The Exaggerations of Medieval Romance in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a parody, or a satirical imitation, of the medieval romances and Arthurian legends. The film follows King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in their outlandish adventures, most notably the quest for the Holy Grail. Three medieval concepts that are embellished in the movie are knighthood and chivalry, courtly love and the wheel of fortune. These motifs are more seriously displayed in the book Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the excerpts "The Knight's Tale" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from Selected Canterbury Tales.

Knighthood and chivalry were the ideal characteristics (both physical and non-physical) of a man in medieval times. The physical ideals included strength, skill at arms and horsemanship while the non-physical ideals incorporated courage, humility, courtesy and loyalty. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is prodded by a page of the Lord of the Manor to leave the Green Chapel, the Green Knight's residence, and not honor the return blow from the Knight (Tolkien 104). Showing courage, Gawain insists that he stick to their agreement instead of taking the cowardly way out of the conflict (Tolkien 105). This is lampooned in Monty Python and the Holy Grailwhen King Arthur and his band, exclaiming "run away, run away," often retreat from unpleasant predicaments (the bombardment of random farm animals on them by the French castle and the massacre of many of their men by a vicious rabbit) ("Monty"). Another scene that is used much in the same way is the one where Robin gets away from a three-headed monster as his minstrel sings of "brave Sir Robin."

When the Green Knight takes two swipes at the neck of Gawain and intentionally misses, Gawain prompts the Knight to finish the game and strike him dead. The Green Knight obliges and nicks him across the neck (Tolkien 112). This scene displays courage and skill at arms which is satirized in the scene where King Arthur cuts off the limbs of a black knight in the forest that will not let him pass. Even with out any legs, the knight still continues to badmouth Arthur in hopes that he will fight him ("Monty").

Courtly love was the idea that love worshipped from afar was superlative, and that only noble people were worthy of love. In Tolkien's translation of the medieval romance, Sir Gawain is seduced by the wife of the Lord of the Manor three mornings in a row and exemplifies his chivalry by being loyal to the Lord of the Manor while making the Lady of the Manor feel better about herself (Tolkien 69-100). Gawain does not give into temptation at the expense of his chivalric moral code. "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from Selected Canterbury Tales also touches on this subject. When a knight rapes a young lady in the court of King Arthur, he must find out what all women want or be beheaded (Chaucer 126). He has given up all hope on his journey when he meets an ugly woman that promises to have the answer. They make a deal; if the woman is correct, the knight will have to marry her (Chaucer 129). She is correct with her answer that all women want to be in control of their husbands, and they wed to the dismay of the knight (Chaucer 130). The hag finds out that he is unhappy with her and gives him a proposal: she can be loyal and ugly or beautiful and unfaithful (Chaucer 134). He finally gives her the choice of what she wants to do and since this is what all woman want, she becomes both lovely and devoted (Chaucer 135). This theme is ridiculed in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Sir Galahad the Chaste comes across the Castle Anthrax inhabited by beautiful women because he sees the Holy Grail above its highest tower. They seduce Sir Galahad, doctoring him and talking about their regular schedule of "bathing, dressing, undressing, knitting fuzzy underwear". The scene ends with Galahad being told that the beacon in the tower is in the shape of a grail and he must punish them with a good spanking. The rest of the knights have to pull him away he is so entranced ("Monty").

"The Knight's Tale" from Selected Canterbury Talesis a story about two captured soldiers, Palamon and Arcite, who are imprisoned in the Athenian king Theseus' castle. One morning in their cells, they see a beautiful woman out the window named Emelye who is Theseus' sister-in-law. They instantly fall in love with her (Chaucer 32-35). Both, once escaping their captivity, go to extreme lengths for her love; they fight hand-to-hand in a field (Chaucer 47) and then battle with large armies at the discretion of Theseus himself (Chaucer 51). Monty Python and the Holy Grail makes fun of this notion of love without truly knowing the particular person when Lancelot storms a castle, killing dozens of people, because he receives a note from a tall tower saying that someone needs rescue and assumes it is a woman. Only after Lancelot makes his way to the tower does he realize it is a girlish prince ("Monty").

The wheel of fortune was a belief that the Christian God could alter your life in a positive or negative way in a split second. Palamon, Arcite and Emelye all visit separate statues of gods before the battle in "The Knight's Tale". Palamon asks Venus to bring him victory in the name of love. The statue shakes and Palamon interprets this as a positive answer (Chaucer 62). Emelye begs a statue of Diana to stop the fight over her hand in marriage. An image of Diana appears and tells Emelye that she must go on with it (Chaucer 63). Arcite stops by the temple of Mars and requests that he give Arcite victory. The doors of the temple clash and Mars whispers "victory"; Arcite believes that he will be triumphant (Chaucer 66). Mockingly, the Knights of the Round Table in Monty Python and the Holy Grailare interrupted in their journeys by God who gives them the task of retrieving the Holy Grail. The men are awed at the experience and feel that they have been blessed ("Monty"). In these cases, except for Emelye, the different gods spun their wheel in a positive direction.

During his quest to find the Green Knight, Sir Gawain prays three times to God that he will come upon a shelter where he can rest. Gawain is answered (Tolkien 52). Much in the same way, the knight in the "Wife of Bath's Tale" has given up all hope in answering the question that will save his life when he finds a large group of women dancing in the forest (Chaucer 128). This is where he meets the hag. The comic group known as Monty Python included this motif in their movie. King Arthur and Sir Benevere come across a mysterious old man who tells them of an enchanter who knows where the Grail is. The supernatural being, along with his tent, disappears leaving Arthur befuddled ("Monty"). God swung the "wheel of fortune" in a positive direction. The negative events that set back the characters in the tales are also prevalent. When Arcite has won the battle for Emelye, Saturn feels sorry that Venus' knight lost and shakes the earth, throwing Arcite from his horse and killing him (Chaucer 72). At the Bridge of Death, Sir Lancelot passes by being asked simple, personal questions. Sir Robin the Brave thinks he has succeeded until the old man asks him "what is the capital of Assyria?" . Robin plummets to his death ("Monty").

It is apparent that the writers, Graham Chapman and John Cleese, of Monty Python and the Holy Grailput a lot of research into the topics and themes of medieval literature that they parodied. Reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, "The Knight's Tale" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale", it becomes apparent where Chapman and Cleese drew their inspiration from.

Works Cited

Tolkien, J.R.R. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York: Ballantine Books, 1975.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Selected Canterbury Tales. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Videocassette. Dir. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, Nation Film Trustee Company Limited, 1974.