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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

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The Canterbury Tales are a collection of 24 stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Written in the 14th century, the tales are presented by a group of pilgrims traveling together from London to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. As they journey, each pilgrim tells a story, offering a diverse range of genres and themes, including romance, comedy, morality, and satire. The tales provide a window into medieval life, with vivid depictions of social classes, professions, and religious beliefs.

Chaucer himself was a prominent figure in medieval literature and is often referred to as the father of English literature. He was a poet, philosopher, and civil servant who held various high-ranking positions in the government of King Edward III. Chaucer's writing was highly influential in shaping the English language and developing literature. His mastery of the English language, combined with his insight into human nature, has made his works everlasting classics that are still read and studied today.

The Knight is the first to tell his tale...

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Theseus is King of Athens. He is married to beautiful Hippolyta who is his voice of reason. Theseus is a powerful, fair, and loyal king who always puts his people's needs above all else.

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Palamon and Arcite are cousins, sworn brothers, and Theban knights. Both are imprisoned under the command of King Theseus. Arcite and Palamon wind up falling in love with Emelye and they battle each other for her love.

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Emelye is the main female character of the story. She is King Theseus's sister-in-law. Emelye plays the traditional role of women during the 14th century and is described as elegant, beautiful, and graceful. She is the object of affection for both Theban knights but wants to stay unmarried.

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The story opens with Theseus King of Athens coming back from his battle verse the Amazons. He is celebrating his victory when he sees 4 women crying. They explain that their husbands were killed by Creon the King of Thebes who is refusing to give back their husbands bones to be buried. With fury, Theseus goes to Theban and slays Creon. He sees two Theban knights still alive and puts them as his prisoners. The two knights are Arcite and Palamon. Both men fall in love with Emeyle who they see from their prison window. They argue over her and their friendship is damaged. Arcite gets released from prison because one of his friends vouched for him. Theseus condemns Arcite to never step foot back in Athen or else he will be killed. Arcite goes back to Theban with great sadness that he will not able to see Emeyle ever again, whereas Palamont can see Emeyle still but wants to bring war upon Athen so he can be with her.  The knight poses the question to the listeners, rhetorically: who is worse off, Arcite or Palamon?

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Arcite is now all alone in Theban where he gets sick over not being able to see his love Emelye ever again. He has grown weak and frail, and his face looks sickly and has turned yellow. One night while sleeping the winged god Mercury comes to him in a dream. He tells Arcite to be happy and go to Athens to see Emelye. When he awakes he saw that he no longer looked like his old self, and figured that he would get into Athens disguised as a commoner. Arcite changed his name and works as Emelye's servant. Palamon has been in prison now for seven years. He escaped and hides in the forest. While hiding he hears Arcite who expresses all that he has done since he got released from prison. Palamon comes out and confronts Arcite and they agree to battle for Emelye's love. They are in the forest fighting like wild animals when Theseus who is going on a hunt finds them. Palamon reveals who they both are and expresses that they both love Emelye. He then asks the king to kill them both since they escaped from their imprisonment. Theseus's wife and Emelye stop him from killing them. Theseus agrees and tells the men that in 50 weeks they will battle each other with 100 knights for Emelye's hand in marriage.

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Theseus builds the biggest, most beautiful, and grand arena for the two men to battle in. This arena has 3 temples by each gate entrance dedicated to gods and goddesses. The east side was for Venus the goddess of love. The west side was for Mars the god of arms. The north side was for Diana the goddess of chastity. It is now 50 weeks later and Arcite and Palamon had returned back to Athens with their greatly armed knights. Theseus houses them and throws a big festival the night before the big battle. Palamon goes to the arena to pray to Venus. He asks her to take pity on him and make Emelye his wife. The statue shakes and he takes this as a sign that his prayers are answered. Next Emelye goes to the arena to pray to Diana. She prayed that she will stay unmarried and be a virgin for life. The goddess Diana appears to her and tells her that she will marry one of the men. Emelye goes straight to bed and Arcite now goes to the arena. He prays to Mars to make him win the battle tomorrow. Arcite heard the statue ring and whisper victory and took this as a sign that his prayer was answered. The story then shifts to the gods arguing over what each person was promised. Jupiter, Vensus's father promises her that he has a plan for the battle tomorrow. Arcite will win, but Palamon will marry Emelye.

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The day of the battle has finally arrived. Everyone has come out to the arena to witness this battle. King Theseus sets the rules where the battle will end when one man is defeated. Arcite and Palamon ride into the arena with their armies. Arcite comes in from the westward gate of the god Mars and Palamon comes in from the eastward gate of the goddess Venus. The trumpets go off and the fight begins. Palamon although fighting strongly was overpowered by Arcite. Arcite puts his sword to Palamons throat and King Theseus calls the fight. Arcite is the winner and is going to marry Emelye. The goddess Venus is now upset that Arcite won, but Saturn creates an earthquake under Arcite. He gets thrown off his horse hits his head, and gets knocked out. Arcite was brought to bed and aided by nurses who try to heal him. He expresses his love to Emelye and tells her that it is okay to find someone else even Palamon and dies. Everyone in Athens is distraught over his death. King Theseus plans a mighty funeral fit for a knight. After a few years, Palamon and Emelye cannot move on from Arcite's death and continue to wear black. King Theseus tells them both that everyone dies eventually its part of the gods plan. He then orders Palamon and Emelye to marry and they live a long and happy life together.

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Throughout the tale, Chaucer uses Motif to unveil the medieval significance of Fate and Fortune concepts that are present in "The Knight's Tale", and how they conceptualize the theme of instability in life.

This section begins to embellish the Motif element as the older women begins to make references to fate and fortune   as a way of gaining the Duke's attention. This scene also manifests an essence of foreshadowing because the abrupt and sudden change of adjectives directly alludes to the unstable plot dynamic that we continue to be presented with later on as the tale progresses.

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The Significance of the three prayers
An interesting concept is driven out towards the end of the tale. Palamon and Arcite are both preparing to battle each other for Emelye's hand the next day, as per Theseus's regulations. 100 knights and all. All three characters involved in this complex love triangle all end up praying to a God in the hopes of their wishes coming true.

Palamon prays to Venus, Goddess of love, and asks that she will make Emily his wife.

Emelye prays to Diana, Goddess of chastity, initially she asks to remain unmarried with the hopes that they can be made to fall out of love with her. Finally, she asks Diana in her prayer, if it must be her destiny to marry, at least allow her to be married to someone who truly loves her.

Arcite prays to Mars, God of war. He asks the God for Victory in battle, to which he is responded by the statue with the word "Victory."

The prayers cause an uproar in the heaves, Mars and Venus are fighting. Until the wise and old Saturn comes up with a solution. He promises to Mars and Venus that Arcite will win the battle, and Palamon will end up married to Emelye.

These prayers in time all become granted, but not without their fair share of tragedy. Arcite is killed leaving Athens destroyed over his loss. This intense tragedy serves as a warning to the readers of the dangers of desire.
In other words this is an intricate detailed story highlight the famous concept of "be careful what you wish for".

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" Her passive beauty motivates Palamon and Arcite, but as I intend to show, her prayer to Diana is a crucial act of will in a narrative where love and will undergo sustained analysis. Her timid, private prayer, an apparently minor investment of self, appears nevertheless to decide the public conflict that creates the outcome of the tale. Emelye is initially presented as a mirror of Venus, an irresistible, faceless face of love." (Woods 277)

In "The Knight's Tale" Emelye, the sister in law of Theseus, is seen as an object of desire as well as a chivalric focus. Similarly to a flower in a garden, Palamon and Arcite observe her from behind prison bars. Two caged men desperate for something to attach their wants and needs to, decide that they are deeply in love with a women who they have never even spoken to. Before they even hear her voice, they have imprinted themselves onto her and decided to appoint her as the object of their affections. From there on, Emelye served as a sort of idol, to tide them by as they rot in their prison cells. Something they could attach themselves to and feel nourished by. Meanwhile she is not even aware that she is being watched. When they are finally let out and Theseus allows them to fight for her hand in marriage, this is something that is decided virtually without her consent. Emelye even goes to Goddess Diana to pray against the marriage. This is a fight that does not excite her or interest her. In fact it terrifies her and leads her to seek consultation with a higher power. Arcite and Palamon feel as if they are proving their love to her but in reality, they are just trying to prove how honorable and brave they are.

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