A Knight's Tale: Movie Critique A Nights Tale follows the peasant, William, throughout his medieval world as he pursues the path to "changing his stars". The movie was an archaic portrayal of history that was modernized to be enjoyable to present day viewers. It included drama and comedy, two essential elements for an appealing movie. From an average movie-watcher's standpoint, it was silly, entertaining, and engaging. To rate it from that viewpoint, I would say that it was a 9/10. Although, if I were to focus on the movie more so from a historical standpoint, it did not achieve that high of a rating. As entertaining as it was and appealing as it was to the audience's emotion, it was also a good historically accurate representation …show more content…
We are shown the audience singing along to, "We Will Rock You". This scene really exhibits the modern exaggerations of this movie and it put the idea in my mind that I was watching a sports game. But, although the modern aspects of this scene really took over the historical aspects, the overall feeling that I got from watching it was what I would assume to be like watching a medieval jousting tournament. For example, the audience was shown to be very entertained during the match. Everyone was cheering and waving their hands. This represents the Middle Ages greatly because jousting tournaments were in fact exciting and intriguing. They were an opportunity for knights to display their strength and courage. They were a big part of history. The nature of the scene really put me into the atmosphere of a jousting tournament, but it was taken over by modern counterparts, such as the soundtrack. When we meet Adhemar, he greets Joceyln in an elegant and confident manner. He is introduced by his list of all his honorable feats as a nobleman. He embodies the desirable characteristics of a nobleman during the Middle Ages. In The Code of Chivalry, it says "to prove themselves worthy of knightly honor by strong, brave, courteous, loyal bearing under great
In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Poet Pearl, Sir Gawain, knight of the Round Table, acts chivalrously, yet his intents are insincere and selfish. It is the advent season in Middle Age Camelot, ruled by King Arthur when Poet Pearl begins the story. In this era citizens valued morals and expected them to be demonstrated, especially by the highly respected Knights of the Round Table. As one of Arthur’s knights, Sir Gawain commits to behaving perfectly chivalrous; however, Gawain falls short of this promise. Yes, he acts properly, but he is not genuine. The way one behaves is not enough to categorize him as moral; one must also be sincere in thought. Gawain desires to be valued as
In the movie A Knight’s Tale the two main knights were William Thatcher and Count Adhemar. They both showed chivalry and courtly love, but not correctly. More of chivalry was followed more and the right way. The movie is very loosely based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s book Canterbury Tales. His father always wanted him the change his stars so he would not live in poor life forever. Even though both knights were good, William was better because he followed chivalry, courtly love, and prowess in battle.
Jousting was a mounted form of combat used by knights beginning in the 11th century. It was used mainly to knock the enemy from their horses so they were an easier target for the footmen and could be easily trampled by the horsemen. The point of aim during the most basic form of joust was either the four nails of the opponents shield, or the helm or throat of his armor. The church didn't like the savagery of it because the knight was a Christian warrior whose job was to protect their priests and the church; therefore, jousting was occasionally banished by some churches. It was common belief in this time period that a priest shouldn't die by the sword, so the knight was a sworn protector of them. The knights lived by a code of ethics known as chivalry. This code not only governed their daily life but also the way they fought Despite the banishments and the savagery of the joust, a form of it is still around today. The style jousting is the same today but the price is no longer blood it is now money. It...
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by an unknown author, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, between 1375 and 1400. This story tells us about the adventures of King Arthur's most noble, honest, and courageous knight in Camelot, Sir Gawain. The main action of the story focuses on a challenge given to Sir Gawain by the Green Knight. The knight challenges Gawain to the Christmas game where Gawain hits him with an axe now, and twelve months and a day later, the knight will return the favor at the Green Chapel.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – A Test of Chivalry Essay with Outline: Loyalty, courage, honor, purity, and courtesy are all attributes of a knight that displays chivalry. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly a story of the test of these attributes. In order to have a true test of these attributes, there must first be a knight worthy of being tested, meaning that the knight must possess chivalric attributes to begin with. Sir Gawain is admittedly not the best knight around. He says "I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest; / and the loss of my life [will] be the least of any" (Sir Gawain, l. 354-355).
In many ways, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem constructed from various binary oppositions, all encompassed within the genre of the medieval romance. These oppositions, however, are not always as polarised as might be initially expected. This is certainly the case with the relationship between civilisation and the wild, whose continual juxtaposition often allows for the distinction between the two to become blurred. This essay will explore the difference between the topographical wild – that is, the wilderness – and civilisation, demonstrating that the two are not as different as they immediately appear to both reader and protagonist. Furthering this line of argument, this essay will also consider the definition of ‘the wild’ as
The tournament of jousts reveals the pleasure in Arthur’s court; subjects are seamlessly rewarded and praised for their physical strength by the extravagant festivities of the court. Specifically, they are given copious amounts of food and dancing, which exemplify the luxuriance of the court and enable subjects to live comfortably and pleasingly. The poet reveals: “The hubbub of their humor was heavenly to hear: / so house and hall were lit with happiness” (46-48, 187). Due to Arthur’s vast amount of wealth, the subjects desire a will to live by detesting the challenge of the Green Knight in order to participate in the pleasures of the
“Culture does not make people. People make culture” said Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer and educator, in a presentation on feminism in a TedTalk. The culture in which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written was misogynistic and it shows in the writing of the poem. Medieval cultural misogyny manifests itself in multiple ways in SGGK. This paper will examine the negative relationships between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and gender by discussing: the representation of female characters, gendered violence, and Christianity in the Middle Ages.
This is a truly incredible event that you're not likely to see anywhere else (or at least anywhere that's not a Renaissance fair!). Each section of the audience is assigned one of the Champions, and then encouraged to root for them. The joust is totally genuine, with no light contact or wrestling style theatricality. It's damn exciting to see the knights going at each other, not knowing if one of them is about to eat the dirt. The melee after the joust is staged, and played more for laughs, but one has to give props to the guys for getting up and doing a choreographed routine after getting knocked from their horses at a full
Depending on who you ask, there are many different things that come to people's minds when one hears the word, chivalry. Some might say: knights, castles, horses, damsels in distress, Knights in shinning armor.... i could go on and on. I think of all these things as well, but I also think of Jousting. In a time when courage, honor and integrity were valued jousting was not only a sport, but a way for knights to prove their skill and courage.
Excellence has always been a virtue revered by society. Writers throughout the ages have tried to capture the essence of excellence in their works, often in the form of a title character, who is the embodiment of perfection, encapsulating all the ideal traits necessary for one to be considered an excellent member of society. However, the standards for excellence are not universally agreed upon. On the contrary, one man's idea of excellence may very well be another's idea of mediocrity. Yet, human nature is constant enough that by analyzing different literary "heroes", one can discover the standards of excellence that are common to different peoples.
The Green Knight is a character in the 14th-century Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight appears before Arthur's court during a Christmas feast, holding a bough of holly in one hand and a battle axe in the other. Despite disclaim of war, the knight issues a challenge: he will allow one man to strike him once with his axe, under the condition that he return the blow the following year. At first, Arthur takes up the challenge, but Gawain takes his place and decapitates the Green Knight, who retrieves his head and tells Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel at the stipulated time. In Sir Gawain, the Green Knight is so called because his skin and clothes are green. The meaning of his greenness has puzzled scholars since the discovery of the poem, who identify him variously as the Green Knight; nature, magic and a Christian symbol or death symbol, all exemplifies the color. Not only is green associated with the knight, but the color also comes into play when he arrives at the castle; throughout the poem and throughout his journey.
In the Song of Roland, ideal characteristics of a knight are identified mainly with having skill as a horseman and fighting on the battlefield. The idea of an armored knight is closely descended from the equites class of Rome. Knights were closely tied to the various fiefdoms and to the church. A knight was expected to have courage, honor, selflessness, respect, honesty, and many other characteristics of how a perfect knight was seen such as Roland, Oliver, and Thierry in the Song of Roland. Many knights were of course not perfect but in the Song of Roland Roland, Oliver, and Thierry are perfect knights because they have a strong devotion, and are respectful.
In the tale, The Knight’s Tale, Chaucer made sure not to deviate away from what he saw during his time because some qualities emerged as prominent figures. The Knight’s Tale made sure to exemplify the idea of courtly love and what it truly means to be a knight who follows the code of chivalry. Some of the qualities of being chivalrous is being generous, honest, courageous, and supporting the notion of justice, which the readers can see that Chaucer understood the significance of the noble behavior and how that affected people at that time. Furthermore, the article, “The Canterbury Tales for Poetry of Students” highlighted how the noble life of the chivalry was a momentous part of the tale since the tale was “a comment on the possibilities
The Knight’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale are both told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Although the two stories are set in the same time period and have a similar theme, they each have a distinctive tone. The Knight tells a romantic story that reflects his higher social class during the era in which he lives. The Miller tells a story in which lust, not love, is the guiding motive for the characters. The Miller is in fact drunk when he tells his story, so the Miller’s Tale contains lots of dirty jokes and complicated tricks. The Miller’s tale mirrors the Knight’s tale in a lot of ways. Both of the stories contain a love triangle.