True, Arthur's attempt to institute a "total justice" in his kingdom proves "too difficult" and he is defeated by Mordred's might, but his attempt ennobles him and his example, forever recorded by the young page, Tom Malory, will inspire generations. For as The Candle in the Wind makes clear, Arthur was a man whose ideas about might, right, and law stood far ahead of those believed by all his opponents - and even some of his allies. White humanizes Arthur as "only a man who had meant well," but a reader of The Candle in the Wind knows that White is being modest for his protagonist's sake. ![]() Since his boyhood, Arthur has moved from being the Wart, a naive but earnest boy, to being King Arthur, a man whose destiny and ideals were to become forever associated with England, the Round Table, and the age of chivalry. ![]() ![]() Near the end of this, the last volume of The Once and Future King, White offers his readers a short "obituary" of Arthur, the mythical figure whom he has examined through the course of four novels: "He was only a man who had meant well.
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