New Age Arthur

Times pass and finally we have reached the time in which is relatable to all of us while we decipher the riddle of King Arthur. I find it refreshing the different perspective that is shown throughout the story. The point of view that only lasted a few pages when reading about it in Tennyson and now it is one of the strongest personalities in the book. Or so it is written. The thoughts that are followed are one of a modern teenager that allows for the rerlatablility.

This is different that the "Knight Life" reading where they remembered who they were and what they were fighting for. I am anxious to know if the other knights of the round table will show themselves later in the novel. Lancealot and Gwen (Lance and Jennifer) are worse than they were 2,000 years ago when they first fell in love. The queen could've exactly leave her castle without an uproar (though it kinda happened anyway) however in this time they decided to be intimate in the very house of the supposed Arthur reincarnation. And what's up with his dad? Is all that true? And it does sound like something Uther would do for me.

Though the Lady of Shalott was a different person back in the day, I feel as if there are still similatires between the old and new. For example, the weaving that she does, she does not exactly spend her time weaving an intracite tapestry, she does weave herself into a sticky situation. She isolates herself such as the Lady of Shalott was isolated in her tower. It is interesting because of the seemingly oppisite personalities.

True Love and a Villain worth hating (or is it...)

Finally! The story we have all been waiting for! At least, this seems to be the story for which I have been waiting. Despite all the magic, love and friendship that abounds in every King Arthur tale, it always felt as thought something was missing. I think what has been bothering me about previous works is two-fold.

Firstly, the fact that much of the love we see in the legends is wrong somehow. Sometimes it is a king impersonating and then killing his vassal to get  the vassal's wife. Or the time King Arthur was attracted to (some say in love with) his sister, which led to disastrous incest. Even Guinevere and Lancelot, who love Arthur, are not honorable at all when they break all kinds of vows and rules to have their love affair. Some of that "wrong" love is preserved in Avalon High, in Lance and Jenny's relationship, and the whole shadowy matter of  Will's (a.k.a Arthur's) father having killed his friend to marry his wife. But, this time, it seems like the main love story does not have that element of "wrongness." If Ellie and Will's relationship progresses the way it has been, and the two end up together, it will be for all the right reasons. Ellie falls for Will because he sticks up for the underdog, because he is kind, and funny. Plus, after she falls for him, she does nothing to steal him away from his girlfriend. She does not pine ridiculously, she does not starve herself to death, she makes the decision to be the girl that makes him laugh-despite the facts that it hurts to see him with his girlfriend and that her friend told her about "guys not falling in love with girls that make them laugh" (Cabot 88).

The other thing that always seemed a little strange to me about the King Arthur stories of the past was the simplicity of the villains. For the majority of the stories, villains were bad because they were inherently evil. Giants and dwarfs were always villainous, because of course if one fails to be of average size, they are evil. And evil knights like Meleagant have no reason for being bad. I like that this story moves away from making the villains so simple. It appears that Marco, (an incarnation of  Mordred, perhaps) is to be the villain of this story. If Marco is the villain, I will have no trouble accepting his role. Marco has every reason to be a villain. He grew up with nothing, he just lost his father and had to uproot his life soon after to live with a perfect stepbrother and strict Stepfather. Then he finds out that his perfect stepbrother is really his half-brother (a fact hidden from him by his only remaining parent) and that his Stepfather may have had his Father killed in order to marry his mother.

Poor Marco, he has no Timon and Pumbaa to keep him from the Dark Side.

 If half of all that happened to me, I would most definitely be a villain. Not to mention the fact that a villain whose actions may be justified makes things a little more complex for the reader. Do we hate the villain as the enemy of the hero? Or do we sympathize?

See you in our next incarnation,

Lady Bertilak

All quotations taken from Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Pictures:
http://roflhumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/crocs.jpg

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