magicpowers. As a great wizard, he is envied and praised throughout Camelot andVivien truly believes that, like all other instances, she can use her manipulativeways to entice and persuade Merlin into confiding in her his secret, and itworks (Kincaid 183). Sadly, however, she succeeds.“A wise man can be seduced by persistent sexual appeal” and, toMerlin’s lamentable destruction, Vivien triumphs in her seduction ( Marshall140). The mind, however, unbuttressed by hope makes an unsteady ally, tooeasily inclined to treason. The Merlin’s melancholy, written throughTennyson’s own despair, allows Vivien to be falsely recognized as a blessingof hope and happiness (Reed 58). Merlin’s collapse of will is the result of thestruggle between faith, doubt, and the temptation to retire from battle. Thisconflict breeds a conflict between pride and humility is what jeopardizesMerlin’s stability. “A storm was coming , but the winds were still/ And in thewild woods of Broceliande/ Before and oak so hollow, huge and old/ It looked atower of ivied masonwork/ At Merlin’s feet the wily Vivien lay.” (ll. 1-5) Foreshadowing Merlin’s fall, Tennyson uses the huge oak, the national symbolof stability and endurance, now hollow and old, to characterize Merlin’s presentstate. Tennyson’s presentation of Vivien’s words and wiles is so elaboratelyunsubtle that anyone would see beyond her facade. This reinstates the pointthat Merlin is never truly fooled. Rather, he lets himself be taken- “stirred thisvice in you which ruined man/ Through woman the finest hour” (ll.360-61). These allusions to the fall of Adam and Eve as well as to Paradise Lost onlyhighlight the malicious irony. Merlin never chooses “love” though- he merelygives in without making any choice. His values, morals, and conflicts of loyaltyare not in question of being broken because they ar...
