A Classic Never Dies

            In the Middle Ages, mankind (and women-kind) liked to be entertained by tales of chivalry, tales of good knights and bad knights, of sword-fighting, of struggle, of lust, and of love. Today, such tales still enthrall human beings. There is one major difference, however. Back in Chaucer's time, these tales were occasionally written down, but more commonly memorized by men called bards. These tales were also often set to music, in the form of epic poetry. Today, we can turn on our television sets and our VCRs or our DVD players, pop in a cassette or a disc, as the case may be, and there it all is, in living color. The tales for which we have an inherent longing to hear are portrayed by people that we call actors, so we no longer have to use our imaginations to fill in the pictures. Some of the stories have changed, have become more modern, because a classic never dies. But some classics are preserved and re-told with very little modernization.
             Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" is one such classic. In the modern world, it has been turned into a movie called "A Knight's Tale," and there are many obvious draws from Chaucer. This is a tale of courtship and chivalry. It begins with a joust, and we the audience do not know who is who, or who to root for. Only after we are introduced to the idea of jousting and the mood of the crowd are we introduced to the main character, William, who is the parallel of Palamon. When William first sees Jocelyn, Emelye's counterpart, he falls instantly in love with her, as does Adhemar, who bears a similarity to Arcite. The two men are both after the same woman, and they are contesting for her love. It is not a pitched battle with each man having a small army, but rather a jousting championship, which can be seen as a similar thing. Medieval society considered jousting to be a way for the knights to hone their skills during times of peace, and therefore maintain their abilities to defend their countries in times of war.