Life is like a box of fancy chocolates.. there are always some crappy flavors... but enjoy the good ones.

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

That Thoroughly Raging Moment When the Author Totally YEETS Your Joy Near the End Of the Tale, and Your Smile Completely Vanishes Forever

That Thoroughly Raging Moment When the Author Totally YEETS Your Joy Near the End Of the Tale, and Your Smile Completely Vanishes Forever

                Yes, I know that Chaucer was not exactly trying to appeal to our ideals of a happy ending for the guy we were rooting for, when Pluto decides to throw Arcite into the black hole of horror with an earthquake, to SHOCKINGLY, please the will of a woman (goddess in this case).

Giving me personally, a reaction much like this one…

                Also, I just want to point out how funny it is to me that these two cousins were thrown into prison together, they had to look like this when they were being locked up…

                Forgive me with my Fresh Prince use, but how can I not?? Cousins?!?! Genius if you ask me. Plus this is when Arcite (Will) first laid eyes on lady Emelye... Look at that concentration.  

                The most interesting part of this tale to me, was that Emelye did not want to marry because she wanted to remain a virgin, or at least that is how I took it with her quote “a mayden al my lyf”, in the temple of Diana. It was interesting to me that in a time where women had so much authority of their King’s decisions (life or death), that Emelye still has to be wedded against her will, to one of either of these men, to whom neither has she spoken at all. Inconsistency runs throughout these tales and courtly love and all of that. Because is it not ALL of women’s desires to have control over their own lives, as stated in The Wife of Bath’s Tale?? ALL WOMEN?!?!?! Just sayin’.

                It was actually a really depressing end for me, as I stated in my delightful title, but the King’s speech about death was actually quite appropriate to the text, given the situation the King finally took a role of comfort, not only for Emelye, but for all of his kingdom as well that was shaken by the death of Arcite. I enjoyed reading this tale, again, not in this middle English crap. But I guess I will have to get over it. But I am curious, when did the Greek God's decide to play such a role in this tale and none of the other? Very curious.

Thank you.  

 

Balance of Power

As per usual, women of medieval romance appear subservient to men in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale,” the first story of The Canterbury Tales. After all, it appears that Emelye, the beautiful maiden, is basically objectified the entire way through the story, making her seem powerless and meaningless. There are, however, times when women are more powerful than they first appear because at times they have independent agency.

First, women exercise control over the health of men. When Arcita, one of the two imprisoned Theban knights, is exiled and can no longer seem Emelye, he starts to pine away. Eventually, things get so bad that he becomes emaciated to the point of being forever unrecognizable to those who previously knew him. At first, this situation seems like that of a child who goes on a hunger strike until he gets the toy he wants, which would further reduce Emelye’s status as a person; however, Arcita’s emotions are more robust than that. Chaucer’s knight explains that Arcita suffers from the “loveres maladye” (l. 1373), which supports the idea that Arcita truly does feel drawn to Emelye in an intimate, interpersonal way. Not only does Emelye influence the health of the more powerful men, but it appears she is also (at least to some degree) a person.

The influence of various women over the lives of men also shows that they hold some kind of power. When Theseus prepares to kill Palomon and Arcita, the queen and the women of the court begin to weep and beg Theseus to spare them. While this act requires the agency of a man, Chaucer displays that they help Theseus to act with a more profound agency: “And though he first for ire quook and sterte, . . . / And although that his ire hir gilt accused, / Yet in his resoun he hem bothe excused” (ll. 1762, 1765-6). They awaken reason in Theseus, which enables him to judge more wisely. Women, typically seen as unreasonable and overemotional, are actually the most reasonable people in this scene.

            Let’s not forget the fact that they save the knights’ lives.

 

Not such a strong knight anymore, eh?

            Finally, the women are able to express their desires, which raises them to personhood. Before the beginning of the grand tournament to decide who she shall wed, Emelye prays at the temple of Diana that she shall not have to marry either knight. Although her request is refused, the fact that she is able to make it is extraordinary because it shows that she is not a thing but rather a person with her own agenda.

            So, is this a feminist text? I’d say no. Really, it’s not even a proto-feminist text; however, I do think that Chaucer does an excellent job of balancing the power of men and women. Though they are unequal due to a difference in types of power (one group has physical and political dominance, and the other group has spiritual and emotional dominance), they are both equal in the fact that they have power. That seems too important to overlook.