A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

張貼日期：Sep 21, 2009 4:4:44 PM

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)

By Mark Twain

Recommended by Ms. Chia-Yin Huang

If you ever have a chance to go back in time to King Arthur’s Court or to the court of a Chinese emperor, and win the trust of the king/emperor, what would you do? Would you attempt to reform the ancient government and society with your “advanced” knowledge, technology, and political concepts of the modern time? Would you educate the “primitive” ancient men scientific methods, democracy, and human rights? Would you teach them how to use gun powder and to build a telecommunication system? This is what Hank Morgan would do when he found himself in King Arthur’s time.

In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Hank Morgan ("The Boss") is transported back in time from the 19th century to the 6th century. He believes that because he is technologically more advanced than others, he is superior as a human being; this leads Hank to attempt to change, improve, and "civilize" Camelot, but in the process, he destroys it. Mark Twain takes a cynical and satiric look at social injustice, modern technology, and the Catholic Church. 

The work was widely recognized as a satire; however, Twain himself wrote, “The story isn’t a satire peculiarly; it is more especially a contrast.” It would not be necessary to satirize King Arthur and his court, a remote legendary time in which the actual existence of the characters has never been proved. To look at the work in a more universal strain, the injustices and disorders at King Arthur’s court can be generalized as contradictions and faults of human behavior through history. It is then contrasted with the modern man’s view of himself and his enlightened age. 

However, Twain wasn’t necessarily sympathetic with the protagonist Hank the Yankee. Twain writes that he is modern, knowledgeable but is nonetheless “an ignoramus.” In fact, Hank’s proud ambition to “cultivate” the ancient people suggests a deeper criticism on modern society’s over-confidence for progress and technology. As Hank grows in power and conviction that his way is the best way, he becomes more totalitarian, more violent and less in control of his circumstances until the only way out is a war of mass destruction. Through the arrogance and failure of Hank, Twain cynically questioned men’s ability to act sensibly and to create an equal, peaceful society rid of conflicts and injustice.