Merlin is a very interesting guy. I felt bad for him in the beginning of the Geoffrey of Monmouth reading because he watched a bunch of his friends die, when just moments before they were alive and fighting. And when he wanted to go into the woods to live, his sister and her husband chained him up. That seems a little excessive to me. That being said, Merlin was kinda crazy.
His passion for the woods was a little bit odd. When he had his sister build him a house with seventy doors and seventy windows for the winter, it just showed how much he wanted to be in nature. I would never have thought of building a house with so many doors and windows to see outside, so I have to give him props for that, but it's still really weird.
One thing I did not like about Merlin was the way he treated his wife. When she was crying and begging him to stay, he simply said, "Sister I do not want a cow that pours out water in a broad fountain like the urn of the Virgin in summer-time." Kind of a jerk move, Merlin. But then he went on to say that if she gets remarried, he'll kill the man if he sees him. Is it just me, or does he not get that option since he just called his wife a crying cow?
I did enjoy his prophecy about the little boy his sister showed him. I bet his sister felt really dumb when it became true. I think the prophecy was the only thing I enjoyed about Merlin. Other than that, he's kind of a crazy, nature-loving, jerk of a hippie.
Well, the thing about Merlin that I love is that there is SO MUCH going around about him. Meaning, in every version you pick up, whether that be a show on BBC or a story dated back to pre-Reformation England. It's kind of cool. Whenever I think of Merlin I immediately think of this old made for TVmovie from the early 2000s that my father showed me as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI bet that kid who had his death foretold was just so pleased to learn all of the horrible ways he was going to die (also to have the queen force him cut off his hair and pretend to be a girl just so she could prove her brother, a powerful prophet, was insane). Also having that particular sword of Damocles hanging over his head for years must have been pleasant. This story would be really different if it was told from this kid's perspective. Instead of Merlin foretelling the future of Britain, we see how everyone else lived around this guy not knowing for years if he was mad or insane(especially this one kid). Learning his doom, but being not sure if it was true or the ravings of a once great prophet. Having that dwell on his mind until he learns, too late, that his doom had actually been predicted (kind of relief and fear at once that comes from the knowledge but lingering uncertainty that comes from knowing one's own death) Actually this sounds like an interesting short story... called it!!!
ReplyDeleteI really agree with the sentiment that the way he treated his wife was horrible. But looking at it from a man's perspective...perhaps her crying was really, really annoying? And perhaps that was one of her bigger faults - she always cried?
ReplyDeleteNo real evidence to back that up but it could be possible. We have to view both sides of the coin!