A Knight’s Tale

A Brief Summary

William Thatcher is a 14^th century peasant who breaks all the rules when he passes himself off as a nobleman and a knight and takes the jousting world by storm. He was brought up by his father, a thatcher, to believe he could ‘change his stars’ and rise above the level into which he had been born. When he was a young boy, William’s father found a post for him as squire to a knight on the tournament ‘circuit.’ Some years later, when the old knight dies unexpectedly, Squire William decides to take the old knight’s armor and horse and venture into the world of jousting as the young knight Sir Ulrich.

While feeling out his new role and learning the art of jousting, William/Sir Ulrich sees the Lady Jocelyn and is smitten. The two court each other as William/Sir Ulrich jousts in the different tournaments on the circuit, even once competing against the crown prince of England. Just as his star begins to rise, Lady Jocelyn gives him an ultimatum, which leads to an unusual twist in the story.  William’s deception is eventually found out, but through his strength of character, events transpire that bring him into fortunate circumstances. He truly ‘changes his stars.’

Commentary

The movie, A Knight’s Tale, is really a bodhisattva* story. When the young man William Thatcher actually made the decision to change his stars, that is when he became a first level bodhisattva. When Lady Jocelyn begins to respond to him, she does so because, when somebody is changing their life, they attract interest from others.

There are plenty of folks out there who... live day in and day out following the same old trends. All the old mental attitudes are at play, so things are always handled in the same way. When somebody starts to make changes, then that person becomes quite attractive. Other people can feel this extra-ordinary quality that has come to life in that person.

Jocelyn knew that, like all the men at the tournament, William/Sir Ulrich was jousting for his own glory. The first level bodhisattva starts out that way, doing it because you think you are uplifting yourself. You are, but you need to…begin to function for the good of the whole. In other words, you stop staring at yourself. You come to a place where you have to face yourself. That is what the young knight did when Lady Jocelyn put a stigma on his winning, and said, “If you love me, you’ll lose.”

We are really looking at this movie as a metaphor for spiritual life, so we are not looking at it in ordinary terms. You can change your stars; you can change your life in that spiritual way.  As far as putting your trust in other human beings who may not have your best interests at heart, remember that Lady Jocelyn knew that she would give herself to William, but if she was going to give herself to him, she wanted to know that he was going to give himself to her. None of those other men would have done that, and William wouldn’t have done that either, unless she demanded it.

“If you love me, you will give up your pride and you will lose the match.” It is a startling thing to ask of someone. She wanted to see if he truly loved her, which he did. Of course, then he had to hate her for a little bit because his pride was still in argument. But as soon as she saw that he was willing to lose the match because he loved her…, she turned it around quickly. She didn’t want him to lose. She just wanted to know he loved her. Continued...

* A bodhisattva is a dedicated practitioner who seeks to attain enlightenment for the upliftment of all sentient life, one who consciously acts for the benefit of others as an essential part of pursuing one's own enlightenment.

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