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Holly Tupper

Mrs. Kim

Literature & Composition

January 11, 2019

Under the Empire of the Pendragons and the Kennedys

When you think of heroes and well-known legends, many probably come to your mind,

but there is one that has enthralled the hearts and minds of men for well over a thousand years.

That particular legend is the one of King Arthur or better known as: Le Morte d’Arthur. The tales

of how King Arthur obtained his crown, and his kingdom, can be compared to one of our own

American families that also had a so-called crown. This family was more of a dynasty in their

own right with how they also captivated the hearts of many people. They were the Kennedys,

and this family’s monarch was their second oldest son, John. John F. Kennedy’s “rule” over his

own Camelot just happened to be filled with as much turmoil in comparison to King Arthur’s

fictional tales of adventure and deceit.

We must first talk about John’s family before we can get to discussing his presidency.

The Kennedy family has many secrets under their skin than what the naked eye can see, and one

of those secrets was their wealth. Joseph Kennedy Senior, John’s father, was a stock broker

during and after World War 1. During his time on Wall Street he developed many connections

and learned different tricks of the trade. One of those “tricks” is what made him a millionaire,

but today that “trick” of market manipulation would be frowned upon.

Now we can delve into the reign of John F. Kennedy. His reign of the New World started

in January of 1961. He and his wife, Jacqueline, brought this magical new air to the White

House, and they were seen across America on every form of media as a handsome and
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prosperous couple. Americans fell in love with their new king and queen. Unbeknownst to them

John had a rare disease, Addison’s Disease, that caused him to be in constant pain and to be on

medication for the rest of his life. Before he could die by natural causes, John was assassinated

on November 22, 1963 right beside of his wife in Texas. Even to this day there are still many

conspiracy theories on to why the beloved president was killed.

Throughout the Kennedy’s reign in America, there seemed to be a plague upon all of

them because of their immense greed to be higher than the common man:

The identification with the Arthurian legend stemmed from the Kennedys’ narcissistic

need to see themselves as superior beings who resided above the common herd. As little gods,

they felt immune to mortal laws and the consequences of their deeds. And as we shall see, this

pathological fantasy put them on a fatal collision course with reality. (Klein 77)

This excerpt from The Kennedy Curse is a good example for the rise and fall of the

Kennedy’s empire. The first dent in the family’s pride occurred with their eldest daughter

Rosemary. She seemed to have trouble performing normal tasks when she was younger. Not

wanting their reputation to be destroyed, they agreed for a doctor to perform a lobotomy on her.

The lobotomy was supposed to “cure” her from her impediments, but instead it left her

permanently disabled for the rest of her life. A major dent to the family’s virtue happened on

Chappaquiddick Island. Sen. Edward Kennedy crashed his car into a pond, and it killed the

young woman that was his passenger. Since the accident happened late at night, many think he

was drunk and it was merely that... an accident, but that doesn’t explain why he waited more

than nine hours to report it to the police. So many tragedies haunt the Kennedy family, and ended

them way before their time. They thought they could be better than anyone else, but they were

imperfect like the rest of us.

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As we move on to discussing King Arthur, you will see that he has many similar qualities

compared to the common man. Arthur and the Knights of Camelot are portrayed as heroes, but

they are as human as the rest of us. Why? Because all of humanity is broken beyond perfection,

and Le Morte d’Arthur was written by a man. Therefore, you can’t expect a literary character to

be any better than the one who invented them.

One of the problems that humans and the people of Camelot deals with is adultery. We

start with Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s father, and how he conceived his son. Uther enlisted the

wizard Merlin to help him deceive Igraine into having a child with him. During that time Uther

and Igraine were not even married. So technically, Arthur was born a child conceived of

adultery. When Arthur eventually became king, he also dabbled in that terrible darkness just like

his father. Mordred, one of his sons, was born of an incestuous relationship with Arthurs half-

sister Morgause, and many of his other children were also bastard born. The fictional times of

Camelot weren’t much different from today in the aspect of adultery.

Arthur and his knights broke the Ten Commandments in many ways, but the worst was

murder. He and his knights slaughtered many families and innocent people when they waged

war. Many of those wars fought in King Arthurs time were filled with bloodshed. “And Arthur

was so bloody, that by his shield there might no man know him, for all was blood and brains on

his sword.” (Mallory 43-44) Thomas Mallory described these battles and the carnage of them in

great detail.

As you can tell by the adultery and wars, Camelot had a curse of its own. The people

were not perfect, and they relish in sin throughout the many stories told of Camelot. Their

precious King Arthur eventually met his end at the hand of his own son Mordred:
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And when Sir Mordred heard Sir Arthur, he ran until him with his sword drawn in his

hand. And there King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield, with a foin of his spear,

throughout the body, more than a fathom. And when Sir Mordred felt that he had his death wound

he thrust himself with the might that he had up to the bur of King Arthur's spear. And right so he

smote his father Arthur, with his sword holden in both his hands, on the side of the head, that the

sword pierced the helmet and the brain-pan, and therewithal Sir Mordred fell stark dead to the

earth; and the noble Arthur fell in a swoon to the earth, and there he swooned ofttimes. (Mallory

461)

Arthur and Mordred met a sad end to their lives. The father killed his wicked son, and his

son killed him. This shows you how corrupt and twisted we are as human beings. For a man to

create these crooked stories that people have loved for centuries, is baffling. But yet we know that

we are not a perfect people and it somehow makes sense.

Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, Rexque futurus. (466) The once and future king indeed.

Arthur’s Camelot became ingrained upon the minds of men throughout time, and in the 1960s a

new and future Camelot had come to America. That Camelot was the reign of the Kennedy family.

Turmoil and drama filled the news during their reign just as it did during the time of Arthur. The

Kennedy’s lied and schemed their way up to the throne through a façade they put on for the media

as a perfect family, but they were indeed far from perfect. Arthur and his knights were also far

from perfect with how they went around chasing women and immortality. The imperfect people

they were, both the Kennedys and King Arthur were just that, mortal. Their lives were not infinite,

and they tried and tried repeatedly to become that immortal being, but by their “curses” they always

failed. Man tries and tries to somehow become as great as our almighty Creator, but they can never

rise to become that phoenix.

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Works Cited

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