A Medieval Romance

A detailed Summary of A Medieval Romance


Mark Twain wrote an interesting short story named "A Medieval Romance". The story involved characters getting caught in deception and lies by their own greed. Twain shows the consequences of being someone you are not through this short story. In broader aspect Twain composed the short story in such a way that he shows how greed can overpower almost any morals a person may have. Greed usually provokes behavior that would cause a person to lie, cheat, or steal. In Twain's case, the story has the characters following one lie that snowballs and causes a catastrophe at the end of the story.

The beginning of the story creates a setting that even feels sinister. Twain writes, "It was night. Stillness reigned in the grand old feudal castle...Klugenstein. The year 1222 was drawing to a close. Far away up in the tallest of the castle's towers a single light glimmered. A secret council was being held there." (515) Twain creates the sinister effect with the use of night and a small single light creates an eerie effect. The secret council gives a bad premo


nition. Here the old lord is introduced and we see the first sign of greed from him competing with his brother. The story reveals that the old lord planned to turn one of his daughters into a boy named Conrad so that the kingship would fall onto his side of family. The daughter who grew up thinking she was a man was just informed of this now and now only since she is of age for taking the kingship. (515-516) Twain shows here how the old lord had no feelings for the daughter to begin with. The old lord had more love for obtaining the kingship that he did of his own daughter. He did not care what problems it would cause her. Even more, the old lord killed eight people that knew the real sex of his daughter. (516) Through Conrad, Twain shows a person being someone they are not and this may be Twain's most underlying point.

Lastly, Twain covers greed with those two characters, but the ending is very interesting. Conrad gets caught in a no win situation and just before he makes a decision, Twain ends it saying he couldn't finish the story since the ch

Some common words found in the essay are:
Medieval Romance, Lastly Twain, Lady Constance, Conrad Twain, Mark Twain, Teacher ED, short story, Conrad Conrad's, mark twain, twain creates, sign greed, secret council, single light, medieval romance, lady constance,

Approximate Word count = 716
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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