Student Question
In "The Prince and the Pauper," what is the purpose of The Great Seal?
Quick answer:
The Great Seal in "The Prince and the Pauper" serves as a symbol of royal authenticity, used to validate official documents by imprinting them with a unique mark. Only monarchs had access to it, ensuring that anything bearing its imprint was approved by the sovereign. The search for the Great Seal is pivotal in confirming the true identity of the prince, highlighting its importance in verifying the legitimacy of royal proclamations.
In this book, the search for the Great Seal is one of the major actions. It is how they eventually decide that the real prince is telling the truth about his identity.
At one point in the book, the seal is described as "a massy golden disk." Tom talks about how it has "devices and letters" engraved on it. So that tells you that it really is a seal. Back then, proclamations and letters and such had to be "sealed" to show that they were authentic. This meant that wax would be heated and a seal would be pressed into the wax. That is what the Great Seal was for -- only the monarchs would have access to the Great Seal so anything with that imprint must have been approved by them.
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