Essay | The Once and Future King, Wart's Heroism

A hero is a person characterized by feats of strength, chivalry, intelligence, and mystery. The heroic vision in T.H. White's The Sword in the Stone is made possible by the heroic qualities of Wart and his companions.

Wart's experiences with the animals grant him a larger view of life, which contributes to the vision of him as a hero. Wart had the opportunity to be among the ants for a time and his most telling experience with them was their rule: "EVERYTHING NOT FORBIDDEN IS COMPULSORY."(121) The ant society is controlled with absolute power and there is no freedom for the masses. The ants themselves did not mind it, as they had never had anything else, but Wart could see what was wrong in their world and recognized that it was terrible. When Wart later attempted to explain the concept of war to Lyo-lyok, the goose, she...
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