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Allusions
Book 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—A First-Rate Eddication:
At the beginning of the novel, White introduces Sir Ector's character through the dialect he uses in conversation with Sir Grummore about finding a tutor for Kay and Wart:
When they had got rid of the governess, Sir Ector said, "After all, damn it all, we can't have the boys runnin' about all day like hooligans—after all, damn it all? Ought to be havin' a first-rate eddication, at their age. When I was their age, I was doin' all this Latin and stuff at five o'clock every mornin'. Happiest time of me life. Pass the port."
Ector speaks in an exaggerated West Country accent, a dialect of English from the southwest of the country (particularly in Devonshire). The accent has been used in English literature for centuries for characters with stereotypical qualities: poor back-country people, for instance. This accent, then, is an ironic twist on what the reader expects. In England, there is a strong association between socioeconomic class and spoken accent; using this present-day set of associations, the reader would assume that Sir Ector, in his position of wealth and power, would have a posh, upper-class accent. White uses this dialect for its humorous irony.
But, looking one level deeper, note that this is the first of many historical anachronisms that White uses for narrative effect. In reality, people in medieval England would have been speaking Middle English, and those in power like Sir Ector were probably speaking French or Latin. White, though, chooses to use present-day biases and associations about, and to project them onto Arthurian characters for ironic humor. This use of dialect, then, prepares the reader for similar anachronisms in the rest of the novel.
Book 1, Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Beloved Leader:
Throughout the animal adventures on which Merlyn sends Kay in The Sword in the Stone, the encounter with the ants in Chapter 13 is perhaps the most compelling for its own sake. Of the many important comments that White makes in that chapter—on groupthink, labor, and authority—the most relevant as a literary device is the dialect of the ants, a distinctive Cockney whine:
"I dew think our beloved Leader is wonderful, don't yew? They sigh she was stung three hundred times in the last war, and was awarded the Ant Cross for Valor."
"How lucky we are to be born in the 'A' nest, don't yew think, and wouldn't it be hawful to be one of those orrid 'B's."
"Wasn't it hawful about 310099/WD! Of course e was hexecuted at once, by special order of ar beloved Leader."
These ants speak in a Cockney accent, which has historically been the dialect of the poor working class around London and southeast England. Stereotypical Cockney features are present, like pinched vowels ("yew"/"you," "sigh/say") and unusual /h/ sounds ("e" for "he," "hawful" for "awful," etc.).
What makes this Cockney dialect for the ants so compelling, though, is the use of stock phrases from dictatorial regimes with cults of personality, namely those referring to "our Beloved Leader." This is reminiscent of the titles of dictators around the world across history, many of whom styled themselves "leader" and took dramatic epithets. Using the ants' dialect, then, White makes Wart's adventure into the ant farm into a sort of parable. In it, he questions what it would be like if Cockney speakers—that is, poor Londoners—came under the control of a dictatorship. Together, it makes for an odd and effective dialect, building into the society of ants that White describes.
Book 4, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Muckle Strong:
Gawaine's dialect, in Chapter 2 of The Candle in the Wind, is certainly the most strongly inflected dialect in the entire novel. He is speaking with Agravaine and Gaheris and Gareth, the three brothers meeting with Arthur's son. The brothers became more kind and moral over the years, contrasting with Agravaine. But Gawaine's way of speaking remains unique:
"I am'na muckle strong, brother, and I dinna trade upon it."
"For masel', I dinna wish to speak of it."
"Nane o' that! Ye think I winna hit ye because ye are crookit, and ye take advantage."
Gawaine, Gaheris, and Gareth, are called the Orkney brothers. Orkney is in Scotland, but Gawaine is the only one of the three brothers who speaks with any Scottish accent at all, and his is quite extreme. Gawaine has a typical Scottish sound to his voice ("Nane o' that!") and uses words particular to Scottish English ("muckle" means "very").
Gawaine is generally characterized throughout the novel as violent and unruly, unable to control his anger. Perhaps White means to emphasize Gawaine's character by the fact that he speaks in a less proper, foreign dialect, as compared to his brothers and those in Arthur's family. It is worth comparing Gawaine's uncontrolled foreign speech to Agravaine and Mordred who are both calm, cool, and upper-class. Agravaine's language in particular is coolly furious with Arthur, professional but cutting: "Of course, it is decent to sleep with the King's wife, even if the King's family has smashed out family, and got a sun by our mother, and tried to drown him." White uses Gawaine's Scottish dialect to emphasize his barbarian character and to draw a contrast with Agravaine.
