Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Satire in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain in his satirical novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court develops his satire with a dual thrust, one prong directed at the British and their superior attitude, and the other at Americans and what Twain sees as the myth of the entrepreneur who succeeds by superior ability and force of will. Hank Morgan is the American who finds himself far from home both in terms of place and time and who resolves that he will be able to become boss of the whole place in a short time because he is infused with the American spirit of the entrepreneur. The England he faces does not live up to the myth that has been promoted by British writers like Sir Walter Scott. Instead, the King Arthur of "reality" is unqualified as a leader, just as the people are superstitious, easily gulled, and foolish in their own ways. While this might seem to make this England fertile ground for the spirit of the American entrepreneur, ultimately Hank Morgan fails because his approach is no more the answer to the issues of life than are the superstition and arrogance of the British.

Hank Morgan is actually more than an entrepreneur, or rather sees the role of the entrepreneur as more than creating and operating a business. For Morgan, the business leader is also to be a moral leader, and he therefore tries to reform the system he finds in England rather than just taking it over. He is as much an idealist as the Sir Walter Scott whose vision of the past he and Twain deplore, though. Critics have found the character ambiguous in a number of ways, and this could mean that Twain was conflicted about the character, that he did not draw the character as skillfully as he should, or that he changed his mind as he wrote and did not make the character coherent with his changed views. Among the contradictions that have been noted are the fact that the character seems to be a national cultural symbol but that in this role he seems more like a caricature or ...

Page 1 of 6 Next >

More on Satire in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Satire in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 00:39, March 19, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693015.html