Central Idea and Summary

The central idea of the poem is a comic yet biting attack on unthinking, arbitrary rule. A King who prides himself on being "just and placid" applies his justice so mechanically, and shifts blame so easily, that his search for a single "guilty" person spirals into chaos and finally destroys him. The poem shows how a weak, indecisive ruler, a crowd that simply "wants a hanging," and a people addicted to their own comfort can together produce a state where even a melon can sit on the throne — and no one minds.

Summary. In a certain city, a "just and placid" King orders a grand triumphal arch to be built across the main road. It is built too low, and when the King rides beneath it, it knocks off his crown. Angry, he orders the chief builder hanged. The chief blames the workmen; the workmen blame the masons for wrong-sized bricks; the masons blame the architect; and the architect reminds the King that he himself altered the plans. Confused, the King sends for the wisest man in the country — a man so old he can neither walk nor see. The old man declares that the arch, which struck the crown, must be hanged. But a Councillor objects that they cannot hang something that had touched the King's own head. Meanwhile the crowd grows restless and "wants a hanging." The King agrees that someone must be hanged at once. A noose is set up high, and everyone is measured against it; only one man is tall enough to fit — the King himself. So the King is hanged "by Royal Decree." The relieved Ministers, following custom, proclaim that the next person to pass through the City Gate will choose the new ruler. The next to pass is an idiot, whose answer to every question is "a melon." Asked who should b …