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Unit 9: The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (Non-detailed Study): Discussion and Analysis-I

of chastity. She prayed that she could remain a maiden all her life and not be a man’s lover nor wife. Notes
She prayed, moreover, for peace and friendship between Arcite and Palamon. But if it was to be her
destiny to marry one against her will, she asked to have the one who wants her most. The statue of
Diana shed tears of blood, another omen. Then Diana herself appeared to Emelye and told her that
she will marry one of the two. Arcite prayed to Mars. He prayed for victory in battle, and the statue
of Mars whispered the word “victory” to him, the third omen. Mars and Venus thus waged war
upon one another, but aged Saturn found a means to satisfy both of them. He told Venus that
Palamon would have his lady, but Mars would help his servant.
Theseus set the rules of the battle between the two opposing factions. He ordered that, during the
war between the two sides, nobody would suffer a mortal blow. If an opponent was overcome, he
was to leave the battle. The people raised their voices in exultation. The two armies were equal in
prowess, age and nobility, and Arcite pursued Palamon viciously, and Palamon returned with equal
severity. But Emetreus seized Palamon and pierced him with his sword. In the attempt to rescue
Palamon, King Lycurgus was struck down, and then Emetreus himself was wounded. Theseus
declared that Arcite had won. Venus was disappointed at the outcome, but Saturn told her that
Mars was now appeased and she would receive a similar appeasement. Suddenly, as Arcite was
proclaimed victorious, there was an earthquake sent by Pluto that frightened Arcite’s horse, which
swerved and fell, throwing off Arcite and mortally wounding him. Before he died, Arcite tells Emelye
that she could have no more worthy husband than Palamon. His last word before he died was her
name. Theseus, in a very long speech referred to as the “First Mover” speech, then ordered Emelye
to marry Palamon after a funeral ceremony honoring Arcite: and the Knight’s story finishes on a
happy note.

Analysis
It is very likely that the Knight’s Tale was written before the Canterbury Tales as a whole project was
planned, and so it has the unusual status of being both a part of the tales as a whole, but also a
separate work of literature in its own right (though the text has been adapted into the Tales–lines 875-
92). It is a very free adaptation of a story by an Italian writer, Boccaccio, whom it seems clear Chaucer
very much admired. Chaucer–as he regularly does – hugely compresses the story into the Tale, and
adds material heavily influenced by his philosophical hero Boethius.
The Tale is undoubtedly a romance as Chaucer presents it, supposedly a true history of many
hundreds of years ago told by an authoritative, high-status figure (in this case the Knight). Yet
Chaucer never merely adopts a literary tradition without commenting on it, and the oddities of the
Tale often lie in the way it over-stresses the traditional things expected of a romance of its genre.
For example, the question of status (raised at the end of the General Prologue when the Host–
perhaps duplicitously–has the Knight picked as the first teller) and rank is immediately raised by
the progression of the tale. The Knight begins not with the main characters of the tale, Arcite and
Palamon, but instead, he begins at the apex of society, describing the exploits of Theseus of Athens,
working downward until he reaches the less distinguished Theban soldiers.
Moreover, the tale is deeply improbable in all sorts of ways, and the situation and the moral questions
it poses seem more important than the qualities of the individual characters. Characters, in fact,
exist only to be moved by the events of the story: to be imprisoned and set free whenever the plot
demands, or to fall in love at first sight when it is dramatically convenient. Even the characters
acknowledge their lack of free will within the story. The two knights pray to Venus for a literal deus
ex machine, for they are unable to control their own fate. The Knight’s Tale very openly acknowledges
the role of fate through the gods: Palamon leaves his fate to theology, blaming his fate on Venus,
Juno and Saturn.
Arcite and Palamon as characters, then, without any real autonomy and speaking only formal,
elegant laments, are virtually indistinguishable from each another. There is no information on which
a reader may base an opinion on their respective virtues. Emelye is equally something of a cardboard-

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