The knight's Tale...or is it the Gods' Tale?

Before I started reading The Knight's Tale, I wondered (and maybe and hoped a little) that the story would be like the movie A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger. I'm going to be honest, I was kind of disappointed when it turned out to be completely different. I mean, come on, who wouldn't love a story about a guy "changing his stars" (as the movie puts it), and getting the girl of his dreams despite lying about who he is at first?!

Well, although the story we read for class is completely different, I suppose it was still a good story.

I was a little taken aback by the setting of this story in particular because I do not generally associate Ancient Greece with the medieval romance stories about kings, queens, and knights. I guess it still works though because they still had the aspects of courtly love and medieval romance in general in the story. They had the knights fighting for what they love...aka a beautiful woman that they do not even know, a king to guide them, and rules, of course.

I just want to take this opportunity to talk about how accommodating the gods/goddesses are...well kind of. They come to a compromise of sorts. Mars and Venus get what they want for Arcite and Palamon, while Diana has to tell Emelye that she has to marry one of the them (which she kind of said was okay if she could not get what she really wanted− to remain unmarried). So, thanks to Saturn, everyone sort of gets what they asked for.

Overall, I think this story was interesting, but I feel bad for Emelye. Yeah I know she got her second choice, but she's really the only one losing in this situation.

Divine Intervention? More like Godly Playtime

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.

Knightly Taste Aversion … Is There an End in Sight?

The first time I was introduced to Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale (as I suspect is true for most) was in a high school English class. Even though I have fond, fond memories of the two days I spent watching Heath Ledger parade around a fictional medieval world with perfectly tousled hair and sexy, shiny armor… I can’t remember one interesting piece of information from our class’ actual discussion of the tale itself. The only thing I do remember (save for Heath’s lovely smile) is the lasting sour taste the story of Arcite and Palamon left behind in my mind.

The ‘taste aversion’ to The Knight’s Tale that I began to develop in high school (much to my dismay) only grew stronger over the following years as I subsequently encountered the text again and again. Try as I might to connect with the story, there was always some aspect of it that simply put me off. The most glaring example is of course the character of Emelye, who has basically no say (except for her ability to pray) or choice in the matters that directly affect her life. Although I understand that this is due to the social structure of the medieval world... it is still enraging as a modern female reader to encounter a story where the women are depicted as such. In all reality, this is probably the number one reason why I have such an aversion to the character of the Knight and to his tale (although there are many other reasons as well). Even though I do value the tale a great deal on the whole, the fact remains that I simply do not enjoy reading it. Or at least that was what I thought.

After being faced with the reality of having to read The Knight’s Tale yet again, I decided that, even though I had officially filed the story away into my ‘unpleasant reads’ folder (or to borrow a term from Sherlock and the ancient Greeks, my mind palace), I would try as much as possible to resurrect it and remain open to new insights. Although the tale isn’t my favorite choice, I was determined to find something about it that I had previously overlooked to like. Thankfully, I succeeded.

Although it may seem a bit dark, re-reading the tale and paying closer attention to the prayer’s of Emelye, Palamon and Arcite helped me to better understand (and take a bit of pleasure in) the latter’s death. In previous readings of the tale Arcite’s death puzzled me and I have never quite been able to resolve my feelings about it. Now however, I’m certain that I am able to derive a great deal of satisfaction from it. By praying to Mars and desiring victory in battle above all else (in an attempt to obtain Emelye, who he sees as having to be won by force) instead of putting his love for her first and praying to Venus like Palamon, Arcite looses both his life and his ‘love.’ Palamon on the other hand, eventually wins Emelye’s hand in marriage and even though my somewhat feminist heart is screaming that he is still undeserving of her, I feel much more contented after finishing this latest reading. At least Palamon put love before war. In my book this makes him the lesser of two evils.

Overall even though this tale my not be my personal cup of tea, I am certainly glad that there is a possible end in sight for my ‘taste aversion’ to it. In previous readings I considered Arcite and Palamon to be almost one in the same (perhaps the reason I was so puzzled by why Arcite had to die and not Palamon) but now that I have paid more attention to the subtle differences in their actions it is looking less and less like this is the case. Finding something new to enjoy during this reading of Chaucer’s tale has certainly given me hope for the future (although I don't think I'll be pulling this out of the 'unpleasant reads' folder anytime soon).