A Knight's Tale" Author(S): Hannah Wilkes Source: Studies in Popular Culture, Vol
Popular Culture Association in the South
Chaucer Comes to Hollywood: Changing Stars and Staying Authentic in "A Knight's Tale" Author(s): Hannah Wilkes Source: Studies in Popular Culture, Vol. 35, No. 1 (FALL 2012), pp. 91-107 Published by: Popular Culture Association in the South Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23416367 Accessed: 10-02-2018 22:39 UTC
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This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Hannah Wilkes
Chaucer Comes to Hollywood:
Changing Stars and Staying Authentic in A Knight's Tale1
Somme wikke aspect or disposicioun Of Saturne, by som constellacioun, Hath yeven us this . . . [Some wicked aspect or disposition Of Saturn, by some constellation, Has given us this . . . ] —Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight's Tale, 1087-10892
"Aman can change his stars." —William Thatcher, A Knight 's Tale
Having defeated his arch-nemesis at last, William Thatcher embraces his lover Jocelyn, seemingly for hours, as the sun sets and the stars come out; the camera pans upward until the audience sees only stars. This final shot of Brian Helgeland's 2001 film A Knight's Tale is not a mere romantic convention; it is a final reminder of the film's theme: that it is possible to change one's stars. William has always dreamed of being a knight, so when his master dies, he adopts the persona of Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein. Soon, William hires Geoffrey Chaucer3 to write him false patents of nobility and act as his herald. Eventually William's humble background is discovered; he is arrested but then pardoned and knighted by Edward, the Black Prince. Modern rock music and slang help tell the story and complicate the film's 1370 setting; anachronisms aid rather than weaken the translation of parallel themes. A Knight's Tale is loosely inspired by Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. In the "Stories of the People" featurette on the DVD, Helgeland explains his inspiration: I read a biography of Chaucer, and there's a six-month period where they just don't know what he was doing, so part of the conceit was that this movie happens during the six months that he was missing... . The first tale in The Canterbury Tales is called The Knight's Tale, and, hopefully, the idea is that he's writing about William in some way.
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As Chaucer scholars know, The Knight's Tale is based on Boccaccio's Teseida Delle Nozzi di Emilia, not an undocumented six-month adventure. But as Candace Barrington observes, Helgeland is not producing a film for Chaucer scholars but for the general public; he expects audiences' Chaucer-specific knowledge to include only that someone named Geoffrey Chaucer wrote important literature (2). Chaucer's The Knight's Tale is the story of two cousins, Palamon and Arcite, who fall in love with a woman named Emelye while they are imprisoned. When their love becomes known, they are ordered to fight to the death, with the victor winning Emelye's hand. Arcite initially wins the battle, but Saturn has him injured immediately thereafter, making Palamon the victor. Clearly, Helgeland did not adopt the full plot of Chaucer's tale. Nonetheless, as I will show, there are many parallels between the two Knight's Tales. In considering this adaptation, I draw heavily from two major ideas Kathleen Murray proposes in her article "To Have and Have Not: An Adaptive System." She questions the critical assumption that adaptation is specific to narrative. In analyzing an adaptation that strongly deviates from the source text's narrative, I, too, will challenge this assumption. Murray notes that "[t]here is no satisfying general theory about adaptation" but suggests the relevance of adaptation's scientific meaning, which emphasizes transformation. By considering adaptation in this sense, we see that "[t]he original text is transformed by the film version. It cannot be read in quite the same way again" (93). This transformation may violate what is essentially an unwritten contract between adaptors and their audiences. As Colin McCabe notes, "The cinema . . . claims that the source material is being faithfully translated into a new medium" (5). A Knight's Tale "faithfully translates" numerous aspects of the source text, though not Palamon and Arcite's quest for Emelye. Helgeland's text is unique because of the way he adapts these other elements. As Nickolas Haydock concedes, "the anachronistic, agglutinative representation of the past in Helgeland's A Knight's Tale may be closer to the poetics of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale than we would comfortably admit" (6). Helgeland makes the medievalism more accessible to a modern audience by translating it into modern features. These modern features have made scholars rather fretful. David Matthews' description of the film as "largely amiable" (199) is perhaps the closest thing to praise medievalists have offered, though Kathleen Forni's characterization of it as a "delightfully anachronistic fairy tale" (253) gives the same sense of back-handed compliment. 92 Studies in Popular Culture 35.1 Fall 2012
This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Chaucer Comes to Hollywood: A Knight's Tale
Forni later asserts that "the film . . . fails as a constructive form of literary symbiosis" and "fails to engage Chaucer's tale on any thematic or aesthetic level" (255), two failures I intend to show do not exist at all. Matthews calls A Knight's Tale "a modern film taking a distinctly disrespectful attitude" (121). Barrington seems to sense disrespect not just to the Middle Ages but to Chaucer himself, saying, "The resulting popular Chaucer bears little resemblance to the academic Chaucer; in fact, encountering popular Chaucer can be very disorienting for those scholars and teachers who strive to approximate 'authentic readings'" (3-4). The scholarly concern seems to be that audiences will come away from A Knight 's Tale believing it to be The Knight s Tale, including an authentic picture of Geoffrey Chaucer, poet-slash degenerate gambler.4 Further anxieties arise in the criticism that A Knight's Tale presents a Geoffrey Chaucer who is a product of modern America, not medieval England. Louise D'Arcens summarizes the overall critical view of the film as "unanimous criticism of A Knight's Tale's avowedly modern, capitalist, and meritocratic ideology" (91). Haydock, Forni, and Helen Dell all suggest that the "capitalist master narrative" makes the film both very much modern and very much American. Other scholars see definite Americanism—incorrectly, I believe—in other features of the film. Züleyha Çetiner-Ôktem argues that William, Wat, and Roland's first interaction with Chaucer illustrates Americans' relationship to medieval England. The three men have never heard of Chaucer or his poetry; likewise, Chaucer "does not hold a lot of significance for Americans outside the academia [sic]. Obviously, Chaucer is not a part of American culture" (50). This last sentence overstates the point a bit; as I have said, most Americans outside the academy know who Chaucer is and that English teachers consider his poetry to be capital-L Literature.5 His appearances in popular culture are not ubiquitous, but neither are they nonexistent. In Barrington's interpretation, A Knight 's Tale "uses [Chaucer] to validate a distinctly American ethos : risk-taking for personal gain" ( 143) and that "as a good American hero William overcomes the odds, wins the championships, and gets the girl" (143). Yet these are not features specific to American narratives; both appear in Chaucer's tale. Arcite and Palamon risk death as they overcome their own odds (they are, after all, imprisoned) in an attempt to win the joust and win Emelye. As Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray note, "Medieval film is certainly anachronistic, but we should not dismiss it for being so" (9). Instead, we should examine the anachronisms. Louise D'Arcens
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This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Hannah Wilkes observes that the film "both provokes and dramatizes anxieties about the relationship between the medieval and medievalism, literature and film" (81) and "has failed (however deliberately) to capture the historical past" (91). She suggests that most medievalists have not done what the film "cheekily" invites us to: resist our urge as medieval scholars to view the film as "a degraded iteration of Chaucer's tale or more generally of medieval romance." Yet if we do resist this urge, we recognize the fallacy of "the implicit privileging of the medieval over the medievalist text" and recognize that medievalisms have their own value (81). These two recognitions are crucial for medievalist scholarship and for my argument. I go a step farther than D'Arcens and suggest that, not only should we treat the medievalist text as equally important as the medieval text, we should also acknowledge that the medievalist text might teach us something about the medieval text. As I plan to show, the "deliberate failure" D'Arcens notes in A Knight's Tale—that is, the deliberately modern touches—create authenticity in the film, supporting the authenticity created by a narrative parallel. I argue that Helgeland's William and Chaucer's Palamon make similar choices that allow each to change his stars. Demonstrating this parallel requires a new reading of The Knight's Tale] thus, examining the medievalist text requires learning something new about the medieval text. Tom Shippey suggests the current usage of the term "medievalism" refers to "[a]ny post-medieval attempt to recreate the Middle Ages, for the modern world, in any of many different media" (45). Helgeland's film is clearly one such attempt. The 1370 setting, characters fitting in the three estates, jousting, and Chaucer the character are the most obvious medievalisms. Analysis shows that modern-day touches, including William's changing his stars, also recreate the Middle Ages as presented in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. In his article "Authenticating Realism in Medieval Film," William F. Woods suggests that "[w]hen we connect with the world of the film . . . vitalized by what we can accept as authentic features of medieval reality, then our resistance fades, and the scene breaks upon us with the force of real experience" (39). In the following analysis, I will explore some of these "authentic features" in A Knight s Tale. A long pop-cultural history of knights wooing ladies has conditioned us to associate the Middle Ages with romance, so the trope of love at first sight is one such "authentic feature." Riding through the camp outside the jousting stadium, William catches sight of a beautiful woman, Jocelyn, and he follows her to the cathedral to 94 Studies in Popular Culture 35.1 Fall 2012
This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Chaucer Comes to Hollywood: A Knight's Tale ask her name. They speak briefly, William suggesting that Jocelyn is not human but supernatural: "Or maybe angels have no names, only beautiful faces." This idea of loving a woman for her beauty, without knowing her name, echoes Palamon's love for Emelye. Seeing her for the first time, he observes: The fairnesse of that lady that I see Yond in the gardyn romen to and fro Is cause of al my criyng and my wo. I noot wher she be womman or godesse, But Venus is it soothly as I gesse [The fairness of that lady that I see Yonder in the garden roaming to and fro Is cause of all my crying and my woe. I know not whether she be woman or goddess But Venus is it surely as I guess]. (1098-1102) Palamon does not specifically say the word "love" until line 1143, when he says of Emily, "whom I love and serve," but his words above indicate that he is already in love with Emelye. Like William, he cannot be certain whether the being he sees is mortal, guessing that Emelye is actually the goddess Venus. William and Palamon have both fallen in love at first sight. The use of slang is also authentic, though the specific modern English words are not. Viewers may not know the Middle English word "weylaway!"6 (938), but they understand Bettany's Chaucer's distress when he rests his head in his hand and says, "Oh, my giddy aunt." Some of the slang is sexual, forcing awareness that bawdiness was present in medieval writing and conversation. The sexual play on-words in The Knight 's Tale would perhaps be lost on many modern audiences, but viewers do understand the bawdiness when William asks Jocelyn, "Don't you ever get tired of putting on clothes?" and Bettany's Chaucer quickly whispers, "I think she's talking about taking 'em off, Will," or when Roland says, "Every woman wants proof...that her legs have not been uncrossed for nothing." Though it seems inauthentic, modern slang gives the audience a connection to the text. The film's viewers can appreciate the same types of humor and equivalent slang that readers can appreciate in Chaucer's text. Early in the film, Helgeland presents us with a glaring anachronism. As the first jousting match commences, Queen's "We Will Rock You" plays, and the spectators pound and clap their hands to the beat, singing along with the refrain, "We will, we will rock you." Although stadium anthems are not "authentic features" of the Middle Ages, the song creates a feeling of contemporaneousness.
This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Hannah Wilkes
Because "We Will Rock You" is so common before sporting events today, modern audiences feel and understand the excitement medieval audiences would have felt at a jousting tournament. Interestingly, scholars are generally appreciative of the anachronistic stadium scenes. Hay dock, who mentions shirtless spectators doing the wave and a season culminating in championships, in addition to Queen's stadium anthem, argues that "[a] shared devotion to public spectacles is the only abiding similarity between Chaucer's 'The Knight's Tale' [sic] and Helgeland's version" (25). He notes that the film presents successful jousters as analogues for modern celebrity athletes (25) and suggests that the film reveals "unsuspected affinities between medieval knighthood and modern sports" (26). For Çetiner-Ôktem, the anachronisms in the tournament scenes "not only bridge the gap between periods, but create a deep sense of familiarity for the audience" (52). Here I agree with these critics. Sports are a major part of modern society, and presenting tournaments in the context of modern sports certainly makes jousting more exciting for a modern audience. Like William's immediate love for Jocelyn or the character's use of slang, these stadium anachronisms do more than connect the audience to the Middle Ages generally; they connect viewers to Chaucer's tale specifically. In a twenty-eight line passage of The Knight s Tale, Chaucer recreates this feeling as he describes the atmosphere before Arcite and Palamon fight. He describes the knights' horses "gnawynge [gnawing]" (2507), creating the image of horses chomping at their bits in the atmosphere of a fight about to begin. The description of the armor comes in sets of two and then three: So unkouth and so riche, and wroght so weel Of goldsmythrye, of browdynge, and of steel; The sheeldes brighte, testeres, and trappures, Gold-hewn helmes, hauberkes, cote-armures [So exotic and so rich, and wrought so well Of goldsmithery, of embroidery, and of steel The bright shields and war horses' armor Gold-colored helmets, mail, and coats of arms]
Nailynge the speres, and helmes bokelynge; Giggynge of sheeldes, with layneres lacynge [Assembling the lances, and buckling helmets Fitting the shields with straps, and fastening straps].7 (2497-2500, 2503-2505) This repetition creates a rhythmic sound, evoking a feeling similar
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This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Chaucer Comes to Hollywood: A Knight's Tale to that modern audiences feel when they hear exciting music before a sporting event. Further, the narration allows readers to envision the armor and the business of knights and squires preparing for the joust. This anticipation is furthered in the description of spectators speculating on the match's outcome: Somme seyden thus, somme seyde "it shal be so"; Somme helden with hym with the blake berd, Somme with the balled, somme with the thikke herd; Somme seyde he looked grymme, and he wold fighte [Some said thus, some said, "It shall be so"; Some held with him with the black beard Some with the bald, some with the thickly-haired Some said he looked fierce, and he would fight]. (2516-2519) This passage creates excitement, bordering on frenzy, through anaphora and intra-sentence repetition of the word "somme. " Creators of a film, however, can use more than words to create such feelings. Thus, A Knight's Tale features clapping, exciting music, and close-ups of horses shaking their heads and whinnying. The intensity of these features creates the same sense of pre-sport anticipation as Chaucer's poetry. The authenticity of the film, present in these audio and visual cues, supports the authentic theme of changing one's stars. The story accurately follows the ideas of astrology and fortune laid out in Chaucer's Knight's Tale. Both knights have the agency in changing their stars; unlike Palamon, however, William intends to change his stars. In an attempt to persuade Wat and Roland to come with him to "be champions," he says, defiantly, "A man can change his stars. " In the same scene, he tells them that "[w]ith thirteen silver pieces, three men can change their stars." From the beginning, William clearly shows that his drive to become a knight is based in his conviction that he can change his stars in order to do so. Just before riding in his first joust, William says, "I've waited my whole life for this moment." When William is first knocked off his horse, a flashback indicates that he has always planned to change his stars. As he falls, he remembers climbing atop the stocks and speaking to the man being punished in them: Young William: Someday, I'll be a knight. Man in stocks: A thatcher's son? A knight? Ha! You might as well try to change the stars! Young William: Can it be done, Father? Can a man change the stars? John Thatcher: Yes, William. If he believes enough, a man can
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do anything. A later flashback shows William's father telling him, "He's a real knight, William. Watch and learn all you can. It's all I can do for you, son. Now go. Change your stars, and live a better life than I have." William's desire to change his stars, and his use of that phrase to identify his desire, clearly began when he was very young. As an adult, he perseveres because of the conviction that he can make such a change. Twelve years later, upon his return to London, William goes to Cheapside to find his father. John Thatcher is now blind, and William pretends to be a messenger, saying, "I have news, Master Thatcher, of your son. ... He wanted you to know that he changed his stars after all." As we soon learn, however, William's certainty that he has become a knight is incorrect. His arch-nemesis and rival for Jocelyn, Count Adhemar, follows William to Cheapside and reports to the authorities that William is not actually of noble birth. William's friends want him to run, but he refuses and is consequently arrested. Adhemar comes to taunt William in jail, mocking his life-long mantra to change the stars: "He that strives to touch a star oft stumbles into simple straw." This reference to the film's theme is further reinforced when, like the man who told him he could not change his stars, William is put in the stocks. Here, his stars truly do change. Three of the men in the angry crowd around the stocks reveal themselves to be the Black Prince Edward and two guards. Edward approaches William on the stocks and tells him, "Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough. But you also tilt when you should withdraw. And that is knightly, too." Because of these knightly qualities, Edward knights William so that he may be released and complete the tournament. Although Edward orders William's release and knights him, he is not changing William's stars for him. He knights William because of choices William has made—to treat his men as equals, to be a kind friend to them, and to "tilt when [he] should withdraw." In an earlier scene, Edward is disguised so that he can joust; although he is always permitted to joust, most knights prefer not to fight royalty and withdraw before the match begins. William does not; he defies his squires' and herald's advice and rides in a joust against the Prince of Wales. William's story is not just one of a man who persevered. Had he acquiesced to Wat's request that he "give [him] the lance!" and withdraw from the joust against Edward, he never would have been able to demonstrate to Edward that he is "knightly." Although Edward says it "would be enough" to know that William's men love 98 Studies in Popular Culture 35.1 Fall 2012
This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Chaucer Comes to Hollywood: A Knights Tale him, Edward would have had no reason to have contact with William or to know his relationship with his men if William had not impressed him by riding in the joust. William actively changes his stars by going against the advice of his fellows and putting himself in the favor of a powerful figure. Like Helgeland's William, Chaucer's Palamon has an active role in changing his stars. Frieda Elaine Penninger argues that Palamon does not take the actions that bring him joy; rather, the gods and Theseus do (2). Indeed, the gods and Theseus do perform actions that lead to Palamon winning Emelye, which brings him joy; however, those actions are parallel to Edward knighting William. As Edward knights William because of William's actions, so do the gods and Theseus act in a way that makes Palamon the victor because of his own actions. Alan Gaylord summarizes the typical critical view of Saturn's role in the tale: "Saturn is seen as a resistless terror and a force of destiny whose will is absolute, arbitrary, and capricious" (172), a view Gaylord wishes to revise. Such a revision is appropriate, for The Knight's Tale does not support this reading. Saturn acts as he does because Palamon has proven allegiance to that god and his daughter Venus, not because of a simple desire to see Arcite lose. Saturn and Venus are both gods and planets; as the latter, they are the stars that Palamon changes. As Walter Clyde Curry notes, Chaucer "has skillfully gone about transferring the power of the ancient gods of his sources to the astrological planets of the same name" (120). Planets are types of stars; the Middle English word sterre refers to all stars but also any "one of the seven solar bodies called planets in Ptolemaic astronomy."8 Arcite also indicates that the planets are stars, saying, Somme wikke aspect or disposicioun Of Saturne, by som constellacioun, Hath yeven us this, although we had it sworn So stoode the hevene whan that we were bom. [Some wicked aspect or disposition Of Saturn, by some constellation Has given us this, although we had it sworn So stood the heavens when we were born]. (1087-1090) Here, the phrase "some constellation" indicates the connection between Saturn and non-planetary stars. Saturn does not work alone to bring trouble to the cousins; rather, he works through a constellation, a gathering of other stars. That his comrades are a constellation, not gods or celestial beings, tells us that Arcite views Saturn as a star, not
This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Hannah Wilkes a god. Palamon's response to this passage shows that he will not stand against Saturn. In saying that "some wicked aspect or disposition of Saturn" caused the cousins' troubles, Arcite suggests Saturn's unkind nature. Giving this speech indicates that Arcite thinks Palamon will be receptive to his sentiment and willing to bemoan the fate Saturn has given them. Palamon replies by calling "this opinioun ... a veyn imaginacioun" (1094), footnoted in the Riverside Chaucer as an "idle, foolish conception" (n. 1094). His response that Arcite's assumption is "veyn imaginacioun" indicates that he is not willing to complain about a situation Saturn has caused. In so doing, he demonstrates loyalty to Saturn, which extends to an alignment between Palamon and the god star. We see this alliance further on the morning of the joust. When he enters the arena to fight for Emelye, Palamon is accompanied by "Lygurge himself, the grete kyng of Trace [Lycurgus himself, the great king of Thrace]" (2129). Curry argues that Lycurgus is a "Saturnalian figur[e]" (120), bearing the physical markings of a man born under Saturn (137). In addition to allying with Saturn, Palamon is able to change his stars by allying himself with Venus. When Palamon and Arcite see Emelye for the first time, Palamon surmises that "Venus is it soothly [She is surely Venus]" (1102). Guessing that a beautiful woman must actually be Venus is a compliment to the goddess. Furthering the compliment with devotion, Palamon then falls to his knees and prays to Venus for help escaping from their imprisonment (1104 1107). The morning of the joust, Palamon, Arcite, and Emelye rise to pray. Because Palamon rises at the lark's song (2210), he is able to pray during the hour of Venus (2217). He words his prayer carefully, speaking with "hooly herte [holy heart]" (2013) and "humble cheere [humble countenance]" (2219) and calling Venus "Faireste of fair, O lady myn [Fairest of fair, O lady mine]" (2221). The alliance is not forged by chance; Palamon's choices, rather, make it possible. The poem does not indicate that Palamon has slept. Rather, the verb "herde [heard]" suggest that he merely waits for the lark's song to alert him that the hour of Venus has come: "When Palamon the larke herde synge . . . [h]e roos to wenden on his pilgrymage [When Palamon herd the lark sing...he rose to begin his pilgrimage]" (2210, 2214). Palamon intends to pray at the hour of Venus and is simply waiting for that hour to come. In making his prayer at that time, he shows his loyalty to Venus. Praying to Venus is itself important, but so too is the way 100 Studies in Popular Culture 35.1 Fall 2012
This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Chaucer Comes to Hollywood: A Knight's Tale in which Palamon prays. He does not merely beseech Venus to grant him Emelye; he words his prayer in a way that is more likely to appeal to the goddess. The lines "Have pitee of my bittre teeris smerte,/And taak myn humble preyere at thyn herte [Have pity on my bitter tears' smarting,/And take my humble prayer to your heart]" (2225-26) recognize Venus' gentle nature. As Curry notes, Venus "is more powerful in matters pertaining to love and peace than in war" (128). Thus, a passionate appeal to pity is an appropriate prayer to the goddess of love. Later in his prayer, Palamon must deceive Venus to change his stars, much as William must deceive the authorities and the spectators in order to change his stars. Palamon prays: I kepe noght of armes for to yelpe, Ne I ne axe nat tomorwe to have victorie, Ne renoun in this cas, ne veyne glorie Of pris of armes blowen up and doun; But I wolde have fully possessioun Of Emelye, and dye in thy servyse [I care not for arms to boast of, Nor do I ask tomorrow to have victory, Nor renown in this case, nor vain glory Of praise for deeds of arms proclaimed9 But I wish to have full possession Of Emelye, and die in your service]. (2238-2243) This seems to be in direct contradiction with his blood-thirsty threat to Arcite upon discovering him in the forest: . . . "Arcite, false traytour wikke, Now artow hent, that lovest my lady so, [. . . "Arcite, false, wicked traitor Now you are caught, that loves my lady so]
I wol be deed, or elles thou shalt dye Thou shalt not love my lady Emelye, But I wol love hire oonly and namo; For I am Palamon, thy mortal foo. And though I no wepene have in this place, But out of prison am astert by grace, I drede noght that outher thow shalt dye, Or thow ne shalt nat loven Emelye. Chees which thou wold, or thou shalt nat asterte!
[I will be dead, or else you shall die. You shall not love my lady Emelye, But I will love her only and no others;
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For I am Palamon, your mortal foe. And though I have no weapon in this place, But out of prison I have escaped by grace, I doubt not that either you shall die, Or you shall not love Emelye. Choose which you would, or you shall not escape!]." (1580-1595) The use of the phrases "mortal foo" and "thow shalt dye" demonstrate that Palamon is willing to kill Arcite in order to win Emelye; a mortal foe does not just fight, but fights to the death. Palamon effaces these desires, however, when he is praying to Venus, who he knows will be more receptive to peace than violence. Because Venus is Saturn's daughter, praying to Venus and flattering her nature furthers Palamon's alliance with Saturn and leads to his stars changing after the battle. Initially, Arcite wins the battle; Theseus declares that "Arcite of Thebes shal have Emelie,/ That by his fortune hath hire faire ywonne [Arcite of Thebes shall have Emelie,/That by his fortune has fairly won her] " (2652-2659). Because Palamon has allied himself with Venus, however, Arcite does not "have Emelie. " At the sight of Arcite's victory, Venus "wepeth [weeps] " (2665), but Saturn intervenes, calling Venus his "doghter [daughter]" and saying to her, "thow shalt been esed soon [you shall be eased soon]" (2670). Because Theban society is pagan, we can assume that Palamon knows Venus is Saturn's daughter and understands that allying himself with Venus may translate to an alliance with Saturn. Because of this alliance, as Arcite gazes at the woman he has won, Out of the ground a furie infernal sterte, From Pluto sent at requeste of Saturne, For which his hors for fere gan to turne, And leep aside, and foundred as he leep; And er that Arcite may taken keep, He pighte hym on the pomel of his heed, That in the place he lay as he were deed, His brest tobrosten with his sadel-bowe [Out of the ground an infernal fury started, From Pluto sent at request of Saturn, From which his horse for fear began to turn, And leap aside, and foundered as he leapt; And before Arcite could take heed10 He hit his own head on the pommel," Then in the place he lay as if he were dead His breast shattered12 by his saddle's pommel].13 (2684 2691) 102 Studies in Popular Culture 35.1 Fall 2012
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In requesting that Pluto send a fury against Arcite, Saturn makes good on his promise that Venus will be eased, an action he takes because Venus wishes to protect Palamon and because Palamon has shown his loyalty to Saturn. Palamon does win Emelye because the fury attacks Arcite, but the fury did not act independently. Palamon's choices throughout the tale lead to the attack and his victory. Like William, Palamon has the agency in changing stars and, therefore, his future. Caroline Jewers argues that "we 'read' medieval-themed films not only through the filter of what we know of the past but also via what we have seen on the screen already," so that our views of the Middle Ages are "double-fictionalizjed] " (192-3). This "double-fictionalized" view, however, is not the only option for critically viewing medieval film. A Knight's Tale's attempt to recreate medievalism invites a study of intersecting ideas, and the presence of Chaucer as a character in the film invites a closer investigation, one framed by a re-reading of The Knight's Tale. The parallels between the two texts are many,14 although the plots are not the same. By examining these parallels, we see the value of considering adaptation as transformation. Helgeland's idea of filling a void in Chaucer's biography is an original one and one that invites an exploration of the two texts' parallels.15 As scholars of literature and popular culture, we should take advantage of such invitations. Filmmakers have seen the potential in the genre of medieval film, and some scholars are wont to despair at this genre, seeing it as nothing but a series as anachronisms that distort perceptions of the medieval. No doubt films like A Knight's Tale do color impressions of the Middle Ages, but this is not part of the "problem" Matthews discusses—the problem that "many notions of the Middle Ages which have been rejected by scholars remain deeply imbedded in popular understanding" (123). As I have argued, the film presents images of the Middle Ages through "faithful translations," as McCabe tells us adaptations promise. In creating what appears to be a super-modern version of the Middle Ages, Helgeland has actually helped alleviate the problem Matthews identifies. His audience comes away with notions of the Middle Ages that we actually find in the literature of the Middle Ages. I suggest that anachronisms, such as the inclusion of classic rock in a film about knighthood, allow for greater analysis and criticism. Rather than simply observing or decrying such elements of the film, we can and should ask what they do to the film. Such inquiry allows us to see connections to classical medieval texts and demonstrate the presence of medieval themes in our own popular culture. Thus, what is on the surface a radical departure from the
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This content downloaded from 128.223.223.130 on Sat, 10 Feb 2018 22:39:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Hannah Wilkes source text is actually a new way of understanding Chaucer. Rather than simply watching William and Jocelyn kiss in front of the stars, we can understand that William has earned Jocelyn's companionship in the same way that Palamon earned Emelye's in another text so long before. Hannah Wilkes Shepherd University
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Notes 'I presented an earlier version of this paper at the 2010 annual meeting of the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations in the South. I am grateful to Alexandra Ferretti, Elizabeth Ellis, Joshua Tucker, L. Bellee Jones-Pierce, and Dr. Alexandra Cook for their feedback on this paper's various drafts. 2A11 Chaucer quotations are from The Riverside Chaucer, eighth edition, edited by Larry D. Benson. All translations into modern English are my own, unless otherwise indicated. 3Paul Bettany portrays Geoffrey Chaucer in the film; to avoid confusion between the poet and the character, I will call Chaucer the character "Bettany's Chaucer. " "The occasional viewer has made this mistake. Candace Barrington quotes online customer reviews of an edition of The Knight 's Tale that summarize Helgeland's film, not Chaucer's tale (American Chaucers 157 9). However, this seems to be the result of failing to read a book before reviewing it, rather than the fault of Helgeland's film. 5Candace Barrington also recognizes Americans' awareness of Chaucer, discussing "the astonishing number of people" who learn she is a Chaucer scholar and respond with a recitation of the Canterbury Tales' first eighteen lines (American Chaucers 155). 6"Weylaway, " an interjection expressing distress, does not have a direct equivalent in modern English. 7This translation is provided in the footnotes of the Riverside Chaucer. 8Middle English Dictionary, "sterre," definition 1 .a. 'This translation is provided in the footnotes of the Riverside Chaucer. 10The translation of "kepe" as "heed" is provided in the footnotes of the Riverside Chaucer. "The translations of "pighte hym" as "struck himself' and "pomel" as "pommel" are provided in the footnotes of the Riverside Chaucer. 12The translation of "tobrosten" as "shattered" is provided in the footnotes of the Riverside Chaucer. l3The translation of "sadel-bowe" as "pommel" comes from the Middle English Dictionary, "sadel-boue," definition 1 .a. '"One might additionally consider estates satire, chivalry, courtly love, and the role of Fortune, all of which show themselves in both Knights Tales. l5Editor's note: For a comparable idea relating to another author, see the film Agatha (1979), on Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance for several days.
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Works Cited
Barrington, Candace. American Chaucers. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. Print. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Knight 's Tale. The Riverside Chancer. Larry D. Benson, ed. 8th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. 37-66. Print. Çetiner-Ôktem, Züleyha. "Dreaming the Middle Ages: American Neomedievalism in A Knight 's Tale and Timeline. " Interactions: Ege University Journal of British and American Studies/Ege Üniversitesi îngiliz ve Amerikan Incelemeleri Dergisi 18.1 (2009): 43-56. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 6 May 2010. Curry, Walter Clyde. "The Knight's Tale." Chaucer and the Mediaeval Sciences. By Curry. 1926. New York: Oxford UP, 1942. 119-63. Print. D'Arcens, Louise. "Deconstruction and the Medieval Indefinite Article: The Undecidable Medievalism of Brian Helgoland's A Knight's Tale." Parergon 25.2 (2008): 80-98. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 06 May 2010. Dell, Helen. "Past, Present, Future Perfect: Paradigms of History in Medievalism Studies." Parergon 25.2 (2008):58-79. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 July 2012. Driver, Martha W. and Sid Ray. "Preface: Hollywood Knights." The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy. Driver and Ray, eds. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004. 5-18. Print. Forni, Kathleen. "Reinventing Chaucer: Helgeland's A Knight's Tale." The Chaucer Review 37.3 (2003): 254-264. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 06 May 2010. Gaylord, Alan T. "The Role of Saturn in the 'Knight's Tale.'" The Chaucer Review 8.3 (1974): 171-190. JSTOR. Web. 28 March 2010. Haydock, Nickolas A. "Arthurian Melodrama, Chaucerian Spectacle, and the Waywardness of Cinematic Pastiche in First Knight and A Knight's Tale." Studies in Medievalism 12 (2002): 5-38. Print. "HBO Making-of Special." A Knight 's Tale. Dir. Brian Helgeland. Columbia, 2001. DVD. Jewers, Caroline. "Hard Day's Knights: First Knight, A Knight's Tale, and Black Knight. " Driver and Ray 168-192. A Knight 's Tale. Dir. Brian Helgeland. Perf. Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufiis Sewell. Columbia, 2001. DVD. Matthews, David. "What the Trumpet Solo Tells Us: A Response." Parergon 25.2(2008): 119-27. Print. McCabe, Colin. "Introduction—Bazinian Adaptation: The Butcher Boy as Example." McCabe, Murray, and Warner 3-26. Print. McCabe, Colin, Kathleen Murray, and Rick Warner, eds. True to the Spirit: Film Adaptation and the Question of Fidelity. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
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Murray, Kathleen. "To Have and Have Not: An Adaptive System. " McCabe, Murray, and Warner 91-114. Print. Penninger, Frieda Elaine. Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and The Knight's Tale: Fictions Used. Lanham: UP of America, 1993. Print. Shippey, Tom. "Medievalisms and Why they Matter." Defining Medievalism(s). Karl Fugeiso, ed. Studies in Medievalism 17. Cambridge: Brewer, 2009. 45-54. Print. University of Michigan, "sterre, n. 1 .a. " The Middle English Dictionary. 18 Dec 2001. Web. 12 Apr 2010. —. "sadel-boue, n. l.a. " The Middle English Dictionary. 18 Dec 2001. Web. 22 Aug. 2012. Woods, William F. "Authenticating Realism in Medieval Film." Driver and Ray 19-22. Print.
Hannah Wilkes teaches English at Shepherd University and Northern Virginia Community College-Manassas. She earned her M.A. at the University of Alabama, where she focused on medieval and Victorian literatures, completing a thesis on parallels between Chaucer's dream visions and visions in the Harry Potter series. In addition to medievalisms, she is interested in the ways popular culture (mis)educates its consumers about various topics, especially the Middle Ages; the pedagogical implications of such (mis)information; popular culture in the classroom, particularly the developmental writing class; and political rhetoric. She is a member of the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations in the South, currently serving on the Executive Council as Graduate Student and New Professional Member-at-Large.
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