Persuasive Essay:

Did Hollywood get it right?

Does the movie A Knight’s Tale accurately describe what life was like in Medieval Europe?

First Draft Thursday January 31 or Friday February 1

Due: Wednesday February 6th

Directions: Over the past three weeks we have been studying what life was like during Feudal Europe. We have looked at how the social pyramid worked, manor life, medieval town life, and the importance of knight’s and the path to knighthood. The movie A Knight’s Tale takes place during Feudal Europe. You are to write a persuasive essay answering the following question: Does the movie A Knight’s Tale a realistic representationof life in in Medieval Europe?

Your essay is to be 4-5 paragraphs:

  1. Introduction
  2. Body Paragraph 1 topic supportive evidence
  3. Body Paragraph 1 topic supportive evidence
  4. *Body Paragraph 1 topic supportive evidence
  5. Conclusion

Possible topics for your Body Paragraphs:

  • Could you move up the social ladder is feudal Europe? Could you improve your life
  • Is it realistic that William “changed his stars and improved his life”
  • The difference in life?
  • Life of a knight compared to life of a king
  • The difference in clothes, food, dance
  • Why did William need to know how to dance?
  • Analyze people’s jobs and status in feudal Europe:
  • Could peasants read?
  • Who were you responsible towards? Peasant to lord; lord to king
  • What type of jobs did freemen have?
  • Who made William’s armor?
  • What was a knight’s responsibility?
  • Why did William’s “enemy” stop competing in tournaments?
  • Why did his friends pretend to be William’s peasants? What would have happened if they would have interacted
  • Who could make a peasant into a knight?
  • How did William become an official knight?
  • Was money important in medieval society?

Student Example

Did Hollywood get it right?

Does the movie A Knight’s Tale accurately describe what life was like in Feudal Europe?

Do you believe that it is possible to change your life? Do you believe that no matter how poor you are when you are born, if you work hard, you can become a doctor, lawyer or professional football player? Well if you were living in Feudal Europe the answer to that question would be NO. It is for this reason that I think the movie A Knight’s Tale does accurately describe what life was like in Feudal Europe.

In the movie A Knight’s Tale William begins his life as a peasant, however through lying about his last name he is able to trick people into thinking he is a Knight. The reason William had to lie was because in Feudal Europe , people were born into to a specific class and they would stay in that class for their entire life. Your job depended on what your parents did and if your parents were serfs then you would be a serf. People did not try to change their lives because they depended on one another for protection, food, and a place to live. A Knight needed the food that the serf grew, and the serf needed the knight’s protection from groups like the Vikings. Feudalism was based on loyalty. You were loyal to your class

One of the problems in the movie arises when William is invited to a party after a competition. William is nervous about going because he does not know how to dance. This is important because it shows that people in Feudal Europe lived very different lives. While the King’s, Lords and Knights would be expected to wear fancy clothes, eat big meals and know how to dance, life for the peasants was very different. Serfs were not even allowed to leave the manor without permission from their lord. They would farm the same plot of land their whole life and would only get Sunday’s off of work. Since William was raised as a peasant it would make sense that he would not know how to dance. It would also be important that he learned how to dance, in order to keep up his disguise.

In conclusion, I think that the movie A Knight’s Tale did a good job of describing what life was like in Feudal Europe. William had to lie in order to become a knight because people did not change social classes in Feudal Europe. Also the movie showed how life was very different depending on your social class. If you were a knight you would be going to parties, dancing and living well. However, if you were a peasant or serf, life would be very difficult. It is for these reasons that I feel that the movie showed an accurate portrayal of Feudal Europe