Page 85 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes cutout, rather than a fully rounded character (compare her, for example, with the garrulous, fully-
individualised Wife of Bath). The Knight describes her as a typical fairy-tale maiden-though there
is an interesting inversion of the usual formula in that her suitors, not her, are the ones imprisoned
in a tower. She even first appears in a garden, a pastoral symbol that balances both purity and
fertility.
Emelye proves a problematic character in the scheme of the story. Arcite and Palamon are prepared
to fight to the death for her love, despite the fact that neither have had any significant contact with
her, nor have any idea whether she would love either man. Yet Theseus accepts this code of conduct
and offers the queen’s sister as a prize for the two men, whom he previously had imprisoned and
had threatened with death only moments before.
The Knight’s Tale adheres to traditional values of chivalric, knightly honor in which there are strict
codes of behavior which one must follow. This code of chivalry is not necessarily polite and decent,
and Chaucer is always keen to draw attention to how unheroic such behavior seems. Within the
morality of the tale, for example, Theseus’ sudden decision to ransack Thebes to right a wrong is
perfectly acceptable as punishment for a transgression against the honor of the dead soldiers; modern
and medieval readers alike might feel somewhat differently. Finding them fighting, Theseus
condemns condemns Arcite’s and Palamon’s actions not because they were fighting, but because
they did not do so under the proper rules of a duel.

What characteristics of Chivalary are evident in the story?

One interpretation of the tale might therefore see Chaucer as almost parodying–showing the
ridiculousness of–such masculine, chivalric codes. Or is Chaucer rather parodying the genre–
romance–in which such actions are endorsed? Immediately, in this first tale, the looming question
of tone hangs over the tale. Where does the Knight’s voice stop and Chaucer’s begin? If there is
parody involved in this tale, is it supposed to sit in Chaucer’s mouth, or in the Knight’s? The dramatic
nature of the tales themselves makes it extremely difficult to pin them down to a single, univocal
interpretation.
Emelye is also the first of a series of interesting portrayals of females in the Tales. Emelye is, almost,
a stereotype of a female character: though, significantly, her will is laid out as entirely separate to
her actions. She does not wish to marry either of the knights, preferring a life of chastity to marriage.

Emelye acknowledges her role as a pawn in the situation, and accepts the destiny
proscribed to her by the goddess Diana and the mortal king Theseus.
The Knight, like the genre of the romance itself, has a tendency toward lush description, elaborate
phrasing, and within his tale, things keep becoming displays of wealth and power. Each of the final
events in the story is punctuated by great pageantry. Take, for example, the transformation of the
simple duel between Arcite and Palamon into a gala event requiring the construction of a massive
coliseum for two armies to wage war on one another, even bringing in the kings of two foreign
nations. Other books tell the Knight’s story “more playn” (1464), according to the tale, and we can
quite believe it. Yet it is precisely the dressed-up chivalry of the Knight’s tale that makes it very
difficult to discern precisely what answer it is proposing to its key question: “What is this world?
What asketh men to have?”.

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