The Knight's Tale Power Of Love
The Knight’s Tale
The Knight’s Tale is a poem from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Knight’s Tale is a poem about the power of love, how it changes people and leads them to their destruction. The poem starts by introducing the well-known Theseus, the king of Athens, who is a great conqueror that fights in foreign locations, conquers ungoverned countries and slays ferocious beasts. To fight and defeat the Amazons, a savage race of women who lived in Scythia, Theseus travels to their land. After he defeats the Amazons, Theseus marries their queen, Hypolita, and brings both the queen and her sister back to Athens. While the Duke travels to his castle, his joyous music is interrupted by a group of weeping women dressed in black. Questioning …show more content…
Upon verifying that these men are Creon’s warriors, Theseus has them imprisoned in Athens. Early one morning, while looking out the prison window, Palamon spots the beautiful Princess Emily and immediately falls in love with her. Upon hearing his cousin cry out, Arcite awakes, looks out the window and he too falls in love with the princess. Angry with each other, both say that the other is a “traitor” and a “false friend” for they promised never to thwart each other but only to help each other throughout their lives. Palamon believes that Arcite is betraying him when Arcite says that he loves Emily; because Palamon believes that his cousin is supposed to help him obtain Emily’s love, not try to take Emily’s love himself. Each day the jealousy between the cousins was building up. One day, Perithous, a friend of the Duke, who knew Arcite, comes to visit and upon hearing about his friend’s incarceration asks Theseus to release Arcite. Because of his strong friendship with Perithous, Theseus agrees to free Arcite, but he bans Arcite from Athens and warns him that if he is seen in Athens he will be beheaded. Realizing that he will not see his beloved Emily again, Arcite is upset and he doesn’t want to leave the
The Knight’s Tale is a poem from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Knight’s Tale is a poem about the power of love, how it changes people and leads them to their destruction. The poem starts by introducing the well-known Theseus, the king of Athens, who is a great conqueror that fights in foreign locations, conquers ungoverned countries and slays ferocious beasts. To fight and defeat the Amazons, a savage race of women who lived in Scythia, Theseus travels to their land. After he defeats the Amazons, Theseus marries their queen, Hypolita, and brings both the queen and her sister back to Athens. While the Duke travels to his castle, his joyous music is interrupted by a group of weeping women dressed in black. Questioning …show more content…
Upon verifying that these men are Creon’s warriors, Theseus has them imprisoned in Athens. Early one morning, while looking out the prison window, Palamon spots the beautiful Princess Emily and immediately falls in love with her. Upon hearing his cousin cry out, Arcite awakes, looks out the window and he too falls in love with the princess. Angry with each other, both say that the other is a “traitor” and a “false friend” for they promised never to thwart each other but only to help each other throughout their lives. Palamon believes that Arcite is betraying him when Arcite says that he loves Emily; because Palamon believes that his cousin is supposed to help him obtain Emily’s love, not try to take Emily’s love himself. Each day the jealousy between the cousins was building up. One day, Perithous, a friend of the Duke, who knew Arcite, comes to visit and upon hearing about his friend’s incarceration asks Theseus to release Arcite. Because of his strong friendship with Perithous, Theseus agrees to free Arcite, but he bans Arcite from Athens and warns him that if he is seen in Athens he will be beheaded. Realizing that he will not see his beloved Emily again, Arcite is upset and he doesn’t want to leave the