A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court · Chapter
An Awful Predicament explained
Hank Morgan, imprisoned after a slave revolt he inadvertently caused, manages to escape and send a telegram to Clarence requesting rescue by Sir Launcelot and five hundred knights.
What happens
Hank Morgan, imprisoned after a slave revolt he inadvertently caused, manages to escape and send a telegram to Clarence requesting rescue by Sir Launcelot and five hundred knights. He is recaptured by a slave who recognizes him, but continues to plan the king's rescue.
Themes in this chapter
Slavery and Human Rights
The chapter highlights the brutal reality of slavery, including collective punishment and the dehumanization of slaves.
Power and Corruption
The court's deference to nobility and the arbitrary use of power are evident in Hank's manipulation of his supposed status.
Characters to notice
- Hank Morgan
Narrator and protagonist; imprisoned, escapes, sends telegram, recaptured.
- Clarence
Receives Hank's telegram and arranges the rescue mission.
- King Arthur
Imprisoned with Hank; rescue is being planned.
- Sir Launcelot
Chosen to lead the rescue knights.
Key passages
“Sleep? It was impossible. It would naturally have been impossible in that noisome cavern of a jail, with its mangy crowd of drunken, quarrelsome, and song-singing rapscallions.”
Hank couldn't sleep because the jail was noisy and full of rowdy, drunk people.
Describes the chaotic prison environment.
“I made a full and frank explanation to the court. I said I was a slave, the property of the great Earl Grip, who had arrived just after dark at the Tabard inn...”
Hank lied to the court, claiming he was a slave on an urgent errand for his master, Earl Grip.
Hank's clever deception to avoid punishment.
“There were sixteen slaves here. They rose against their master in the night, and thou seest how it ended.”
A man told Hank that sixteen slaves rebelled and killed their master.
Reveals the outcome of the slave revolt.
“They condemned them in a body. Wit ye not the law?—which men say the Romans left behind them here when they went—that if one slave killeth his master all the slaves of that man must die for it.”
The court condemned all the slaves to death because of an old Roman law that holds all slaves responsible if one kills the master.
Explains the collective punishment law.
“I used a cipher. I didn’t waste any time in sociabilities with Clarence, but squared away for business, straight-off—thus: 'The king is here and in danger.'”
Hank sent a coded message to Clarence, urgently informing him that the king was in danger.
Hank's use of telegraph and cipher for secret communication.
“Send five hundred picked knights with Launcelot in the lead; and send them on the jump.”
Hank requested Clarence to dispatch five hundred elite knights led by Sir Launcelot immediately.
Hank's plan for a dramatic rescue.