Courtly Love In The Knight's Tale

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The knight's tale has three major characters. The two major characters in the tale are the knights Palamon and Arcite who are prisoners at first but are released and later become knights. They are very noble cousins whose personalities are almost identical. They took the oath of brotherhood to protect each other which is a really knightly thing to do, just like joust-fighting, dueling, and falling hopelessly in love with a beautiful damsel. Chaucer uses these qualities to develop real and lifelike characters. Theseus is a duke,king of the Athens, and the one who put Palamon and Arcite in the prison tower next to to the garden who is described as full of wisdom and chivalry. Theseus in this tale serves as a ruler who has absolute authority in terms of representing law and order in the tale. Theseus is a real king but didn't get enough characterization to get a lifelike …show more content…
Courtly love was a medieval European literary concept of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. This means for example a knight or noble going out on an adventure and performing various services for the ladies they love because of their courtly love. This type of courtly love exists on a spiritual, idealized plane, and does not need to be physically consummated. The knight's tale centers around courtly love as the two knights that were cousins battle for the hand of the maiden. The message that Chaucer wants to show is when chivalry and courtly come into conflict with one another after taking the knights oath to be loyal to one another but end up splitting after they both fall in love with the same women. Chaucer also gives the message of you get what you ask for in terms of Palamon claiming that he swa Emily first so therefore deserves her stating, ," I loved her first, and told you of my woe as to my counsel, to the one who swore too further me, as I have said before. And so, my cousin, you're bound as a knight to help

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The Un-Knight’s Code and The Un-Courtly Love The three Canterbury Tales have different ways of showing chivalry, courtly love, and the portrayal of women in the stories, mostly in a negative way. Chaucer shows in The Wife of Bath’s and the Miller’s tale that men don’t follow the Knight’s Code and the men and women don’t follow Courtly Love. He’s breaking those stereotypes of the knights and how they act and how women and others break the rules of Courtly Love. The Knight's Tale on the other hand…

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In “The Knight’s Tale”, there are two knights, Palomon and Arcite, who have never spoken to Emelye. They both have such a strong feeling of love for her that they are willing to take their own lives and fight until death for her. Theseus states that they will break the bond of brotherhood over a woman, “The God of love, a benedicite! How myghty and how greet a lord is he! Ayeyns his myght ther gayneth none obstacles, He may be cleped a god for his myracles, for he kan maken at his owene gyse…

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