What Is The Social Structure Of Monty Python And The Holy Grail

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedic movie that discusses King Arthur’s journey to the English countryside to seek out knights who will join him at the round table in Camelot. He then decides that he and the knights must travel to find the Holy Grail. He ends up finding Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Robin, and Sir Bedevere and they travel through villages and experience satire events in history including first hand seeing the impact of the black plague and witnessing a witch trial.

The middle ages took place around the 10th century. During this time period the social structure was divided into 4 classes which made up the feudal system. The lowest class that made up the majority was the peasants, which also included the serfs. The

serfs were those who worked in the countryside under a lord. They maintained the grounds of the manor, for example picking crops and tending to the animals. In return these peasants got a place to stay and food in exchange for their work. Peasants lived a “ hard rough life. Some peasants were considered free and could own their own businesses like carpenters, bakers, and blacksmiths.

Others were more like slaves. They owned nothing and were pledged to their local lord. They worked long days, 6 days a week, and often barely had enough food to survive”(“Middle Ages History”). Knights were above the peasants and they were given land granted by the barons in exchange for their military services if the king needed it. They were responsible for protecting the baron who granted them land as well as the baron’s family and the manor they lived at. The knights were able to keep any amount of land they were given, and they gave out the rest to the serfs. The lord, or baron, was above the knight in the social class divide. They were given land by the king and in return they showed loyalty to the monarch. They provided the king with fully equipped knights if the king needed some to serve. If the baron “did not have an army, sometimes they would pay the king a tax instead. This tax was called shield money”(“Middle Ages History”). The king was at the top of the feudal system and held the most power and wealth. The king could not maintain control over all the land in England so he divided the land up to the barons which eventually

trickled down to the peasants. The power would get passed down to the first born son after the king passed away. The black plague was an iconic event that took place in the middle ages and wiped out a third of the European population which is about 200 million people(“Middle Ages History”). The disease nicknamed the “black death” originated in Europe around 1328 and lasted until 1351. Those who were infected with the disease experienced blackening of the skin around swellings that would arise on it. The black plague was spread by fleas who were carried by rats and rodents around the filth of villages and towns. The result of the plague and the amount of death stressed the importance of the middle class. Without the laborers, the amount of food available decreased because there weren’t enough people alive or well enough to tend the crops or the animals.
The movie successfully depicted the satireness of the Arthurian way of life which is similar to autocracy‚ and also discussed the unjustness of the wide division of social classes as well as how chivalry was presented.

In the middle ages, knights were viewed as those who would represent the greatest level of chivalry, considering it was part of their code. King Arthur talked to a peasant in the beginning of the film who expressed her said unhappiness about the government and her views did not align with King Arthur so he disapproved. The peasant described medieval Europe as a horrid place to live. There was also a lack of education among the peasants because in the British empire at that time, there were many small kingdoms owned by lords, under one king. All the peasants really knew was their own kingdom and their king, they were not really educated on the number or where other kingdoms were. During this time period, the peasants were viewed as the bottom of the food chain, and in the feudal system they were actually at the bottom. This meant that they had no real say in the government or how it was ruled, so this interaction did not seem accurate for the time period nor did it cause any impact because those who were high in the feudal system liked the strong divide between classes. The way of life during the middle ages was strongly influenced by past traditions and morals that had been passed down from generation to generation. One of these old traditions included

executions of people considered to be “witches”. In the film, there is a scene where a woman is dressed as a stereotypical Halloween witch with a fake long nose and pointy hat and she awaits her execution. The movie mocks the ignorance that came along with witch trials and how those who would perform the executions really had no evidence for the person to be a witch other than the fact they accused person may act a little odd. During the scene, they compared the weight of the woman to a duck and since she weighed the same as the duck she was considered a witch. Throughout history, thousands of people were burned an executed because they were believed to be involved with witchcraft. The film also accurately depicts the filth that existed during the middle ages in towns and cities. In the article The insistent fringe: moving images and the palimpsest of historical consciousness written by Vivian Sobchack, she states that three films she “generally regarded as successfully conveying the atmosphere of the Middle Ages: The return of Martin Guerre, Beatrice, and Andrei Rublev." Another: "Maybe The lion in winter--at least what reading I've done about the main characters suggests they got them right as people (although not as historical events--there was no Christmas Court in Chinon that year). There seems enough muck and dirt and rushes on the floors to suggest something of the twelfth century"(The insistent fringe: moving images and the palimpsest of historical consciousness). Many films that are based off the same time period modernize the characters by making everyone appear “sparkling clean, the set was elaborate, and hardly anyone got dirty”(The insistent fringe: moving images and the palimpsest of historical consciousness). Even though it was a comedic film, it accurately portrayed they way life looked during the middle ages as well as poking fun of some issues that existed during that time period.