Merlin and Vivien

A detailed Summary of Merlin and Vivien

Known as one of Victorian England's finest poets, Lord Alfred Tennyson

epitomized the agony and despondency of the degradation of one's character.

His masterpiece, The Idylls of the King, explicates the grand scheme of

corruption of the Authurian age while simultaneously paralleling Tennyson's own

internal struggles. A most intriguing chapter of The Idylls, "Merlin and Vivien"

portrays the manipulative Vivien, identified as pure evil and hatred, as her

corruptive beauty leads to Merlin's self-destruction.

The Victorian era, from the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837 until

her death in 1901, was an era of several unsettling social developments that

forced writers more than ever before to take positions on the immediate issues

animating the rest of society. Thus, although romantic forms of expression in

poetry and prose continued to dominate English literature throughout much of

the century, the attention of many writers was directed, sometimes

passionately, to such issues as the growth of English democracy, the

education of the masses, the progress of industrial enterprise and the

consequent rise of a materialistic philosophy, and the plight of the newly

"Merlin and Vivien was written to demonstrate how comic expectations

Somersby, Tennyson faced a troubled childhood plagued by insufficiency and

One of the most intriguing chapter of the Idylls is "Merlin and Vivien," a

state. Tennyson's presentation of Vivien's words and wiles is so elaborately

central characters (Hain 148). In "Merlin and Vivien," Tennyson describes how

Marshall, George. A Tennyson Handbook. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1963.

Approximate Word count = 1578
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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