landlord. He appears to be akin to the description of sharecropping that, Twain born and bred in Missouri, would have been aware. Twain describes the unfair land practices that were not confined to the sixth century that could be easily found in the United States into the twentieth. One finds in the book, Twain's famous formulations that were two reigns of terror: The one of French history and the other of the centuries of oppression under European monarchical government. Hank declares with uncompromising gall, that the terrors of the French Revolution was but half a drop of blood compared to the "Hog's head full," that had been pressed from the masses by the torture of feudalism.

Twain makes it clear that his Yankee chooses to reform England through technology and education. He terms his system a "New deal," Words with which Roosevelt would later christen his famous economic reform program. There is also the interesting ideal of Hank's "Man factory," a place where citizens are retrained in democratic thinking and "Modern values." The existence of such a system proves that Hank believes that men are made; they can be shaped and reformed into the type of citizen someone wants. Hank continuously asserts his belief in proper education as the cornerstone of a free society, however is also reducing man to a type of industrial product, the same Hank had produced in his Connecticut factory. Another element that Hank prizes as much as training, is a thing he calls "Manliness." Hank's Manliness is a combination of courage and human dignity that shines independently of station or wealth and seen in times of adversity. Despite Hanks critical attitude toward the court, he sees this reflected on the faces of Arthur and his men and respects them for it. Hanks' criticism of the nobility never changes in its tone, tenor or its object, and becomes repetitive quite early.

Again, he cites the poor manners and lack of virtues of nobles, saying that the bitter sarcastic restatement of his belief that the nobles are useless. "A jackass is useful because he is a jackass; a nobleman is not useful because he is a jackass." Though Morgan Le Fay embodies cold wickedness, she is one of the few who draws an outright respect from Hank. He is oddly drawn to her beauty, her musical voice and cannot help but admiring her exactness and calculating ability even while he shudders at her cruelty. The combination makes for dark humor as the attraction to Morgan LeFay's efficient execution of her way of life has strong parallels to currents running in Hank's character. She is a "Backwards" version of Hank, concerned with her task and willing to resort to violence to complete it. Twain makes a new attack on the piety of the nobility, insisting that although "Murderous" and "Morally rotten. "They nonetheless have a great enthusiasm for religion going to mass, saying prayers and giving thanks for their crimes. He makes an allusion to the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, whose famous biography also contains contrasts of sublime piety and violence.

Most of the Arthurian literature and history contain such incongruities as knights hacking each other to death only after taking communion giving saints praise for victories in bloody battles. To his knight Sir La Cote Male Tale Hank says, "We have brains, and for such that have brains, there are no defeats, but only victories." This statement summarizes Hank's Yankee self-assurance and his attitude towards himself and his abilities. This confidence that "There are no defeats," have tragic ironic echoes at the end of the work, when Hank's brain brings him to a defeat that, he cannot overcome. The stories Twain crafts to illustrate the injustices and suffering of feudal society take on a generic pathos as he piles on horror after horror. England's dungeons are not filled with criminals, however always young brides are torn away from family for petty insults, or honest men falsely accused. The nameless peasants Twain paints are oppressed and hopeless. His narratives seem almost like muckraking about the past. Hank often implies that the prisoners and peasants he comes across have been made subhuman. He describes them as behaving like an "Animal does when it knows it has been done a kindness." This type of "Oppression narrative" becomes a theme in Hank's travels, escalating in pathos and severity as the novel goes on. This type of pounding tends to produce a sense of non-reality rather pity. Twain's style of humorous writing is marked often by unlikely and incongruous ways of treating a general topic and this novel are a prime example of his brand of wit.

Works Cited-
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. (Paperback -Bantam Books, New York,
1889) Mark Twain, Culture and Genre: Envisioning America Through Europe by John D. Stahl (Hardcover, January 1994).