Comparison Of Monty Python The Quest For The Holy Grail

Improved Essays
In the movie Monty Python the Quest for the Holy Grail, the themes of what knights are supposed to be in medieval literature are satirized. The goal of this paper is to discuss the similarities and differences of the movie and real medieval literature. The main focus points are the knight’s chivalric code, their behavior, and the responsibility of women and the characteristics of a noble quest. These, among all the other connections, are the things within the movie are mocked the most.
The characteristics of a noble quest is often thought of as an honorable and great deed. It is filled with brave knights who seek wealth and land to conquer whatever they desire. In the movie they introduce the character Sir Robin the not so Brave. He contrasts to the ideal knight because he is not brave, as told by his name. Later on in the film Sir Robin meets with the three headed knight. He and his followers get the three headed knight to start rambling and then escape without having to fight him. A true knight in medieval literature never runs from a battle making Sir Robin and the rest of the knights not living up to
…show more content…
Women were often seen as temptations to men that would distract them from completing their quests. In the movie one of the knights stumble upon a castle that he believes to hold the Holy Grail. He proceeds to enter the castle and find it is full of women begging him to do whatever he wants to them. Although the film over exaggerates the role of women, it does show that they basically had to do what a man wanted. They are also, just like in medieval literature, seen as a vile temptation for the knight. The knight’s friends enter the castle to save their friend and the women start begging them as well to do what they want to them. Lancelot calls the women foul temperas and leads the rest of the knights out of the castle so they can finish their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Women today are depicted much more differently than they were in the Arthurian Times. In The Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green. Women throughout the story are either depicted as damsels in distress, untrustworthy, or magical prophets. Throughout the story women are in need of help from King arthur and his Knights.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie “A Knight’s Tale” is loosely based on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Both of these art works give good insight on the social classes of the medieval era. The two artworks highlight the Knight’s social class as well as the peasant social class. The Knight is the highest rank in his respected social class, while the peasant is average in their social class. The society was set up in such a manner that people were unable to change their social standards.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A true knight of the round table was defined by his honor and his ability to be a noble warrior. To be commended in such high prestige, one had to abide by a strict code of ethics. This code of chivalry included perseverance, courage, humility, respect, courtesy, and loyalty. Men who could openly live by these virtues were worthy enough to be held in high esteem by the medieval society. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a newly appointed knight of King Arthur’s court aspires to follow the code and thus reach the pinnacle of his knighthood glory.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Middle Ages, Knights were fearless soldiers that protected the Lords of the Land. Knights were an inherent part of medieval society, following a strict and detailed code of Chivalry. This Code dictated their lifestyles and actions throughout the middle ages. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Europeans of higher status depended on the loyalty of a brave knight.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Satire in Monty Python’s Holy Grail In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a group of knights, led by King Arthur, go on a quest, given to them by God, to find the Holy Grail. After a little debate, they split up, going on their own way, but eventually find each other again, where they approached the Bridge of Death. Once getting past the guardian of the Bridge, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere the Wise find the Grail, just to have the police apprehend them. This movie is a significant, modern example of satire, which burlesques the knights and customs of the Middle Ages.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Middle Ages, if you were a knight chivalry was very important. To be a knight you put your life on the line for your lady and king. The excerpt from Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, translated by Burtin Raffel, demonstrates the code of chivalry Gawain’s brave actions in an effort to reflect the enhancement of the character in this literature of the Middle Ages. One example of chivalry was when Gawain stepped up and took the axe over author to swing the axe at the Green knight.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In medieval England, social status and rank were an important part of everybody’s life. It decided what your job would be and who you could marry. It also limited them to that class. A Knight’s Tale was a good example of how the classes worked and how people could sometimes “change their…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was not taken lightly and the knights were to never break it. The Movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, lift the stress off of chivalry and fun of the different aspects. Many scenes are taken out of proportion and parodied making the movie have a sense of humor and relieving the tension of the code of…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marie De France’s uncanny, whimsically lai “Lanval” satirically challenges and reverses the themes of love through stereotypical gender roles, which are unique and romanticized to traditions of the 12th century. Women for eternity have been rendered as beautiful, physical objects, who where inferior to men, and needed nothing more then a body. Marie De France depicted these same stereotypes in her writing but just in a reverse methodology. She criticizes the stereotypes of women with very opposing qualities while still displaying characters with feminism. This poem combines mercy and humility with a physical attraction which indicates the placement of power in the women characters.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Theme Of A Hero's Journey

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The movie “A Knight’s Tale” is a great film directed by the famous director Brian Helgoland. The film is successful and have two different genres. On one hand, the film is a hero’s journey. On the other hand, the film is also an entertaining sports film. So here is the evaluation of the movie, “A Knight’s Tale”.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Robin Hood Prince of Thieves is a fictional movie set in medieval times. The movie is about an English nobleman named Robin Hood. Robin Hood promised one of his fellow crusader before he died that he would protect his sister Marian. Upon Robin’s return home he discovers that his father has been killed and that the people of his town were being oppressed by the King. Robin decided to form of group of men called the Merry Men to fight against the King and the Sheriff in an effort to avenge his father and help the people regain liberation.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The three men, who are called Beowulf, Lanval, and Sir Gawain, all share the responsibilities of knighthood. The responsibility for a knight was high, but that does not mean that they were always faultless heroes. These stories of these knights showed their humanity and were written for life lessons. The connections that these stories make, which include the loyalty between a knight and lord, the imperfections that knights had, and the consequences and outcomes that knights faced for their actions, can tie directly between the connection of knighthood and the British identity.…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When one thinks of chivalry, an image of a valiant knight in armor appears in their head. However, in reality, the code of chivalry was a strict set of rules and guidelines that knights had to live by and was often impractical and difficult to uphold. In the chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the Pearl Poet, Gawain undergoes a series of challenges that test his adherence to chivalry. In addition, the poem illustrates the rift between the code and human nature instinct. These instances provide examples of the impracticality of the medieval code of chivalry.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Feminism In The Wife Of Bath Tale

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited

    But this transformation is accomplished through the knight’s submission. At the beginning of the tale, the knight is mortally ignorant of what women want. Rape not only shocks that interest, but represents a tyrannical assault on one of modern civilization's most cherished illusions, the so-called right to privacy. (Biedle) This is not the right and real representation of chivalric love and social rules in the Middle Ages.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chivalry was the moral code that the noblemen of the middle ages strived to follow. This code outlined how a knight should behave in battle and to a greater extent how they should act at home. Gawain and the Green Knight and Marie De France’s Lanval can both be read as explorations of chivalry. Both works present chivalry as an impossible ideal rather than a fact of medieval life. Lanval, Gawain, and Arthur’s court are all pillars of the chivalric ideal, in Marie De France’s Lanval Arthur’s court is said to have, “had no equal in all the world”(154) and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Arthur’s court is said to consist of, “the most courteous and chivalrous knights known to christendom;”().…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays