Aileen Thai

A Knights Tale: Truly Medieval?

A story of drama, action, adventure and romance how can this movie get any better? A Knights Tale is the story of a little boy, who starts out as a squire and dreams to become a knight. Though, his dream is crushed because of a tragic accident that his knight mentor was in. With the help of his squire companions Wat and Roland, William Thatcher replaces his knightly master in a jousting competition. But is this movie of medieval proportions? In spite of the modern day music throughout the movie, A Knights Tale stays true to its medieval nature. When William Thatcher enters the jousting competition, he changes his name to Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein. He encounters a mortal enemy, Count Adhemar, and they battle for the love of Jocelyn, who he falls deeply in love with. Indeed, A Knights Tale provides the audience with the elements of courtly love, a tradition of the Middle Ages. In this tradition, the lover must make sacrifices for his

beloved in order to prove himself worthy. William does this by losing his jousting matches in his final tournament when Jocelyn tells him to do so. The movie is also historically accurate to the point where it is believable that it is set during the medieval times. There are separate social classes where the ruling class is above all. People come to watch jousting matches which is a medieval festival and part of their culture. If not born into a noble family, one could not become a knight. Those not of the noble class were not literate, meaning they could not read. It was a great movie, all in all, and it proved to be as medieval as it can be, despite the music choice, that is.