The movie and story of Merlin, the great wizard, showed many different characteristics of a typical Medieval Romance. This story was about a boy that had a very unique gift, and told of his adventures with magic, witches, dragons and a whole world that embodies a certain air of fantasy and wonder. This essay deals with the aspects of this tale that I felt gave the best overview and impression of the Medieval Romance known as Merlin.
One element that appears in this story is of a near perfect hero, whom I chose to be Merlin. Merlin embodied the true nature of a hero in almost every aspect of his life. The first example of his heroism was his encounter with Nimeue, in which he released his then dormant magic powers in order to save her from drowning in a swamp-like form of quick sand.
Throughout the story Merlin showed his heroic nature numerous other times, including in his ongoing battle with the evil Queen Mab.
Merlin (Columbus, OH)
Disney's version of Merlin.
MerlinHe even went so far as to raise a boy, later to become king Author, in order to help in the battle between light and darkness. In one instance Merlin challenged the law of camolott in order to save the unfaithful wife of Author. He succeeded in doing this by calling upon a storm to put out the fire that was ment to burn her alive for her act of treason against the king. As mentioned before Merlin was described as a near perfect hero mainly because of his human characteristic of judging people badly. This was showed first when he mistakenly gave the holy sword Excalaber to a self serving king called Uthor. He show his bad judgement of character again when he chose Lancelott to guard the thrown while Author was away. This decision on his part proved to create un necessary problems for Author because
Merlin, from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).
Merlin dictating his prophecies to his scribe, Bla...
Painting - The Beguiling of Merlin, 1874, by Edwar...