# King Arthur's Court explained — A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

> Chapter companion for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain.

## What happens

Hank Morgan, having been transported to the past, converses with a page named Clarence and learns that he is in King Arthur's Court in the year 528. He resolves to use his knowledge of a coming solar eclipse to establish his authority, and is taken before the Round Table where he observes the court's crude and violent customs.

## Themes in this chapter

### Technology vs. Superstition

Hank relies on his knowledge of astronomy (the eclipse) to navigate a superstitious medieval world.

### Progress and Modernization

Hank's modern, practical mindset contrasts sharply with the backwardness of Arthurian society.

### Slavery and Human Rights

The prisoners are treated brutally, and Hank compares their stoicism to that of 'white Indians,' highlighting the dehumanizing effects of oppression.

## Character check-ins

### Hank Morgan

The narrator, a practical Connecticut man, who is trying to understand his situation and plans to use the eclipse to his advantage.

### Clarence

A page born in 513, who informs Hank that he is in King Arthur's Court and explains the customs.

### Sir Kay

The seneschal who captured Hank and plans to exhibit him before the king.

### King Arthur

The king of Camelot, seated at the Round Table, before whom Hank is to be presented.

## Key lines

> I shall never see my friends again—never, never again. They will not be born for more than thirteen hundred years yet.

Hank realizes he has been transported to the past and will never see his contemporaries again.

_This moment captures Hank's dawning awareness of his temporal displacement._

> if it was really the sixth century, all right, I didn't want any softer thing: I would boss the whole country inside of three months; for I judged I would have the start of the best-educated man in the kingdom by a matter of thirteen hundred years and upward.

Hank decides that if he is truly in the sixth century, his modern knowledge will allow him to take control of the kingdom.

_This reveals Hank's confident, pragmatic, and imperialistic mindset._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_connecticut_yankee_in_king_arthur_s_court_se/chapters/ii-king-arthur-s-court
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_connecticut_yankee_in_king_arthur_s_court_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_connecticut_yankee_in_king_arthur_s_court_se/chapters