Why does Himura Kenshin say ～ござる (~gozaru) at end of every sentence?


Why does Himura always end almost every sentence with gozaru in this show? Is
this normal for people in that time period?




～ござる is commonly known as a more polite way of ending a sentence, but it's
also common in historical dramas because it is a bit archaic-sounding. ANN has
an entry on this in their lexicon
[here](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=36). A more
detailed analysis of Kenshin's speech patterns can be found
[here](http://www.jessdoor.com/anime/seissha.html).

EDIT: It was pointed out in chat that there's a closely related question with
a really good answer on the [Japanese Stack
Exchange](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/653/if-i-wanted-to-
sound-more-like-a-samurai-what-words-and-phrases-should-i-learn/673#673).

