Essay -- Misrepresenting Medieval Tradition: The Multilayered Appeal of A Knight's Tale

The 2001 film A Knight's Tale, written and directed by Brian Helgeland, is set in medieval Europe. The film contains era-appropriate themes such as courtly love, nobility, and chivalry. However, the depiction of events and actions frequently deviates from the ideals and conventions held in medieval times. These deviations can be seen to appeal to different kinds of audiences, to create interest and comedic effect on different levels. Three kinds of audiences can be identified, each possessive of a different degree of familiarity with the film's subject matter.

First is the lay modern audience that is unfamiliar with the medieval era. For this audience, the deviations from medieval conventions serve to make the movie more accessible. The film incorporates physical love scenes and contemporary comedy for this type of audience, whose interest would not have easily been maintained by chaste, moralistic courtly love. Second is the audience that has a general knowledge of the conventions of knighthood and nobility. The subversion of these medieval ideals in the film is utilized to artistic ends, defying the expectations held by this type of audience in order to surprise and entertain. Finally, there is the audience that is familiar with the details of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. This type of audience can find amusement in recognizing references to Chaucer's work in the film.

Conventions of medieval courtly love dictate that lovers admire the object of their affections from afar. In courts of nobility, love was a spiritual concept, regarded as a near-religious means to achieve transcendence. Love was often discreet and unbeknownst to the object of affections.  This remote form of affection is clearly not present in A Knight's Tale. Jocelyn, a noblewoman, is a regular spectator in the first jousting tournament. Several knights, including Count Ademar and William, fight over Jocelyn, each declaring that he will win the tournament for her. Another historical misrepresentation occurs after William wins the tournament in Paris. Jocelyn visits William's chambers, where it is strongly implied they consummate their relationship. These blatant subversions of courtly love meet the requirements for the drama and physicality modern audiences have come to expect from cinema.

Other deviations from convention are more subtle. In the Middle Ages, class traversal, which is a central theme in the film, was very rare. In the time period during which the film took place, knighthood was a title conferred only by a monarch. William the peasant, however, impersonates a knight and has his patents of nobility forged. He succeeds in passing for a knight for the majority of the film. In doing so, William breaks multiple codes of chivalry. Whereas a knight is supposed to be righteous and honorable, William is deceitful and untruthful. Furthermore, when Prince Edward learns of William's deception he knights him, rewarding William's audacity rather than punishing it. The clear division between classes as well as the strict etiquette of the Middle Ages is breached, both purposeful anachronisms recognizable by the second type of filmgoer, the more knowledgeable one.

Another historical inconsistency that is discernible by the second type of filmgoer is the role of the herald. The medieval herald's job is to announce his knight's arrival in the most distinguished way possible. The herald's portrayal of William is however far from dignified. Instead of addressing the nobility in his introductions, the herald appeals to the commoners sitting in the stands of the tournament. Instead of respectfully praising his master, the herald approaches his heralding duties as a modern-day stand-up comedian would. He exaggerates William's fictitious heroic deeds and virtues to the point of absurdity, praising him as "the seeker of serenity, the protector of Italian virginity, the enforcer of our Lord God, the one, the only, Sir Ulllllllric von Lichtenstein". This deviation from the sober dignity with which knighthood is customarily treated and the behavior of the herald as a modern entertainer is used to comedic ends in the film.

The final kind of deviations from historical accuracy are perceived by the third type of filmgoer, that with the intimate knowledge of Chaucer and his work. The most striking allusion perhaps is the film's title, which takes its name from Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales. Although the original "Knight's Tale" is true to the virtues of chivalry and courtly love, the remainder of the Canterbury Tales is rife with rude, crass language, situations, and imagery. Furthermore, The Canterbury Tales subvert many of the conventions of Chaucer's own era: although no commoner becomes a knight, there are depictions of members of the lower classes such as The Cook and The Merchant, a rare practice in the fiction of Chaucer's contemporaries, which centered on members of the nobility. Thus, the anachronisms and the deviations from classic medieval virtues of courtly love and chivalry can be regarded as a tribute to Chaucer and his propensity to break boundaries.

The movie can readily be regarded as a nod to Chaucer's work when considering the character of the herald in the film. The attentive filmgoer will note that the herald Jeff is in fact Geoffrey Chaucer. William encounters Chaucer on the road, while travelling. The real Chaucer himself travelled often, going to France and Italy and widely travelling in England. The film-Chaucer served as herald to William; the real Chaucer was a page in his youth. The film-Chaucer mentions "Romance of the Rose" as a famous allegory; the real Chaucer translated this story from French early in his literary career. Not least of course is the herald's wit and cheek, a trait which must have characterized the real Chaucer at least in part, as is evident in Chaucer's writing.

In this way, the film succeeds in the task of appealing to the lay audience, without sacrificing its complexity. In lieu of strict historical accuracy, the film challenges more sophisticated filmgoers with identifying purposeful anachronisms and modifications of medieval tradition. The film creates wide accessibility by incorporating elements relevant to the average drama-seeker as well as the more meticulous scholar of Chaucer's work, through defiance instead of adherence to the particulars of medieval convention.

   

From the film "A Knight's Tale".

Works Cited

1. Abrams, M. H., et al. "Geoffrey Chaucer." Introduction. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. IV ed. Vol. I. New York: W. W. Norton &, 1979. 93-100. Print.

2. A Knight's Tale. By Brian Helgeland. Dir. Brian Helgeland. Prod. Brian Helgeland. Perf. Heath Ledger, Mark Addy and Rufus Sewell. 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2001. Film.

3. Wheeler, Bonnie. "The Knight's Tale." The Knight's Tale. Southern Methodist University. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. <http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/Ency/ktale.html>.