Preview

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1249 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
"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 Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and the reasons behind their names. Throughout their search, they meet interesting people and knights along the way. Most of the characters die; some through a killer rabbit (which they defeat with the holy hand grenade), others from not answering a question right from the bridge of Death, or die some other ridiculous way. In the end, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are left and find the Castle Arrrghhh where the Holy Grail is. They are met by some French soldiers who taunted them earlier in the film and were not able to get into the castle. The movie ends with both King Arthur and Sir Bedevere being arrested for killing a real-life man who was a historian.
In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:
• In the beginning of the movie, you hear the sound of music and horses. However, it turns out that it was not horses at all; it was the sound of King Arthur's squire pounding two

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Here is a list of related texts that are overused by HSC students. More and more students are using these texts, and while SOME may be effective related texts for the Area of Study, they are overused because all of the following texts can be found analysed in study guides. If you use a pre-prepared analysis for your related texts realise you will be competing with the thousands of other students who used the exact same text and analysis.…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sir Gawain is going through a similar situation, but since Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a parody, Sir Gawain's actions will have more important consequences. He is staying in the castle of Lord Bertilak and his wife. Within his stay at the castle, Lady Bertilak tries to seduce him. With her second attempt, she appeals to Sir Gawain's courtesy.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The film, starring the (in)famous Monty Python team (consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin), tells the tale of the legendary Arthur, King of the Britons, and his knights of the round table. King Arthur and his knights are traveling around Britain on a quest to find of the Holy Grail, using coconut shells to mimic horse-sounds (which is not only a fantastic visual joke, but also a necessity since there was no budget for real horses). During their travels they continuously find themselves in the most ridiculous of situations and encounter the weirdest of creatures, including but not limited to the Knights who say “ni!”, a murderous rabbit and taunting Frenchmen.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    pride and prejudice

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Before You Begin: You may either copy and paste this document into a word processing program of your choice or print this page.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem thought to be written in the fourteenth century. This theory is based on “the terminology used for the practice of hunting, descriptions of the layout of the typical fourteenth century English castle, and references to the routines of the servants of a castle household” (Puchner, et.al., 2012, p. 725). The use of King Arthur’s character and his Knights of the Round Table are additional indicators of the fourteenth century time frame.…

    • 2042 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the tale “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, an unusual story is presented. This story is how Sir Gawain accepted the challenge of a stranger and resulting in partaking in a quest that would ultimately prove his character as a knight. However, this quest was so custom tailored for Sir Gawain’s personal pitfalls and strength that it was, in fact, only intended for him. While the Green Knight's game was offered all of the knights in King Arthur's court, Sir Gawain was the only one whom was fitting to partake in the test due to his personal flaws and strengths.…

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sir Gawain and Feminism

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a lively Arthurian romance about a young knight of the round table who takes on the challenge of a mysterious green knight who wanders into Arthur’s hall. The Green Knight asks Sir Gawain to strike him with his own axe, and in one year’s time he will return the blow. Time passes and Sir Gawain does everything in his power to procrastinate his impending meeting with the Green Knight. He leaves for his quest, and on Christmas day after wishing for a place to hear mass, a shimmering castle appears in the distance and the lord of the castle welcomes Gawain inside. Little does he know, the welcoming lord is actually the Green Knight.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This story reflects the qualities of a medieval romance. First, the trait of supernatural. In the beginning of the story King Arthur and his men are drawn to a strange man, describes as, “Splendid that knight errant stood in a splay of green/ and green, too, was the mane of his destrier” (1-2). This man is a stranger to all in the room, and he turns every head in the room with his green image.…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On The Crucible

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Some other comical factors is when reverend Parris has his tantrums but they aren’t even funny, because he is just lying to save his own reputation; ruining everyone else’s. Mrs. Putnam thinking Tituba had the power to allow her to communicate with her dead babies, could be considered funny. Other than she is dead serious, and assigns guilt ruthlessly. When mercy Lewis was caught dancing naked in the woods by Paris, would be funny except she lies compulsively and she condemned men and women to protect herself. There are a few comical moments in the book but over all this is a tragedy not a comedy.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In beginning of the story king Arthur happens to be celebrating New Year’s Eve, Sir Gawain is part of the celebration. A battle fight takes place that involves Sir Gawain and the great Knight. The supernatural things that take place in this story or magic of some sort, the Green Knight and his green horse has are both inpossibilities, it just doesn’t happen. people at Arthur’s celebration…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Even though this intruder has disturbed his celebratory feast, he does not lose his temper, instead he follows the first rule of chivalry – hospitality. As we see in this text, the other knights, who sat “stone still” and “chary of answer”, do nothing to welcome the new-comer amongst their midst; nevertheless, Arthur does his duty and warmly invites the Green Knight to his court (line 21, line 20). In this way we see how King Arthur has unmatched manners in the court of Camelot- this is the most distinguished factor about him in this story, as the main focus of this legend is on Sir Gawain and his quest. Thus, we can say that King Arthur 's one and only role in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is to set a standard for his knights in social behavior, to remind them of the rules of Camelot. These lines demonstrate Arthur 's gallant manner, they also show that Knights of the Round Table have a high place in their minds for him. While they dreaded even speaking to the alarming stranger, their revered King Arthur, who is described as one who “had no fear”, welcomed him graciously (line 29). Thus, King Arthur is greatly admired by his Knights because they still thought of him as the fearless king of old and also because of his valiant and courtly behavior. This fact greatly impacts most stories of this time because Arthur has a great influence over the Knights of Camelot and most of these stories follow their bold and daring quests. Even if the king, in these legends, seems removed from the thick of the plot line, his presence is still felt from afar, as a social force – for it has already been established that the Knights admired and imitated his social manner and his lordly ways. This remote influence, too, can be observed in the story of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight where King Arthur is neither the the protagonist of the story nor the source of all action, but is the highest…

    • 2404 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Monty Python

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. Analyse the misguided reasoning that leads the villagers to conclude that the witch should be burnt in the Monty Python sketch.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Malory, Alfred Tennyson, and Jack Boorman have all retold Arthurian Legend in their own creative ways. Each of these authors have brought forth different endings that can be deciphered as interesting or pointless. A story, a poem, and a movies...…

    • 1438 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This movie is the perfect example to display medieval romance. The quest was for William to find his way home back to his father after he became a knight. The setting is in a vast majority of places. It takes place in Rouen, Paris, London and Cheapside. There was two hidden identities. One of them was William when he took the knights place at the beginning of the movie. The other one is Edward, the black prince. He was hiding as a knight that way he could joust. I believe that the magic/supernatural event in this movie was when William…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    king arthur movie review

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For centuries, countless tales have been told of the legend of King Arthur. But the only story you've never heard ... is the true story that inspired the legend. -- Trailer for "King Arthur"…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays