As I was reading this, one thing that really stood out to me
was the Gods’ interventions. There was only the one small part where one of
them physically intervened (when they killed Arcite), but when I looked at it a
second time, I saw that their responses actually foreshadowed the result of the
battle.
When
Palamon visited the temple of Venus, he never got a definite answer that he was
going to win the fight, but we later read that her father was going to do something
to make sure that her champion wins Emelye. And what do you know, they were
right! Palamon was never told that he would win so he lost the battle, but then
Arcite was killed so he was the only one left to marry Emelye.
Then
there was Arcite. He went to Mars and prayed for victory in battle, but doesn’t
even mention Emelye. So what does he get? He wins but doesn’t get the girl,
exactly what was promised to him. Although, I have to admit that his whole
section really annoyed me. The only reason he entered this fight is because he
thought that he love/deserved Emelye more than Palamon. But when it came time
to actually fight for her, he completely forgets about her! Is that what he
calls love? Because it just seems like a bad case of possessiveness to me. He
saw something pretty so he wanted it.
And
then there was Emelye. Oh man did this piss me off! She went to the temple of
Diana to beg to keep her chastity and not have to marry one of them, but she
was basically patted on the head and told “that’s nice”. I know they didn’t
really care about what women thought about marriage at that time, but she
literally begged! And no one cared! She was stuck doing what everyone else told
her to do.
So yeah, needless to say: I didn’t like this part. All of
their actions annoyed me (except for Palamon because he did actually do this
for love), and the gods just messed with things for kicks and giggles.
Overall, I was generally irritated with the same things you were. Both Palamon and Arcite get into a pissing contest over Emelye, who eventually gets the short end of the stick! I didn't really expect anything else, but still, it's annoying. I thought the gods intervening was actually more hilarious than anything, because Jupiter actually decides not to be a dick (haha!) for once and do what his kids ask of him. I thought was an interesting take on Fortune-as-goddess, especially with Theseus' speech about God-god being the "First Mover" and all.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but none of it bothered me. In my head, the thought, "be careful what you wish for" kept swimming around. If you think of the gods as a single genie that it works as well. Each of them wished for something different and had their wish twisted in an, overall, undesirable way. One wished for victory... they achieved it, but lost their life in the process. One wished for chastity or to end up with the one that loved them most... they made the mistake of adding an 'or' and the 'or' was their undoing. The last one wished to get his lover... this he obtained, but at the heartache of losing his best friend and the passage of some time for both he and his pursued lover to get over their grieving. When you wish upon a genie, your wishes will be most likely twisted.
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