Untitled Essay, Research Paper

The Queen of Air and Darkness In the Queen of Air and Darkness Morgause raises four

boys. She is not a good

mother, and she does not give her boys a sense of right and wrong. She often

ignores

them for days at a time and beats them when they displease her. She acts

as if they were

pets rather than human beings, to be loved or not at her convenience . But

despite this

common maltreatment, the boys turn out very differently.

Gawaine is the oldest of the boys and in many ways the

most normal. He becomes

a knight in Arthur’s court, fighting for him loyally. The way in which

he is affected by his

upbringing is his rages. When provoked Gawaine goes into a berserk rage in

which he

does things he would normally never do. When Gawaine and Agravaine are arguing

over

whether or not to write a letter to their father about the knights, Agravaine

refuses to say he

is wrong, so Gawaine goes berserk and attacks him. He does not simply beat

him, but

chokes him and slams his head against the floor until Gareth pulls him off.

If Gareth had

not been there, Gawaine very well might have killed his younger brother.

Gawaine even

kills a women when worked up to a rage. These rages are a product of the

unhealthy

childhood he endured.

The next child, Agravaine, is probably the least well

adjusted of the four. He tends

to be sadistic and self-centered. The children were told the tale of the

King of Ireland by

St. Toirdealbhach; the tale where the king gets a head wound and can not

be excited, but

then he dies while trying to defend his savior. Agravaine does not see any

point in putting

one’s self in danger to protect any one else. He says “It was silly,

it did no good,” because

he does not understand the principal behind the story. He does not understand

that there

are things other than yourself worth dying for. Agravaine’s sadism is

evidenced in the

Unicorn episode. After the boys agree to capture and not kill the unicorn,

Agravaine runs

up behind it and begins stabbing it repeatedly. He could not stand that the

Unicorn ever

leave him, so by killing it he thinks to own it forever. Agravaine is the

boy most like his

mother, in that he can not see past his own interests.

The next child Gaheris, seems to have little personality.

He is described as “a stolid

child.” More often than not he seems to be just along for the ride.

He does not take part

in the arguments. He generally just sits back and watches. When Gawaine goes

into a rage

and attacks Agravaine, he does not intercede on either boy’s behalf.

The only thing he

does in the fight is to take the dirk which had been flung from Agravaine’s

hand and

ensure that it was not recovered. He seems afraid of action. He prefers to

take as passive

a role possible in confrontations. When Agravaine begins killing the unicorn,

Gaheris is the

last to come out of hiding. When Gareth starts moaning over it being dead,

all Gaheris has

to say is, “Anyway, now its dead.” Unlike Gawaine, Gareth is reclusive

and hesitant to act.

The final child, Gareth, is by far the kindest. He balances

out Agravaine’s cruelty

with his good will. When Agravaine is being beat by Gawaine, Gareth saves

his life by

pulling Gawaine off him, despite the fact that Gawaine was much larger than

him. When

Agravaine kills the Unicorn, Gareth tries to stop him, and he then cries

over the unicorn’s

death. Gareth seems to have the disposition of a monk. He believes that the

King of

Ireland was correct to attempt to save his savior despite his condition.

Gareth puts the

welfare of other people before his own.

The four boys, all brought up in the same manner, have

different and balancing

features. Gawaine is outgoing and quick to act, but he is balanced by Gaheris

who is

reclusive and slow to action. Agravaine is sadistic and selfish, but he is

balanced by Gareth

who is kind and generous. They compliment each other and together are stronger

than

they can ever be apart.