FREE ESSAY ON A CONNETICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHURS COURT

A CONNETICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHURS COURT

In the political and social satire A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain
demonstrates his excessive pride and glory in the political, economic, and technological
advances of his time by developing an interesting plot in which an 19th century mechanic
travels back to the time of a cruel feudalistic Camelot and attempts to modernize and
improve it. Overall, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain compares
the basic political, social, and technological principles of the 19th America to the
medieval ages of Great Britain. On a political scale, the novel denounces that the
medieval period exemplified strict rule by the monarch, unity between church and state,
and showed that many of the people had extremely harsh judgment. On a social scale, Mark
Twain demonstrated that the Middle Ages carried a strict separation of classes where the
nobility and clergy had much control, while the peasantry had almost non. Last, on a
technological scale, Mark Twain implies that magic is not real and he goes on further to
prove that the technology and tools of his time frame could have greatly improved the
Middle Ages. All in all, Mark Twain creates an ideal character from his time that ends up
creating a semi-utopian environment in Camelot. 
When Hank Morgan awakened into the medieval world of King Arthur and Camelot, he saw
political injustice. To compensate for this injustice, Morgan used his status as a
beneficiary tool and combated against the church and the royal privileged. Overall, he
made the people of Camelot aware of the injustice of their time and gave them the hope
for an optimistic future. From this, we can see that Mark Twain believed that his time
frame possessed the best type of government in which church was separated from state.
Furthermore, Mark Twain implies that the people of his time had better judgment. For
example, in order to save himself from death, Morgan remembers that an ellipse occurred
on that day and informs the people that he will cover the whole world in darkness. As he
said those words, the ellipse occurred thus making all the gullible citizens of Camelot
to believe that he was extremely powerful. As a result, he was spared. Thus from this
example, it is evident that the people of the middle ages were quick to rational
supernatural phenomenon even though it was just pure science at work. Conclusively, Mark
Twain glorified his time period to an extent that the he used the horrid faults of the
Middle Ages as an example in his novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. 
The next major point that Mark Twain wanted to concentrate on was based on the social
conditions. In the novel, Hank Morgan is a witness of injustice and social inequality
that he believes needs to be altered. Once again, it is noticeable from this that Mark
Twain shows bias towards all other types of social distinctions, and rather favors the
American democratic way. Furthermore, Twain enforces various principles of what he
believes to be "good government" in which the nobility and commoners alike enter into a
life of respect, dignity, and purpose towards each other. Moreover, through Morgan, it
obvious to see that Twain is against slavery and is pro-education. All of these
characteristics are evident because Morgan eventually abolishes slavery and builds
various schools including West Point. 
Lastly, Mark Twain shows great respect for the technological advances of his time through
the characterization of Morgan. For example, as a mechanic, Hank Morgan realized that his
life would be unbearable with out technology. As a result, he begins inventing various
equipment like telephone, telegraph, and even bicycles; inventions that otherwise would
seem preposterous to exist at that time but were greatly revered in the 19th century. It
also becomes evident that Mark Twain had great respect for education and very little in
superstition or magic. For example, because of Morgan's scientific knowledge, he was able
to predict the eclipse and he was even able to turn aside a half-dozen charging knights
by simply blowing a column of pipe smoke from beneath his armored face shield.
Furthermore, another example of where education outpoured magic was when Morgan restored
the flow of water to a fountain by simple mechanics, while Merlin's "magical" methods did
not work. 
In conclusion, the social and political satire, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court, by Mark Twain, uses a character from 19th century America as a type of savor to
the horrible feudalistic times of the Middle Age Camelot. By stressing bias beliefs about
the political, social and technological advance of his time, Mark Twain creates a nearly
utopian environment for Camelot. Oppression, social injustice, and slavery were
abolished, while education, inventions, just government, new professions like engineering
and even belief of a virtuous approach to life was introduced. All in all, by showing
mans inhumanity and then its victories through a utopian type of middle age society in a
satirical fashion make this literary pieces one of the best literary works of our time.