Wednesday, August 19, 2015

In A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, what does Clarence suggest should make up the royal family of Morgan's new republic?

It is towards the end of this tale that we find the answer to
your question and Clarence reveals his plans for the royal family of the new republic Hank wishes
to form. Initially, he wishes to have a royal family made up of humans, however, when Hank tells
him that "kings were dangerous," Clarence suggests that they should have a royal family of cats.
We can see Twain's typical satirical reasoning coming through in his
reasoning:



He was sure
that a royal family of cats would answer every purpose. They would be useful as well as any other
royal family, they would know as much, they would have the same virtues and the same treacheries,
the same disposition to get up shindies with other royal cats, they would be laughably vain and
absurd and never know it, they would be wholly inexpensive, finally, they would have as sound a
divine right as any other royal house, and "Tom VII., or Tom XI., or Tom XIV by the grace of God
King," would sound as well as it would when applied to the ordinary royal tom-cat with tights
on.



His reasoning continues, but you
can get an idea of his thoughts and why he thinks this would be an admirable solution to the
problem of having human kings. We see here Twain's satirical view of the Royal Family, its
function, purpose and character, which asks serious questions about its use in a comic
fashion.

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