Examples Of Loyalty In A Knight's Tale

Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, and the author of Beowulf is unknown. Beowulf is the The setting of Beowulf is in Sweden and Denmark(the book 1231). Beowulf is divided into three parts in which Beowulf fights a dragon, a monster named Grendel, and Grendel’s mother. The Anglo-Saxon people have many values. There are many Anglo-Saxon values throughout Beowulf such as loyalty, strength, bravery, generosity, honor, and glory.

As the English Actor, Tom Hiddleston, stated, “Never stop. Never stop fighting. Never stop dreaming.” Young peasant, William, decides to pretend to be a knight with both his friends Roland and Wat and later on the found naked Chaucer to win money since their life style isn’t convenient. As a final point, despite some minor inaccurate information, the movie A Knight’s Tale is historically accurate based on factual evidence that was displayed.

In the movie, there are two men competing for the same woman, just as Arcite and Palamon did. However, in the movie, it is William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) who competes with Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) over Lady Jocelyn, where William (a squire) is pretending to be a knight so as to compete in the jousting tournaments and Count Adhemar is the reigning world champion of jousting. While Arcite and Palamon are imprisoned physically in a tower, William and Adhemar face less literal imprisonments of their own: Adhemar gets called to battle so he has to take a hiatus from the jousting circuit and trying to win over Lady Jocelyn, and William is continually trying to hide the fact that he is a squire rather than a knight so as to compete and to meet Lady Jocelyn’s standards. In the film, the Black Prince of Wales—Prince Edward—has parallels to the wise and fair Duke Theseus. When William is found out to be a squire rather than a knight, he is imprisoned and cannot compete in the jousting world championships; however, Prince Edward and William had jousted in a tournament earlier in the circuit (after Adhemar had backed down because of Edward’s prince status), which Edward respected, so he returned the favor by making William a knight so he could be exonerated and compete. Both Duke Theseus and Prince Edward play mediator roles in their respective stories. Count Adhemar and the newly-knighted Sir William end up essentially jousting for Lady Jocelyn because Adhemar has entered arrangements with Jocelyn’s father to marry her even though she and William are very much in love with each other. William ends up defeating Adhemar and seals his fate to love

In The Canterbury Tales, the knight is a modern type of knight. Although the description of this character’s personality is vague, it is not hard for modern day people to visualize him. In the prologue, it mentions that the knight follows the five basic ideals that a good knight should possess: “chivalry, Truth, honour, generousness, and courtesy” (Chaucer 4). The knight fought in the Crusades, wars in which Europeans traveled by sea to non-Christian places and tried to convert people’s culture by brute force, which was considered noble and brave hearted. From his love of the five basics ideals previously mentioned to his impressive military career, the knight is a perfect example of how a knight should be represented. Indirectly, the tale is discussing both the knight and the idea of how a knight should be. The tale does not describe much about the knight as in physical appearances and characteristics of this knight but as the tale comes to an end, the book starts to unfold how this story connects with this character. The tale itself is not important yet it’s what the tale represents that is important, such as pursuing courtly love, risking death, and respecting women. All of the previously mentioned attributes are ones that knights should possess to achieve expected standards.

Loyalty and courage are two themes that emerge throughout the poem ‘Beowulf by Seamus Heaney’. With a focus on an extract in Beowulf, this essay will explore how Seamus Heaney shows the themes loyalty and courage through the use of diction and imagery.

When Beowulf first hears of the horrendous creature Grendel who slaughtered many of Hrothgar’s men He sails with his men to Herot he gets stopped at the entrance by a soldier. The soldier of course does not trust Beowulf so he asks who his father is. Whoever was your father really mattered, it said what kind of person you were because of your fathers actions. The soldier says to Beowulf “Tell me your name/ and your fathers; no spies go further into Danish/ soil than you’ve already come” (lines 165-168). Beowulf explains who his father was and his intentions in Herot. Beowulf says that he has heard of the monster and all he wants is to help them because they have suffered for too long. The soldier guarding the entrance into Herot let Beowulf and his men enter, the soldier seems to trust Beowulf and he says to him. “’ A soldier should know the difference between words/ and deeds and keep that knowledge clear in his brain. I believe your words, I trust in/ your friendship”’ (lines 200-203). Beowulf sails to Herot to kill a monster that has murdered many men. He does this for many reasons he to help, he wants everyone to see his ability, and he just wants some glory.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, the author encapsulates chivalrous characteristics in his telling of a battle for love. In its fundamental form, chivalry idealizes a knight’s conduct, both on and off the battlefield (Gregory-Abbott). Chaucer employs this “heroic code [of] bravery, loyalty, and service to one's lord” to illustrate the idillic knight throughout the narrative (Rossignol). Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, exhibits the ideals of chivalry in the form of two knights, desperately in love with the same woman, and a wise Duke who embodies the voice of reason. Each knight upholds honor through compassion, troths, and heroism on the battlefield, despite their afflictions with each other.

“The Knights Tale” is the first tale in Geoffrey Chaucers “The Canterbury Tales”. The story introduces various typical aspects of the knighthood such as chivalry, ethical dilemmas, and courtly love. Knights all have this characteristic which they call the code that they portray through out the tale. In Geoffrey Chaucers “The Knights Tale” is an effort on the knight’s part to preserve a virtuous code.

Loyalty is perhaps the most important characteristic a person can possess. Loyalty is defined by Google as “giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution.” In the books Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Stone , this definition is exploited both in a positive and negative way. In Romeo and Juliet loyalty is a characteristic that both characters acquire along their journey and it has an ennobling effect on them. While in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , Sir Gawain is displayed as being a loyal man, but then he becomes perfidious because of his selfish way and it cost him his respect and nobleness.

To what extent was William Marshall’s life as a knight different from other knights of the time? Invariably it was not that much different than those of his peers until his later life. The one thing that set him apart from other knights was his fierce dedication to loyalty.

The scene in Beowulf when main character Beowulf proclaims the reasonings he felt to go protect the Geats suggests among the Spear-Danes classification as a warrior related with proving loyalty in the form of self-sacrifice. Additionally, I will argue in what follows that other scenes in the poem, such as, Wiglaf giving the speech on what amounts of cowardice behavior proves respect came from an urgency for loyalty proven through self-sacrificing methods. However, I will argue on top of loyalty being expressed as important it was not matter of want for Beowulf to sacrifice himself but his understood purpose. Influentially, a tension is formed between how reputation and loyalty is defined throughout the poem. The passage I will analyze is when Beowulf is speaking in the mead hall about urgency to be loyal towards the Geats right before Grendel attacks the hall. Here in Beowulf dictates that in order to be a good warrior he knew it was necessary to go to sea to defend the Geats which would entail him having to go extremes to prove his loyalty. Beowulf’s urgency suggests the believable notion that loyalty is necessary to survive in this society even when it means a warrior would sacrifice his own life for others. This in makes it difficult to withstand the belief that reputation was as important as loyalty.

William upholds the code of chivalry toward Jocelyn by courtly love. In the medieval times, courtly love was the conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. For example, knights setting out on adventures and performing services for their ladies. In the film, several knights, including count Adhemar and William, fight over Jocelyn, a noble woman. Each declaring they will the tournament for her. William proves his love for Jocelyn by complying when she asks him to deliberately lose the joust matches. Then, just before he would be eliminated, to win the tournament in her name. William also shows passionate devotion through his poems to Jocelyn. William reflects what a male's relationship should be to a woman in courtly love.

In the movie, “The Knight’s Tale”, many of the characters face challenges to achieve their goals. For example, William Thatcher hopes to win the jousting tournament. However, his poor background is a problem. In order to enter the tournament, you need to be of royal birth. Therefore, William takes the identity of Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein.

He was a quick learner but even still Charles was very hard on him. “Again!” he would yell, over and over as william drilled through his sword practice. Any laziness was not tolerated and he would make William train late into the night. For better or for worse this made william an excellent swordsman. This made him cocky and often picked fights with the other squires at the castle and handedly beat them all. Sir Charles was not happy about this and began to teach him what it really meant to be a knight. The code of chivalry was held in high regard among knights and William often had to be brought in line.

In the writing, it is indicated that honor is a price to be paid. It is apparent that the knights have honor owed to the king. As a gesture of chivalry, when Sir Lancelot is caught with King Arthur’s wife, he makes promise of his “knighthood” to see the king and answer for his actions (486). Even though he committed adultery, he felt his honor still had to be proven for the loss of his “noble fellowship” (488).