In season 2, episode 4 of the television show Merlin, love as well as action is depicted throughout. Guinevere, who is mistaken as Lady Morgana, is captured by enemies, and held captive. Due to this occurring, Lancelot, Arthur, and Merlin come to her aid, which results in an action-packed episode.
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| Arthur, Gwen, and Lancelot from the television show Merlin (1). |
Merlin VS. The Original Medieval World
The television show Merlin puts an interesting spin on the medieval world. The storyline of this episode has aspects that do follow original medieval world content. For example, Arthur is visibly in love with Guinevere, but she has great feelings towards Lancelot. This love triangle is also illustrated in Thomas Malory's, "The Tale of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere". A major difference between Merlin and the original stories of the medieval era is that in the television show is how greatly magical elements play a key role in the storyline. One of the main characters, Merlin, possess a type of mind control. This allows him to manipulate objects. Although in Arthurian legends magic is presented, the show takes this component to the next level. Also, in the television show there are abnormally large beasts, which are used as weapons against humans. A creature named "The Wilddeoren" is released on Gwen and Lancelot when they are being held captive. This is an element that also did not play a part in the original Arthurian stories.
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| "The Wilddeoren" is used as an attempt to kill Lancelot and Gwen in Season 2, Episode 4 of Merlin (2). |
Merlin modernizes the Medieval World
The television show Merlin was able to take the medieval world and create a more modernized version of the medieval time period stories. The magical elements introduced into the show made the story even more action packed and kept the viewer intrigued to watch more. Another contemporary component in Merlin was the way in which the actors spoke. Reading medieval works at times can be intimidating due to the type of language that is presented. In the television show, the writers did an excellent job of modernizing the language, but still making the actors sound as if they were from another time. Another aspect introduced was Guinevere is given the nickname "Gwen" in the television show. This updated element greatly shows how the writers of the Merlin have put a modernized twist on Arthurian stories.
How the Contemporary Style Adds to the Arthurian World
The modernized pieces of Merlin add much to the medieval world. The television show was able to change the storylines in an interesting manner but keep the original plot present. This allows the viewer to make connections to the original Arthurian stories, but also get introduced to new elements. In this episode the new components introduced were things such as the magic and unrealistic sized beasts. This adds more action into the stories and invokes curiosity into the viewer.
Works Cited
1.) "Arthur, Gwen and Lancelot." BBC, Oct. 2009, www.bbc.co.uk./programmes/p00q6qjw.
2.) Knight, Tim. Merlin'S Miscellany: Part Eight [UPDATED]. heropresstwo.blogspot.com/2012/02/
merlin-miscellany-part-eight-updated.html.
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