The Knight's Tale [Pt. 1-2]

When my eyes caught the name "Theseus", I was able to connect him with "Minotaurus", a monster that was killed by him. Although the plot of The Knight's Tale seems to be an event that was held after killing Minotaurus, I was surprised  with the fact that there was another tale about him in depth, just like this one. Also, it took me quite a while to read, because I read both the old English version and the current English version simultaneously to get a sense of what it's like to be reading in old English. Anyhow, here is the brief summary of The Kinght's Tale Part 1 & 2.

*****

Theseus, a hero in Athens was on his way home after conquering the Amazons. He had gained victories, honor, and goods and was happily returning to his homeland when he found 4 women crying on the way. The women explained that they had lost their husbands to a king called Creon of Thebes, and he dishonored the bodies by throwing them to wild hounds. Theseus was enraged, and turned his way toward Thebes to destroy it. He took the city easily, massacred everybody, except two severely wounded knights, Arcite and Palamon. Theseus healed the knights, but in the end threw them into jail.

After many years have passed, Palamon spotted a beautiful woman, Emelye, while peaking out the tower window. He fell in love with the woman instantly, and woke his cousin Arcite to have a look. Arcite, after seeing the woman, also fell in love with the woman. They tried to make a plan for an escape, yet there didn't seem to be a good solution. One day, a friend of Arcite visited Athens--and it turned out that the vistor was also a friend of Theseus. Due to this relationship, Arcite was released but was exiled.

Some time later, Mercury appeared in Arcite's dream and ordered him to go back to Athens. Arcite disguised himself and work as a page for Athens in order to have Emelye in his sight. By a mere coincidence, Arcite confronted Palamon in the woods, who had escaped from the tower the very exact day Arcite had been realeased. They started to fight over Emelye, but unfortunately were spotted by Theseus. Instead of killing both of them on the spot, Theseus decided to give them a chance to have a dual, so the winner can marry Emelye.

*****

Although the tale on the surface seemed serious, I found it a little funny for the following reasons: 1. Spotting a woman by peaking out of the tower and falling in love instantly with the woman  is unlikely to happen. 2. Theseus is enraged by a story told by 4 widows, which could have been false. 3. The story of how Palamon escaped from a well-secured tower is not mentioned. Despite these unrealistic factors, I tried my best to ignore them because it is a "tale."

I have been in love before, therefore I can at least feel some sympathy for Arcite and Palamon. Notwithstanding, their actions are uncomprehensible in my perspective, because not only I have never been in love to an insane extent, but putting their lives at stake for a total stranger felt almost stupid to me.

Here are some of the quotations that prove their passionate love toward Emelye:

"Increase doubly the strong pains Both of the lover and the prisoner. (1339)" I was able to feel to the core their passionate love toward the woman.

"Thou mayest have her as lady and as wife" -- this line creeped me out because Arcite and Palamon was planning to marry Emelye, whom they do not know as a person. 

 

Timeline : [The Knight's Tale]

Theseus

In chronological order:


A. Theseus comes back from the Amazon with Hypolita heading towards Athems.

B. While heading towards Athens, he meets 4 old women crying.

C. Theseus finds out that the the widows' husbands were killed by Creon, a King of Thebes.


D. Theseus turns his way back to Thebes, kills Creon, and conqueres the city.


E. Although he kills everyone, he finds two wounded nobles called Arcite and Palamon.


F. They are sent to prison, where they fall in love with Emeley by peeking out the tower they are imprisoned.


G. Acite is released but exiled because he had a friend who was also friend with Theseus, yet returns to Athens eventually.


H. Palamon escapes and finds Arcite.

I. They both claim the right to have Emeleye, and decide to have a dual.


J. Theseus finds the two fighting and plans to kill him.


K. Instead, he holds a contest (battle) between them.


L. They have the battle.


M. Arcite wins but an earthquake caused by Saturn causes Arcite to die.


N. Emeley becomes sad and mourns a lot.


O. After a year, Plalmon and Emeley end up together.

"Migrations" by Dorian Merina

Imaginary Night Ship

The link to the poem didn't seem to work, so I searched the poem by myself. Please check if the following link to the peom is correct.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=237342

*****

The poem vividly depicts the European "passengers" on a boat journey to the Indies. Overall, the poem itself emits various of mood changes. To start off, according to some of the descriptions the author portraits such as:  "...with cans of saltwater at hand nearby for threat of fire," "against the dark wood," and "the people sleep or fight to sleep or smoke the coarse-leaved tobacco," Merina  evidently shows that the atmosphere on the boat could seem casual, but at the same time a little tiring. However, the first verse of the poem also represents the merchants' hope of gaining potential wealth due to "people dream of rich goods and silk and land and sea", which the author uses while describing its setting.

I was impressed with the specific details she uses to describe the products that were loaded on the boat. The whole list of goods, starting from "the untwisted silk" to "pins and boxes" foreshadows the possible riches the merchants will obtain. Also, a long description of rum--which the passengers seem to like--represents the joy of the merchants. Until here, the mood of the poem seems to brighten up.

The use of Spanish vocabulary insinuates that the merchants are Spanish. At one point, the author lists out a whole "mixture-of-race" list. Yet before that, the auther repeats the phrase "the blood". The first thing I related to the phrase was the "mixture of race." The merchants could have been thinking of marrying some of the natives in the Indies, or maybe even going on to settle there. On the other hand, "the blood" could represent possible violence the merchants might practise to "rip-off" the natives. Therefore, the list of "mixture" might be the cause of potential violence, for instance, raping.

After this point, the author illustrates a somewhat gloomy mood. The change of weather (raining) intensifies the possible outcome of the journey. However, the author stops the description at one point, and goes back to recite the first verse and end the poem.

The "open-end" conclusion left me with various of thoughts: the result of their fate, and how their destiny will meet their expectations. Although I had to look up some Spanish words throughout the reading, the English used in the poem was comparably easy to understand. True, it was a little long, and did not seem to have a poetic structure, hence I enjoyed its unique style in terms of the use of an open-end.