Short Story Review Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales The Knights Tale

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The first of the Canterbury Tales, and the biggest in scale. Set in Classical Greece, the story begins when Duke Theseus, (he who killed the Minataur), meets the widows of several kings murdered by the tyrannical King Creon. Theseus goes to war against Creon, and beats him. Two of Creon’s knights, Arcita and Palamon, are captured looting the dead, and Theseus has them imprisoned for life for their crimes. From their shared cell, the knights see a beautiful girl passing by every day. Both men fall in love with her and lament how they will never get to meet her or make love to her as they are doomed to rot in their prison. The woman is Emily, unmarried sister in law to the king. After many years, Arcitus is released when by chance he is visited by a friend who is also a friend of the King, and who manages to secure him a conditional pardon. Arcitus must never be seen in the kingdom again on pain of death. Arcita soon dons a disguise and gets work in the court of the King in the hope of meeting Emily. Paloman, enraged at being left alone, escapes, and he too tries to make contact with Emily. As it happens, the men meet each other in her presence, and immediately begin to duel to the death. The King breaks up the fight, and moved by their obsession with Emily, he pardons their crimes, and also insists that they make their duel a bigger, grander affair. He gives the men a year to raise a company of one hundred knights each, to fight a tournament at Theseus’s arena. The winner of the battle will get to marry Emily. The men set off to raise their armies, having one year to achieve it. Paloman offers prayer to the goddess of love, Venus, and shows willingness to sacrifice himself to the Goddess for Emily’s heart. Arcita makes a similar bargain with Mars, god of war, but he requests victory on the field, rather than wishing for a chance to love Emily. Emily herself makes a bargain with the Goddess Diane, the huntress. She would rather remain virginal and chaste, but if it comes to the crunch, she is willing to offer herself to the man who most loves her. The Gods chosen by each make the mistake of agreeing to the needs of each, which creates much friction when the Gods share their news with one another. War almost breaks out on Olympus over it, but wise old Saturn believes that he has a solution that will make sure all three people get what they prayed for. The tournament battle commences, and Theseus insists that any man wounded has to retire from the field immediately, and not be killed off. The two armies clash spectacularly, and many men are wounded, but only one-man dies, Arcita. Though his army actually wins the battle, he is lost. Emily gets to marry Paloman, the man who pledged love for the to Venus, and so all three have gained what they wanted most, at least as declared to the Gods. The lovers feel that their relationship is tainted with sorrow because of the death of Paloman. It’s an action packed tragic epic start to one of the greatest works of literature in the World. The film The Knight’s Tale, in which Chaucer appears as a minor character, bears no resemblance to the story written by Chaucer. Arthur Chappell