The Knight's Tale

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The first page of Knight's Tale in the Ellesmere manuscript

The Knight's Tale is the first narrative in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales . The story, written in verse, is about knighthood, love and ethical conflicts.

synopsis

After his battle against Creon , king of Thebes, the two cousins ​​Arcite and Palamon are captured and imprisoned by Theseus , ruler of Athens. From their cell in the tower of Theseus Castle, the two can overlook the palace garden. There one morning Palamon discovers the beautiful Emily (Emelye). He falls in love immediately, complains about his situation, and Arcite wakes up, who also sees Emily and also falls in love.

Out of jealousy they both start to hate each other. After a few years, Arcite is released from prison after the Pirithoo's intercession. He returns to Athens in disguise and becomes a servant in Emily's house. Palamon escapes from prison after poisoning the guard. From a hiding place he listens to Arcite singing about love. The two begin a duel, which is interrupted by the arrival of Theseus. This condemns them to find one hundred followers each to compete in a competition. The winner will receive Emily's hand. When the tournament starts, Palamon prays to Venus to have Emily as a wife, Emily prays to Diana that she will stay unmarried or at least that she will win as a man who really loves her and Arcite prays to Mars for the tournament victory.

Theseus dictates that anyone seriously injured must be eliminated so that no one is killed. Although both Palamon and Arcite fight valiantly, Palamon is wounded and torn from his horse. Theseus declares the fight over and Arcite wins. But Saturn intervenes and overturns Arcite from his horse. Dying, he asks Emily to take Palamon as husband. So it happens and all prayers are answered.

Sources and narrative structure

The epic Teseida (Italian: Teseida delle Nozze d'Emilia ) by Giovanni Boccaccio is the main source of the story, but it is heavily edited by Chaucer. Although The Knight's Tale is one of the larger narratives in The Canterbury Tales with about 2250 lines , it is significantly shortened compared to Boccaccio's almost 10,000 line long story. Most of Teseida's narrative elements are omitted, Chaucer concentrates the narrative on the courtly elements. The epic calls have been removed, the mythological allusions shortened, the deeds of Theseus omitted and the list of heroes fighting for Palamon and Arcite greatly simplified.

Even if the story belongs to the genre of courtly novels, it is very different from the English and French storytelling traditions of their time. For example, philosophical reflections are woven into the tradition of The Consolation of Boethius's Philosophy . On The Knight's Tale , the story follows the drunken Müller Robyn . This tells the story of the old carpenter John, who is married to a young woman, Alisoun.

Adaptations

Richard Edwardes ' play Palamon and Arcite from 1566 is based on Chaucer's story, but the text is lost. From Philip Henslowe's diary we know that a version of the play was performed in 1594. Shakespeare's and Fletcher's play The Two Noble Cousins from 1613 is also based on Chaucer's story. Under the title Palamon and Arcite , John Dryden translated the story into more modern English in the style of his time.

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literature

  • John Finlayson: The "Knight's Tale": The Dialogue of Romance, Epic, and Philosophy . In: The Chaucer Review . tape 27 , no. 1 , 1992, p. 126149 , JSTOR : 25095793 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ JA Burrow: The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer . Ed .: Piero Boitani. second edition. Cambridge UP, Cambridge 2004, The Canterbury Tales I: romance.
  2. ↑ a b Finlayson 1992, p. 128.
  3. ↑ Finlayson 1992, pp. 127-128.
  4. ↑ LD Benson: The Knight's Tale (general note). Harvard University , accessed October 22, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Finlayson, p. 129.
  6. ^ Leicester Bradner Albert S. Cook: The Life and Poems of Richard Edwards. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT., 1927, p. 76.