Power in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I am curious to explore the concept of power in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. More specifically, I was interested in pursuing the theme of power in relation to Hank, and how his constant quest of power is obtained, retained, manifest, and its limits in 6^th century Arthurian England. The majority of Hank’s power stems from the fact that he is from the future, thus providing him with a plethora of knowledge in terms of historic, scientific, social, and technological occurrences centuries beyond the people of Camelot that allow him to rise up the social ladder.

Although we know very little about Hank’s life in the 19^th century, we are privy to the fact that he was the superintendant at an arms factory in Connecticut. The fact that he comes from a working class family, with a father who was a blacksmith and an uncle who was a horse doctor, implies that he lived a life of hard work in the middle class (Twain 36). Hank looks back at one point in the novel to examine what he would amount to in the 20^th century: “I should be foreman of a factory, that is about all; and could drag a seine down-street any day and catch a hundred men better than myself” (86). Although he isn’t in a place within society to exert much power in the 19^th century, once he arrives in Camelot he takes advantage of his situation and quickly begins his pursuit of obtaining power and a place in the 6^th century.

What is it about the 6^th century that allows Hank so much power? He is ultimately the same person he was, but Arthurian England provides him with the opportunity to exert power in a way he wasn’t able to in the 19^th century. He is in the upper echelon of Arthurian society in terms of his breadth of knowledge, reason, cunning, and manipulative powers. Ultimately, it is time itself that provides Hank with the necessary tools to gain rank in Camelot. It was his transport to a past era that gives Hank him the upper hand in Arthurian culture. Much of Hank’s power is rooted in the fact that he is a product of the future, of a civilization with thirteen hundred years of innovation and progress under its belt. He uses his knowledge of history, science, and technology as a means of obtaining power.

He uses his knowledge of such innovations of the 19^th century to his advantage. One of the most prominent and effective ways in which Hank obtains power is through his use of spectacle, effect, and theatrics. From his knowledge of the eclipse in Chapter 6, Hank is able to manipulate both his knowledge and the people of the 6^th century in order to gain power in society as a powerful magician and The Boss. After Hank “solidified his power” with the eclipse event, he comes to the realization that he “was just as much at home in that century as I could have been in any other. …Look at the opportunities here for a man of knowledge, brains, pluck, and enterprise to sail in and grow up with the country” (86). From the moment when he uses his knowledge of the eclipse to frighten the community as to the extent and reach of his supposed powers, to Merlin’s tower, the Holy Fountain, Hank rises in rank from prisoner to his place among the noble elite of the monarchy. He brings dynamite, smoking, telephones, matches, and firearms, among other things, to a time and place in history where they don’t belong, and won’t even come into being for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Without such foreknowledge of technologic innovations, Hank would be ill-equipped to perform such seemingly epic and magic events, thus destroying the very origins of his power.