Characters
The Yankee (or Hank Morgan) - The central character and narrator of most of the book, his name is not given until close to the end. He is identified in various ways by the other characters in the book, most often by the title given to him by the common people of England, "The Boss." He is practical, business-minded, hard-working, determined, resourceful, intelligent, and possessed of an unbelievably good memory. He has a firm idea of right and wrong, and he is a staunch proponent of American democratic and capitalistic ideals. He believes in the power of technology and progress and detests narrow-minded adherence to superstition. He is a devout Protestant who values religious freedom and blames the Established Catholic Church for many of the ills of medieval society. He is a born leader, and the idea of inherited rank and strict social stratification disgusts him.
Clarence (or Amyas le Poulet) - The Yankee's most trusted friend. He begins as a friendly but fairly ignorant page who takes a liking to the Yankee and offers him aid. He responds magnificently to the Yankee's tutelage and, by the end of the book, becomes thoroughly indoctrinated in the manners, speech, skills, and ideology of nineteenth-century America.
Sandy (or Alisande) - A pretty but somewhat flighty damsel who comes to Arthur's court seeking assistance and becomes attached to the Yankee. The Yankee finds her terribly annoying at first, but she proves to be quite useful and pleasant. She is a product of her times in every way, believing fully in the righteousness of social stratification and the power of the supernatural, but she improves greatly through her contact with the Yankee and even teaches him a thing or two.
King Arthur - A wise and gracious king. He tries his best, but he has a full share of the prejudices and superstitions of the day. The Yankee's opinion of his intellectual capacity varies, but he is capable of learning and of correcting his mistakes.
Merlin - A hack magician with the fatal flaw of actually believing in his own sleight of hand. Merlin is deceptive and petty and terribly vindictive; he would be an incredibly dangerous person if any of his tricks ever worked.
Sir Launcelot - The shining pinnacle of chivalry, often referred to as "The Invincible." He is noble and gracious and generally good in every way that can be expected from a man of his era, except for his tragic passion for Guenever.
Guenever - Arthur's beautiful queen. Everyone in the country knows of her indiscretions, except Arthur, of course.
Sir Sagramor le Desirous - Your average haughty, block-headed knight. He angers quickly and holds a grudge.
Sir Dinadan - A knight who fancies himself a comedian. The sixth century finds him funny enough, but the Yankee simply cannot abide a particular joke of his.
Morgan Le Fay - A vicious but beautiful and genteel queen. Arthur is her brother, but she hates him passionately.
Sir Kay - A cowardly and ineffective knight, who happens to be Arthur's foster brother and seneschal.
Marco - A humble charcoal-burner, fairly representative of the poor-spirited peasants of the day.
Dowley - A prosperous blacksmith, extremely proud of his position as a self-made man.
The Yankee starts to doubt his previous assessment of his situation when a young girl walks by, completely naked, and seems utterly astonished at his appearance (rather than the knight's or her own). They come to a village full of wretchedly dressed peasants living in squalor, and they are all likewise astounded at the Yankee's appearance. A great procession of knights comes along, and the Yankee and Clarence follow it to a castle. The Yankee asks an old man about the castle, which he still assumes is an asylum, and he decides from the man's archaic speech that he must be a patient.
He asks another man, who says he is too busy to talk now but is very curious about the Yankee's clothes. He meets a chatty page named Clarence who says he was born in 513 and that it is now June 19, 528, and they are at the court of King Arthur. The Yankee happens to know that a total eclipse of the sun took place on June 21, 528, so he decides to wait and see if this happens to confirm the boy's story. In the meantime, he determines to make the most of things and get himself put in charge of his new surroundings. Clarence tells him he is the prisoner of Sir Kay, the seneschal, and that he is to be thrown into prison and ransomed after being presented to Arthur.
He is brought into the hall of the Table Round. He sees a group of other prisoners there, wounded but uncomplaining, and realizes they have been on the other side of this situation before and accept it as a matter of course. He listens as knights tell outlandish stories about dueling strangers. A group of prisoners present themselves to Guenever as Kay's prisoners. No one believes this, and Kay rises and tells an exaggerated story about Sir Launcelot taking his armor and masquerading as him. Merlin rises and puts everyone to sleep with a story he always tells about how he helped Arthur acquire a magical sword and scabbard from the Lady of the Lake. Everyone hates the old magician for his constant repetition of this story, but they are all deathly afraid of him.
Sir Dinadan is the first of the knights to awaken after Merlin's tale, and he creates a great noise and confusion by tying some metal mugs to a dog's tale. The whole company enjoys this joke immensely, especially Dinadan, who rises and gives a speech full of bland, old jokes. Kay rises and gives an outlandish account of capturing the Yankee, whom he describes as a hideous monster from a land of barbarians with enchanted clothes that prevent him from being injured, and indifferently condemns him to die on the twenty-first. They argue over how best to kill him with his enchanted clothes until Merlin suggests they remove them; they strip him and take him off to the dungeon.
Commentary
The theme of social inequality begins to develop immediately in the first chapter. The peasants live in conditions of the most wretched sort, with scant clothing (the children go naked as a rule), poor food, and filthy living spaces. The iron collars the Yankee observes on a sizeable portion of the population imply rampant slavery. The squalor of the peasants' lives contrasts sharply with the color and splendor of the knights and the royal court. The parade of knights, the castle, the ladies' dresses, etc., are all described as luxurious and colorful. The strict subordination of the peasants to the nobles also appears, as Sir Kay ignores the humble salutations of the commoners he passes.
The Yankee infers quite reasonably that whether he is in an asylum or actually in the sixth century, he has a definite intellectual advantage over the people around him. He decides immediately to put this advantage to use to gain authority and respect and start improving his surroundings. Even before he gets to the castle and learns where he is, he has already picked up on the state of the agriculture in the gardens in the town as needing improvement. He also sees room for improvement in the castle, as he makes fun of the tapestries and observes that the floor is in need of repair. Even while he is in arguably the most wretched state of all as a prisoner, he looks down on the king and the nobles for their uncouthness at the dinner table and their general vulgarity and lack of embarrassment at the human body. He remarks that their boorishness is characteristic of Europeans even in his day, one of many attacks on modern Europeans in the book. He describes them as simple but violent and dishonest (he later comes to realize that knights are basically honest, they just exaggerate wildly). He calls them childish and brainless but admits a strangely lovable quality about them. He compares them to animals and Indian savages (he makes several racist remarks about Native Americans in the book), but he picks out Galahad, Arthur, and Launcelot as looking especially majestic.
Strangely, though the Yankee seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of history (and everything else) throughout the rest of the book, he takes an inordinate amount of time to connect the knight and Camelot and the medieval setting in general to tell him where he is or at least where he seems to be. Perhaps he is so practical, his mind will not even allow for the possibility that he is anywhere but where he was moments before he got hit with the crowbar. The Yankee does pick up on the queen's less than discreet glances at Launcelot, which will become an important plot element later in the book. Merlin's story, which everyone in the hall so detests, is taken straight from Malory. The Yankee admires the style of the piece as simple and well-told (although he thinks it is patently untrue), but he admits that it would get old after a few tellings. Perhaps this opinion provides some insight into Twain's own and hints at the original impetus for his reworking the Arthur legend.
Clarence comes to visit the Yankee in his cell the next day and tells him he is to be burned. The Yankee begs him to help him escape, but Clarence refuses because Merlin has cast a spell around the dungeon to prevent any escape. The Yankee observes Clarence's absolute fear of Merlin and claims to be a magician himself, then sends him off to tell the king that he will ravage the kingdom if they try to execute him. Clarence makes him promise to remain his friend and not hurt him and then goes off to do his bidding.
He returns and says that though Arthur was receptive, Merlin didn't believe him and demanded to know what calamity he would produce. The Yankee tells Clarence he will blot out the sun and so destroy all life on earth at the hour of his execution and sends him back. The Yankee passes through fear for his life to a happy confidence in the strength of his plan. Some men-at-arms come to his cell and inform him the execution has been moved up a day. They take him out to the courtyard, where the people of the castle have assembled to see him burned at the stake. Clarence appears and triumphantly tells him it was his idea to have the date moved up (he told the king the Yankee's spell would not be ready yet), so as to take advantage of the initial shock when he told the king of the Yankee's plan. He implores the Yankee only to make enough darkness to convince everyone of his power and not to do any real harm to the sun.
The Yankee resigns himself to die and is bound to the stake. As a monk chants over him in Latin the eclipse begins. Merlin calls for the torch to be applied, but the king forbids it and offers the Yankee anything he wants in exchange for sparing the sun. The Yankee asks for time to consider and then quietly asks the monk what day it is. The monk tells him it is actually the twenty-first. The Yankee tells the king he will let the darkness proceed as a lesson, but he will restore the sun if the king appoints him his perpetual chief minister and executive and agrees to pay him one percent of the annual increase of revenue over its present amount he creates for the state. He has clothes brought to him and delays for a while as the eclipse continues and then calls for it to pass away when the sky becomes completely dark. The multitude rushes down and showers him with displays of gratitude when the sun begins to reappear.
Commentary
The Yankee is a shrewd observer, and he takes advantage of two of the character traits he notices in abundance in the sixth century: superstition and naivete. Everyone believes in Merlin's power, so it is no stretch for them to believe that someone else may have the same power. They are too naive to consider the possibility that the Yankee may simply be bluffing; only Merlin thinks to question him at all. The Yankee's survival in this section depends entirely on a series of highly improbable coincidences. First, that an eclipse is available to save him; second, that he happens to know this eclipse is going to take place; and last, that Clarence makes a mistake in telling him the date but then unconsciously compensates for this error by convincing the king to move the execution up a day. The Yankee believes he is dreaming through most of this section, but he wisely acts to make himself as comfortable as possible in the dream, as he fears the consequences of dying in a dream of such lifelike intensity. The Yankee's absolute trust in science and calculations and his own memory is evident in this section; he doubts reality itself when the eclipse takes place on what he believes is the wrong date, but he never considers the possibility that perhaps the date he remembers for the eclipse is wrong or even that the calendar of the kingdom might be wrong.
The Yankee's flare for showmanship serves him well in this section. His strong entrepreneurial streak also shows through, especially when he makes a business deal with the king. He puts forth a fair deal (the king offered him half his kingdom) and ties his own personal gain to the benefits he brings to the kingdom.
The Yankee is clothed in expensive but uncomfortable raiments and given the best rooms in the castle, after the king's. The Yankee finds these still rather lacking in little conveniences like matches and soap and glass. Word of him spreads, and people come from far and wide to catch a glimpse of him. They begin to call for another miracle, and Merlin goes among them spreading rumors that the Yankee has no real power after all.
The Yankee has Merlin thrown into prison and declares he will destroy his stone tower with lightning from heaven in the space of a fortnight. He takes Clarence into his confidence to a degree and makes a batch of gunpowder, which he plants in the tower to be triggered with a lightning rod. He announces he is ready when a storm appears and has Merlin brought to the battlements in front of the king and court to try to save his tower. After a show of wild gesticulations from Merlin, he pronounces Merlin's magic weak shortly before the rod takes effect and the tower explodes. This satisfies the populace. The Yankee prevents the king from banishing Merlin and has his tower rebuilt for him.
The Yankee settles in and begins to enjoy his position as the most powerful person in the kingdom. He is upset by the widespread slavery and the position of even the free peasants as de facto slaves to the king and Church and aristocracy. He describes how the people look on him as a powerful animal, to be feared and admired but not reverenced, as no one without an inherited title can be respected (which he attributes to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church). He says he could have had a title from the king, but his principles kept him from accepting any title except one from the nation itself. After years of hard work and service, the common people decide on a title for him equivalent to "The Boss" in modern speech, and he is quite pleased with it. He likes the king and respects his office, but he looks down on him and all the nobles personally for not having earned their supremacy. In turn, they like him and respect his office but look down on him personally for not having a title. He accepts this arrangement and is satisfied with it.
Commentary
The Yankee sees what an incredible opportunity has been given to him; his opinion of himself in relation to men of his own time is humble enough, but his estimate of his abilities in the context of the sixth century is rather arrogant. He values his vastly superior intellect over all else and calls himself the only great man in all England (a statement that is bound to annoy die-hard Arthur fans). He calls himself unique and gloats that he won't be surpassed in greatness for at least thirteen and a half centuries to come. He even places himself above Joseph, as his action of bringing the sun back to the sky is more popular with the common people than Joseph's mere "financial ingenuities," which benefited just the king.
He is shocked at the widespread illiteracy and aches for the little conveniences to which he is accustomed, which even servants cannot make up for; he compares himself to Robinson Crusoe building up some semblance of civilization from scratch. He feels up to the task, though. He feels superior to the monarchy and the aristocracy, who inherited their positions and have no real merits of their own in his opinion (an important theme in the book). He admits that his staunchly capitalistic opinions are prejudices just like the sixth century's belief in the righteousness of aristocracy. Because of his democratic ideals, he will only accept a title from the people, whom he regards as the true dispensers of power. A title of nobility would increase everyone's opinion of him, but he refuses to accept one, saying his family has always lacked the bar sinister (the implication being that all aristocrats are bastards).
A number of other themes also show up in this section. The Yankee's passion for showmanship at the expense of practicality appears as he triggers the explosion of Merlin's tower with a lightning rod instead of with a more predictable, non-weather dependent fuse. The Yankee's rivalry with Merlin also appears, which will be integral to the plot later. The Yankee hints that the Church will be a problem, saying it is more powerful than he and the king combined.
Summary
A great tournament is held, and the Yankee dispatches a priest from his Department of Morals and Agriculture to report what happens in anticipation of someday starting a newspaper. While he is waiting for his turn to enter the lists, Sir Dinadan joins the Yankee in his private box and tells him a humorous anecdote, which the Yankee has heard many times before and considers particularly vile. He passes out as Dinadan goes off to joust and comes to just in time to see him unhorsed by Sir Gareth. Without thinking, he exclaims, "I hope to gracious he's killed!" Just at that moment, Sir Sagramor le Desirous is also unhorsed by Gareth and overhears the Yankee's words. Thinking they are intended for him, Sir Sagramor challenges the Yankee to meet him in the lists in four years when he returns from searching for the Holy Grail. The Round Table hears of the challenge, and the king suggests the Yankee should go out adventuring to gain renown, so he will be more worthy to meet Sir Sagramor in battle.
The Yankee declines, as he feels he needs the time to further implement his plans for industrialization, which have been coming along well so far. He has been training people in crafts and sciences and has agents out looking for those with special potential. He has instituted a school system and started a variety of Protestant congregations and separated religious instruction from secular education. He has also improved mining practices. Four years pass, and the Yankee has created a secret haven of nineteenth century industry with his despotic authority. He proceeds cautiously for fear of the Church and public reaction and sends out confidential agents to undermine the power of aristocracy and superstition. His most carefully guarded secrets are his military and naval academies.
Clarence has become his most trusted assistant, and he trains him in journalism in preparation to start a newspaper in his "civilization-nurseries." He has workers secretly lay underground telephone and telegraph lines. He sends out a topographical expedition to map and survey the kingdom, but the Church interferes and he withdraws so as not to antagonize them. The country at large is still in much the same condition as before, except that the Yankee has reformed taxation methods and quadrupled revenues while bringing much relief to the people, for which he gains considerable praise. Sir Sagramor is still out questing, but the time has come for the Yankee to go adventuring to augment his reputation in preparation for their joust.
Commentary
Progress is a sort of religion to the Yankee; he turns knights into "iron and steel missionaries" of the civilization he wants to build. He sets out a number of requirements for this civilization, starting with a patent office, a school system, and a newspaper. He establishes a patent office the first day of his administration, demonstrating his belief in the value of intellectual property (an area in which he has a distinct advantage). He claims that a good newspaper is capable of reviving a dead country. Another important aspect of the Yankee's envisioned civilization is freedom of religion.
The Yankee is horrified by the easily corruptible power of a unified church. Because of this fear of the Church, he takes precautions to hide his centers of nineteenth-century culture from anyone but authorized personnel. The Yankee confines his commitment to freedom of religion to Christian sects. This may be partly for political reasons, but it is clear that he is himself devoutly Christian. He is a Presbyterian, just like Twain, perhaps denoting an autobiographical strain in the Yankee's portrayal. The Yankee believes in the perfection of a heavenly despotism, but he scoffs at earthly attempts to emulate this form of government, since no man is perfect and his successors are even less likely to be.
A young woman arrives at court and begs for aid in freeing her mistress and 44 other beautiful young princesses from a castle guarded by three giant brothers with four arms and one eye. Despite the clamorings of the Knights of the Round Table, the king assigns the quest to the Yankee. The Yankee questions the woman about the location of the castle and other useful details, but she is no help. Clarence informs him that she will ride with him to show him the way, and he reluctantly agrees to the arrangement. The next morning, the knights help him into his armor and hoist him onto his horse, and he sets off with the woman riding behind him.
They ride along through the countryside, and the Yankee's armor begins to bother him, especially for its lack of pockets and the inaccessibility of his handkerchief. As the sun beats down on his armor, he grows hot and irritable and itchy. He has the woman, Alisande (or Sandy), unfasten his helmet and pour water down inside his armor to relieve him. He realizes he cannot get off his horse until he meets someone to help him remount, and Sandy further annoys him with a constant stream of inane chatter. They stop for the night, and the Yankee is annoyed because he has forgotten to bring matches (produced at one of his factories) for his pipe and they have no food, as knights are supposed to trust to chance for their food on a quest. A storm comes, and they find shelter under rocks. Various species of vermin crawl down inside the Yankee's armor, and he determines never to wear armor again after this journey.
The next morning they set off again (with the Yankee walking) and meet some humble freemen working on the road. The Yankee asks to join them for breakfast, flattering them immensely, while Sandy refuses to partake with peasants. The freemen are sorely oppressed by restrictions on their freedom and heavy taxation by the Church, the king, and their separate lords or bishops. The Yankee asks them if they thought a nation where everyone had a vote would elect to have such an inequitable system as the one they live under, but the idea of democracy is inconceivable to them. Finally, one man catches on and declares the injustice of stealing a nation's will and preference.
The Yankee looks on this man with hope for a plot he has been considering for some time to start a revolution for a more equitable government once the people are ready for such a concept, and he sends the man with a note written on a piece of bark to Camelot for Clarence to put him in the "Man Factory." The man is disappointed at this, as he assumes he must be being sent to a priest, but the Yankee assures him Clarence is not a priest, even though he can read and write. The Yankee gives the freemen three pennies for the food, an exorbitant sum equal to about six dollars in Connecticut. In return for his generosity, they give him a flint and steel and help him mount his horse. They are frightened by his pipe, but he convinces them it is an enchantment that will harm his enemies.
The next day, they meet seven knights who rush at the Yankee en masse, and he scares them away with a burst of smoke from his pipe. The knights stop a little way off, and the Yankee urges Sandy (who slipped off the horse and ran out of the way when she spotted the knights) to remount so they can ride away, as his magic has failed. She refuses, saying the knights have been justly defeated and are merely waiting fearfully to yield to him; she goes over to them and makes them swear to appear at Arthur's court within two days and subject themselves to the Yankee's command.
Commentary
The Yankee is again baffled at sixth-century naivete in this section, as the Round Table unquestioningly accepts Sandy's outlandish story. Her exaggerations correspond exactly with the general mode of communication employed by the court. The Yankee looks at Sandy as a source of information that is just too ignorant to give it out correctly. He asks for credentials, but this concept is too far beyond the sixth-century understanding. The Yankee is so concerned with trying to squeeze information out of Sandy that he fails to see the simple and logical solution employed by the court of having her lead him in person. The Yankee focuses on the practical side of knighthood, especially the trials and tribulations of wearing armor. Chapter 12 starts out with beautiful, idyllic language as the Yankee's journey gets underway; this dissolves into more prosaic terms as the little annoyances of knight-errantry come into focus.
The Yankee first mentions his lost love in this section, Puss Flanagan, a hello-girl from West Hartford. His soft spot for her is readily apparent. Sandy fails to measure up to his memories of Puss; he describes her "comely enough," but his estimation of her personality and intelligence are rather low.
The Yankee asks which knights were captured, and Sandy launches into a story about Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine meeting Sir Marhaus, a misogynistic knight. The Yankee finds Sandy's storytelling style rather vague and monotonous, and he criticizes elements of the style and lets his mind wander. They arrive at a large castle. They meet a knight named Sir La Cote Male Taile riding away from the castle; he is one of the Yankee's soap missionaries, traveling around disseminating soap in a complicated first step of the Yankee's plan to undermine the power of the Church. He is depressed because he failed to convince the inhabitants of the castle to take any soap, as the hermit he was washing in his demonstration died and will now be considered a martyr. The Yankee comforts him by suggesting a new advertising slogan, "Patronized by the Elect."
Sandy rushes over and embraces them as noble ladies, to the Yankee's disgust. They drive the hogs with much trouble to a house ten miles away, and Sandy insists the whole way that they be treated according to their noble station. When they arrive, the hogs are taken into the house as guests, and servants are sent to find the missing ones. The Yankee realizes Sandy is not a lunatic; she has been brought up to believe in sorcery and enchantment. He realizes he would be taken as a lunatic if he spoke openly about the environment in which he was raised. The next morning, Sandy serves the hogs their breakfast at the head table, while she and the Yankee (being of lower station) eat at the second table. Sandy tells the Yankee the "ladies" should remain at the house for their friends from distant lands to arrive and take them home, and the Yankee secretly gives them away to the servants.
They leave the house together, as Sandy is bound by honor to stay with her knight until he is defeated in combat. They join a procession of merry pilgrims bound for the Valley of Holiness. Sandy tells how the monks there never wash, because God caused their holy stream to dry up for a year and a day after the one time they did. They overtake a procession of slaves marching along solemnly in chains. The pilgrims watch as a young mother is flogged for her weariness and comment only on the skill with which the trader handles the whip. The Yankee refrains from freeing the slaves on the spot because he cannot risk earning a reputation for disregarding the law and the rights of citizens, but he resolves to end slavery if he can. The slave woman is delivered to her new master at a blacksmith's shop, where the chains can be removed, and she clings to her husband until they are separated by force.
The next day, they meet Sir Ozana Le Cure Hardy, another of the Yankee's missionary knights who specializes in nineteenth-century hats, who tells them the holy fountain of the Valley of Holiness has ceased to flow again. He says a messenger was sent to Camelot to get the Yankee to help, but he brought back Merlin when the Yankee could not be found. The Yankee writes a message to Clarence in Sir Ozana's hat and sends him to Camelot. The abbot is overjoyed to see the Yankee when he arrives at the Valley of Holiness and wants him to go straight to work, but the Yankee insists he cannot rightfully proceed until Merlin has finished trying. His respect for Merlin's professional rights is really just a front while he waits for his supplies to arrive from Camelot. The monks' spirits are raised considerably by his presence, and they spend a merry evening telling questionable anecdotes and singing songs.
The next day, the Yankee goes to the Holy Fountain--which turns out to be a simple well, as he had suspected--and finds Merlin there conjuring. He has some monks lower him into the well, and he sees that a fissure has formed, allowing the water to escape. There is plenty of water below the fissure, but the chain does not reach that far, and the monks have not had the presence of mind to send down a line to find it. The Yankee is a little disappointed at how simple the solution to the problem is as he was planning on using a dynamite bomb to reopen the well if he found it dry. The Yankee tells the abbot the miracle will be terribly difficult, but he thinks he can manage it. He goes around with Sandy to see the wide variety of holy hermits in the valley. Merlin tries the strongest enchantment he knows and then gives up, saying an evil spirit has possessed the well and can only be removed by speaking its name, an act that would mean certain death.
The Yankee steps in and declares there is still a slight possibility of success and has the area cleared. Two of his experts arrive and help him patch the well. They stow a load of fireworks in the well's chapel and then go to bed. The next day, Sunday, they make preparations for a flashy miracle. That night, the Yankee puts on a great show of exorcizing the demon with fireworks and a pump to send the water gushing out the chapel door before the multitude. There is much rejoicing among the multitudes; Merlin faints when the Yankee pronounces the demon's 'name,' which is just gibberish. The Yankee shows the monks how to work the pump, which they regard as miraculous in itself, and leaves the people exulting in the gushing water. He spends the night in rapturous excitement over his achievement.
Commentary
The Yankee's language incorporates some archaic vocabulary here and there, although more in the narrative than in his dialogue (the beginning of chapter 20, for example). The Yankee wants to rid himself of Sandy in this section, but she is bound by honor to stay with him until he is defeated by another knight. He considers the possibility of letting himself be defeated just to rid himself of her constant chatter. Later in the section, she makes him realize that he can be annoying, too, with his constant use of nineteenth-century phrases that she doesn't understand. She tries her best to adapt to his way of speaking, but he hasn't been very understanding up till now. He sees his fault and repents, and their relationship is strengthened as a result.
The Yankee touches on the subject of sham miracles in this section, both Merlin's and the Church's (specifically the healing powers of the holy fountain). He says both reputations are based on miracles that took place while no one else was watching. The Yankee is disgusted by the people's unquestioning belief in enchantment and superstition (even though it has benefited him greatly). He is especially ashamed of Sandy and her delusion that the hogs are noble ladies. After consideration, he realizes that Sandy is not a lunatic; she has just been raised to believe in the possibility of such absurdities. The servants of the house they take the pigs to also seem taken in by the delusion, even after the Yankee gives the pigs away to them, since they insist on behaving as if the pigs really are nobles by refusing to clean up after them as animals.
Summary
The Yankee decides to turn his influence in the valley to some profit. He finds the monks eager to wash but afraid of offending God again and causing the water to stop flowing. He tells the abbot that he has discovered the water stopped the first time years ago because of another type of sin altogether, and that bathing was not at fault. He refurbishes the ancient bath, and the abbot is the first to bathe in it. The other monks joyously follow suit. After recovering from an attack of rheumatism, the Yankee goes out walking and finds a telephone office set up in an abandoned hermit's cave. The agent there connects him with Camelot, and Clarence tells him Arthur is on his way to the valley to see the restored fountain with two candidates for lieutenancy from his newly established standing army.
The Yankee is dismayed that the king has acted on his advice without him there to oversee it and has chosen all the officers for the first regiment from the nobility instead of from his West Point military academy. Clarence connects the Yankee with his West Point military academy, and he orders the superintendent of the academy to come out and meet him. He goes back to the monastery and finds the monks watching a performance of a new magician, reportedly from Asia, who astonishes everyone by telling them what various people around the world are doing at the moment. The Yankee feels threatened and offers the magician two hundred silver pennies to tell him what he himself is doing with his right hand behind his back. The magician is stumped, and the Yankee declares him a fraud.
The monks are frightened the magician will react violently. He responds that his art does not concern itself with the lowborn and offers to tell what Arthur is doing at the moment. He says the king is currently lying asleep in his palace after a day of hunting, to the satisfaction of all the monks. The Yankee contradicts him, saying the king rides, and the monks are confused as to which to believe. The Yankee asks where the king and queen will be in two days' time, and the enchanter says they will be far north of Camelot on a journey that will then be half done. The Yankee declares this another lie and says they will instead be in there with them in the Valley of Holiness. He proclaims that if he is incorrect, he will have himself ridden out on a rail, but if he is correct, he will have the magician ridden out on a rail.
He follows the king's progress by telephone, but no preparations are made by the monks to meet the king, as the magician has declared he and the queen have decided to stay at home. When the king rides into the valley, the abbot hurriedly sends out his monks to meet him and has the magician ridden out with them on a rail. The king brings with him a part of his administration and holds court while he is in the valley. He is a wise and humane judge, but he unconsciously favors the well-born over the lower classes.
The Yankee meets with the king's officer examination board, made up of incompetent priests. He brings in one of his West Point cadets, but they refuse to examine him because he is a commoner. The Yankee appeals to the king to let two of his West Point professors handle the examinations. The West Point candidate dazzles the king and his board with his knowledge of the science of war and a discussion of modern artillery and tactics, much to the Yankee's satisfaction. The next two candidates are nobles who cannot read or write; the Yankee and his professors confuse them with their questions. The original examination board steps in again and awards the lieutenancy to one of the nobles, the great-grandson of a king's leman; they inform the Yankee that four generations of nobility are required to hold an officer's position.
The Yankee has a private audience with the king and suggests that they continue as the king has started and officer this first regiment of the army entirely with nobles and increase the number of officers to accommodate all the nobles who wish to be in the army. This regiment would have the freedom to act as it chose. The other regiments would be officered with commoners chosen solely for their effectiveness and would bear the brunt of military duty. The king happily agrees. The Yankee hits on the idea of making the regiment up entirely of officers, the lower ranks filled by nobles who serve without pay and at their own expense, and the higher ranks filled by Arthur's many royal relatives, who would be paid a good salary and given an impressive title in return for renouncing their royal grants.
Arthur touches for the "king's-evil," curing the sick by touching them. The Yankee substitutes newly minted nickels for the old gold coins generally given out to the sick after the touch, thereby saving the kingdom a considerable amount of money. The Yankee is delighted to see a newsboy and buys a copy of the "Camelot Weekly Hosannah and Literary Volcano." He is pleased overall at Clarence's effort, but he is disturbed at the flippancy of its tone. The monks gather around and are amazed at the paper, and the Yankee feels greatly satisfied.
Commentary
The Yankee finds that reputation isn't worth as much as he thought, since people of the sixth century accept magicians' power based solely on their claims with little substantial proof to back them up. Superstition does have some good effects in this section, as the king's touch heals people because of their firm belief in its power. The Yankee takes this as a sign of their belief in the divine right of kings, which he says was just as potent in England during his youth as it was in the sixth century. He speaks on training again and how aristocrats are really just slaveholders and suffer from a blunting of their moral perceptions as a result of regarding themselves as superior to their human property.
Twain presents a rather unflattering picture of Arthur in this section, especially when he settles the woman's case by unblinkingly upholding le droit du seigneur for a bishop who technically isn't even allowed to exercise it anyway, thus, taking away the woman's entire estate just for offending her social superior. The Yankee maintains that even the best monarchy holds its people back from their full potential of self-government. The Yankee draws a lot of implicit connections between the Church and business, with the hermit accepting a position in the Sahara just like a businessman would make a career move and the tourist industry atmosphere of the Valley of Holiness.
The Yankee realizes the extent of the stultifying effects of sixth-century lifestyle on him when he comes across the telephone office in the Valley of Holiness and is enlightened to the joys of technology. His most profound joy is when he sees the newspaper and how the monks examine it with awestruck wonder; he compares his feelings to that of a new mother seeing her baby adored. The Yankee cringes at the misplaced humor of the newspaper, whereas he says he would have enjoyed it at an earlier point in his life. He admits that he has become more sensitive to this sort of thing without having noticed the change.
A good bit of foreshadowing takes place in this section, especially Arthur's sorrow at Guenever's obvious preference for Launcelot's company (although he still doesn't realize the extent of their relationship) and the last line of Chapter 26, in which the Yankee speaks of tasting heaven no more.
Summary
The Yankee sets about a plan he has had for some time to travel through the countryside disguised as a peasant, and Arthur decides to join him. They cut their hair and dress in coarse garments and set off. The Yankee tries to acclimate the king to the life of a commoner gradually, bringing food to satisfy him until he can stomach peasant fare and not sitting in his presence when it is not absolutely necessary to avoid detection. A procession of nobles rides by, and the Yankee reminds the king he must stand and bow his head humbly. The king fails in his attempt to look humble, and the Yankee jumps in the way of a nobleman's whip just in time to take the lash intended for the king. Arthur is outraged, but the Yankee convinces him they must remain in character if they want to continue their adventures.
The king proves a troublesome companion for the Yankee, who is constantly forced to save him from his blunders. The king buys a dirk from a smuggler at an inn to protect himself, but the Yankee convinces him he must throw it away, as commoners are not allowed to carry weapons. The king asks why the Yankee lets him follow through on his foolish thoughts without warning him, and the Yankee replies that he doesn't know what the king is thinking. The king is taken aback by this and says Merlin is a prophet and knows such things, and he thought the Yankee was greater than Merlin. The Yankee sees his blunder and explains that he doesn't bother with Merlin's petty type of prophecy but can see all the history of the world thirteen and a half centuries into the future.
This delights Arthur, and he quizzes the Yankee on the future history of the world. Two knights-errant ride by while the Yankee is repositioning a dynamite bomb he has brought along and nearly run down the king, who shouts after them in his rage. The knights turn and charge at the king, but the Yankee runs by them shouting an even nastier insult, causing them to turn and charge after him. He scrambles up a boulder and throws the bomb down on them. They are blown to bits. Arthur is very impressed. The Yankee drills the king on acting like a peasant in preparation for entering a dwelling. The king has trouble with the idea of speaking to commoners on equal terms and having the Yankee sit in his presence, but he catches on eventually. The Yankee continues to drill the king on burdens of the spirit, but he cannot fathom the hardships of the peasant life. They come to a hut and find a woman dying of smallpox. Her husband lies dead beside her. The Yankee urges Arthur to leave the hut, but the king refuses and sets about his knightly duty to give succor to those in need.
He carries the woman's dying daughter down from a loft and places her next to her mother. Tears fall from Arthur's eyes as the woman caresses her daughter's now lifeless body, and the woman commiserates with him as a kindred spirit who has known a life of poverty. The place is under the Church's ban, and the woman speaks out against the cruelties of the Church and the king, but Arthur remains quiet. The woman tells her tragic story of how her sons were imprisoned unjustly when the lord of the manor's fruit trees planted on their farm were cut down and how the fines for the loss of their labor in harvesting the lord's grain robbed the family of their own crop. She uttered a blasphemy against the Church when she fell ill, so she and her family were excommunicated.
Commentary
The Yankee's incognito trip with Arthur brings about a greater understanding in both of them. Arthur begins to understand the plight of the common man, and the Yankee begins to appreciate the truly noble aspect of chivalry. Arthur begins the section completely contemptuous of anyone without a title, and the Yankee's drilling on spiritual desperation and the psychological condition of the people does not really affect him. He starts to catch on to the spirit of the exercise when he volunteers to take the knapsack, thinking that an ignoble burden will help to stoop his kingly shoulders, but even this has only a transitory effect. The face-to-face confrontation with utter despair and spiritual disaster in the smallpox hut finally makes his people's suffering real for him.
For the Yankee, the smallpox episode enlightens him to Arthur's true magnificence. He is truly impressed with Arthur's courage and self-sacrifice in a situation with no hope of reward or glory. This is true heroism, the true value of chivalry, and the Yankee sees Arthur now as "sublimely great." He decides he wants to put up a statue of Arthur is his peasant disguise, caught in this true attitude of greatness.
The woman dies at midnight, and they cover her and her family members' bodies with rags and leave them in the house, as they are not permitted Christian burial. As they are leaving, they hear footsteps coming toward the house and hide so as not to be detected coming from the taboo place. They hear the woman's sons knock on the door and declare they've gotten free. The Yankee and the king leave before the sons enter the house and discover the bodies. Arthur is troubled; he thinks the men must have escaped from the lord, and it is his knightly duty to capture them for him, regardless of their innocence of the crime for which they were imprisoned. The Yankee finally manages to change the subject when he sees a fire in the distance.
They proceed toward the fire in the darkness and come across a group of bodies hanging from the trees. They find the flames are coming from the manor house, and they see men and women being pursued by mobs. A storm comes, and they slip away shortly before dawn and find the hut of a charcoal burner a few miles away. The king tells the inhabitants to sell him the hut and leave, as he has just come from a house with smallpox, but they have already had the disease (as has the Yankee, who has probably been vaccinated).
They find out from the cottagers that the master of the house was found murdered, and a local family who had been treated poorly by the lord of late was rounded up and hanged by lord's retainers and a mob of locals. The prisoners had been left to burn in the fire, so no one thought to see if any had escaped. The king declares three did escape and that these must have murdered the lord and fired the house. The cottagers pale at this, and the Yankee surmises the three boys must have been some relation to them. The king insists that the charcoal burner go and raise the law on the escaped prisoners, and the Yankee goes along with the excuse of showing him which way they were heading. Once they are alone, he learns from the man that the escaped prisoners are his cousins.
The Yankee tells him not to turn them in, as their killing of the lord was a righteous deed. The man rejoices at hearing the Yankee say this, and he reveals that the peasants bore the lord no real love and participated in rounding up the suspected family only out of fear of being killed themselves by the lord's retainers. The Yankee takes heart at the man's response and is encouraged in his plan to modify the monarchy during the remainder of Arthur's reign and then abolish it and the aristocracy forever. The Yankee walks along and talks with the man, whose name is Marco, killing time to make it look like they have gone to the village to do their duty. He watches Marco's reactions to passersby of different castes. He is reverent to a monk, servile to a gentleman, familiar with freemen, and haughty to a slave (to the Yankee's disgust).
They run into a group of children who beg their help, and they follow them to find one of their playmates choking to death in a makeshift noose--they had been imitating their parents' exploits of the previous night. They come to the town, and the Yankee talks to many people, especially about wages and buying power. He finds his new coins in circulation. He invites the blacksmith, Dowley, to dinner at Marco's on Sunday and tells Marco he will cover the entire expense. He also buys him and his wife, Phyllis, a new set of clothes, telling them they are from Arthur, whom he calls Jones. He says Jones is a successful farmer and he is his bailiff, and he tells Marco that Jones has some rather odd quirks and tends to forget his station.
He sends Marco to invite the wheelwright and the mason, and he orders the supplies for the banquet. Marco and his wife are astonished at all the fine things the Yankee has bought them. The guests arrive, and Dowley boasts of his success in financial matters. He condescends to offer his hand to the king as an equal; the king takes it with a reluctance that is interpreted by the guests as embarrassment at a great honor. Phyllis brings out the new table and stools and tablecloth and food, and the guests are dazzled. The Yankee signals for the shop clerk to bring the bill. He reads it out, and the Yankee nonchalantly pays him four dollars, which includes a sizeable tip. The guests are all utterly astonished at the extravagance, and Dowley's pride is considerably wounded. The king retires to take a nap, and the Yankee discusses wages with Dowley and the other guests, who live in the tributary kingdom of King Bagdemagus.
In the postscript, the narrator tells how he finishes the manuscript at dawn and goes to the stranger's room. He finds him in bed, delirious, calling for Sandy. He says he has had a terrible dream of a revolution and the death of the king and that he was a man of the future and was somehow sent back to his own time, separating him from his home and all he loved. He thinks he hears the king approaching and calls to lower the drawbridge, and then he dies.
Commentary
Clarence adds the last chapter to the manuscript, as the Yankee cannot bring himself to record his stabbing by an ungrateful noble. Ultimately, the conquerors conquer themselves; technology's triumph over human opponents brings death to the victors from the ensuing decay, in a strangely post-apocalyptic scene. The people whose destiny the Yankee and the nobles came to this place to fight over are nowhere to be found; in the end, they had no role in determining the outcome either way. Merlin's spell presumably (and inexplicably, given his other failures) works, since the Yankee shows up to give his manuscript to the modern-day narrator. The book adheres to the laws of science in all instances except the episodes of time travel, which is brought about once by brute force and once by a magic spell.
Merlin's triumph recalls (and refutes) the Yankee's statement at the end of chapter 39, "Somehow, every time the magic of folderol tried conclusions with the magic of science, the magic of folderol got left." Merlin could be interpreted as a symbol of man's need to take refuge in a belief in illusion. Twain remarked in 1905 in a speech on Joan of Arc to the Society of Illustrators (in which he mentioned A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) that "illusion is the only valuable thing" in the world. In the end, only the sixth century is real for the Yankee, and he has been separated for a second time from everything he holds dear. He dies in the midst of his last