I don't know about that pigs n taters... but at least these chocolates are labeled.
The “Shoving Almost Every Courtly Love Rule Award” goes to ...
Geoff with a G Chaucer… for “The Knight’s Tale!”
I am not kidding. Out of every story that we have read so
far, this story is the ultimate portrayal of Courtly Love. The only rule
missing is the whole “adultery in a marriage is cool” rule. All the jealousy,
obsession, and suffering rules are present in the story.
Anyways, I feel like this tale is really about fortune and
destiny. Arcite, Palomon, and Emelye’s futures seem to be predetermined by the
games of the gods and goddesses. This story really reminds me of “The Iliad”.
The Gods determined the destinies of the characters, but this does not
necessarily mean that the mortals are powerless. They make the decisions of how
to act if they are dealt with bad fortune or good fortune. (Which honestly,
even if a character receives good fortune, do they really get to enjoy their
good fortune for long? Cough… Arcite.) I mean, I feel like this guy’s destiny
was determined by the gods from the beginning. Mercury tells him to go back to
Athens… and he makes the decision to go back. This results in his death, but he
probably would have died anyways from love deprivation. He makes the best of
his “freak accident” death by dying in honor. Emelye’s destiny is to marry one
of the knights. Even though she tries to get out of the marriage, Diana says
no. Emelye decides to accept it, and she eventually does end up in a happy marriage
with Palomon.
I frequently hear that this tale focuses on gender roles and
feminism, but I disagree with this. Every man and woman is ultimately powerless
to the gods. The gods decide the course and fate of everyone. The woman are
portrayed as emotional and have the power to persuade; however, I do not think
Chaucer added this in as a way to show feminism or gender roles. I mean Emelye
can’t even get out of the marriage. It’s more to show that the true power lies
in the hands of the gods. Before the battle, Chaucer goes into long descriptions
about the extravagance of each temple and worships to the gods. In some ways, I
feel like Chaucer is either mocking religion or showing the importance of
devotion in religion. Overall, I think Chaucer is basically saying that…
Life is full of suffering… tough luck... but, you can make
the best of it.
<---- Suffering
THANK YOU for mentioning that this story isn't about gender roles. You did a really good job of putting this story into a universal context here. And i reference, "Life is full of suffering...tough luck...but, you can make the best of it." Anyways, I completely agree with you on the gender thing. Ultimately, this story is about the Gods (dealing out good and bad fortune) than anything else. I think that this is perhaps the most gender-neutral story we've read so far, comparatively. (I mean, gender roles in Medieval Romance is somewhat inevitable). But I can appreciate this, because the Gods are really the ones in control of the situation. Should two men be fighting over a woman they've never met? Probably not. But these are knights! And they are valiant! (See, this is where the inevitability comes from). But in the end, it's not their choice, sure. But it's what they make of it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my group members hasn't posted, so I'm commenting on your post. I really like your comparison to the Iliad! I'm sure that Chaucer would be aware that his audience would most likely know the story; also, considering that having knowledge of Latin and Roman culture was prized, and that the people who had that knowledge were considered educated and "civilized", the overall context of the tale gains another dimension when you factor that in.
ReplyDeleteTo start off, I absolutely love your title and the picture of the chocolates. It makes so much sense and is entirely true! I definitely agree with you about this tale not being about gender roles. I honestly didn't realize or think that the character's are being separated by power? To me, all I saw and understood was that the Gods and Goddess was the one controlling their future. They were there as "guidance" for the characters, little did they know, the Gods and Goddess did exactly what they asked for. You made some very good and eye opening points about the main idea of this story!
ReplyDeleteI really like what you said about this tale not being about gender roles. That's a great point! I personally think that if this tale were about that, Chaucer would have made Emelye a stronger character in that she would have been smart enough to choose one thing to ask from the Gods, rather than a "this or that" kind of thing. And like you said, at the end of the day, no matter how hard the mortals tried to take control of their own lives, it was all up to the Gods in the end.
ReplyDelete