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Tarquin Character Analysis

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How Sir Tarquin Came to Be In the novel Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript, the author, Sir Thomas Malory, presents the reader with many diverse villains, one of whom is Sir Tarquin. Through Sir Tarquin’s words, expressions, and actions, Malory portrays Sir Tarquin as a malicious villain who despises one specific character, Sir Lancelot Du Lake. This built up anger and revulsion Sir Tarquin feels towards Sir Lancelot results in Sir Tarquin becoming one of the most dexterous knights in all of Christendom. He becomes such by searching out, challenging, and defeating many knights of the Round Table.
The reader can ask, “What is the motive behind Sir Tarquin’s quest?” Before Sir Lancelot and Sir Tarquin duel, Malory leaves this …show more content…

And for Sir Lancelot’s sake I have slain a hundred good knights…” (Malory 105). Since his brother was slain, Sir Tarquin has sought after Sir Lancelot and made it his objective to seek out the death of the one who murdered his brother. Sir Tarquin spent year after year fighting brave knights and one could describe this villain as malicious and spiteful. Daniel Haybron writes in his book Evil Characters that a person who is malicious is “deeply hostile toward other people, wishing them great misfortune” (Haybron 136). When Malory writes of him, Sir Tarquin is one of the best knights of the land because of malice. According to this definition of malice, Sir Tarquin exemplifies a malicious behavior. Before learning about Sir Lancelot’s identity, Sir Tarquin was willing to spare Sir Lancelot if he was not the one who killed his brother. But Sir Tarquin desires tribulation to befall his character-defining enemy which he then resumes his battle with Sir Lancelot until his death. Their four hours of fighting show how his years of wrath and abhorrence towards Sir Lancelot drove him to raise his dexterity with the sword and become one of the greatest knights written about in Malory’s novel.
In order to investigate this claim, one must start from the beginning. The reader is first introduced to the villain Sir Tarquin as Sir Lionel watches in horror as three of his fellow brethren of the Round Table are bested by a lone, unidentified

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