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Monty Python and the Holy Grail Essay

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“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is a satiric comedy about the quest of King Arthur. The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. Through satire and parody of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the …show more content…

King Arthur goes on to explain that a swallow must have carried it. The soldier then offers a rebuttal based on proportion and types of birds. The comedic affect was delivered by the ridiculousness of the situation, the repetition of the soldier’s persistence the fact that they were actually pretending to ride horses by hitting coconuts together.
• In another scene, King Arthur is confronted by Lancelot and not allowed to pass. They began to fight and King Arthur severs Lancelot’s arm off. Only for Lancelot to say, “It is just a scratch.” King Arthur thinks that Lancelot will all it quits, but he persists, “I’ve had worse.” They continue their brawl, only for Arthur to slice off Lancelot’s other arm. He still insists on fighting. The comedic affect of this scene was delivered by the irrationality of Lancelot’s determination to continue fighting despite his severe injuries.
• In another scene, King Arthur and his knights try to storm Camelot but are driven away by their enemies are heaving farm animals at them. They brought a new meaning to raining cats and dogs. The comedic affect was delivered by the illogicality of someone throwing animals to defend themselves. It was also ironic that they were not throwing arrow or spears.
Satire is a kind of

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