Comparison Between The Knight And The Fair Lady

gender role. The Lady’s role questions traditional presumptions of the roles of women in medieval literature. Women of the Middle Ages were generally dependent, inferior, and many female portraits in medieval texts did not fare better. While men of the Middle Ages were generally chivalry, valiance, noble and honest. Throughout the poem I began to see gender roles being reversed between Lady Bertilak and Sir Gawain.

In this sense, rumors and public gossip function to intensify her emotions and lead her down a path of desperation to be rid of him. When she is left out of the loop regarding her husband’s whereabouts, she believes that he is having an affair (p. 212). In many stories, when a partner believes the other is cheating, they decide to take revenge or find a new partner. In this case, the wife’s decision to run off with a knight does not necessarily contribute to her betrayal as she thought he had been disloyal first. Additionally, it is possible that she did not believe her husband’s tale about the clothes and the werewolf, and as such, asked the knight to steal the clothes to prove herself right.

1. Do you admire Palamon and Arcite for sacrificing everything, including their friendship, to pursue Emily? Or, like Theseus, do you think it's sort of stupid?

For my report, I chose to summarize how Brian Helgeland’s movie “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) draws its medieval themes and story from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales: The Knight’s Tale”. Besides the nearly identical titles of these works and the moderately similar storyline, it can be further proven that “A Knight’s Tale” is an adaption of “The Knight’s Tale” because Geoffrey Chaucer appears as a character himself—and a vital one at that—in the movie. Furthermore, just to make certain that there is no mistake among the viewers about who they are dealing with, Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) even refers to himself as a writer in the movie and points out his very first own work “The Book of the Duchess” in disbelief when some peasants don’t

Several fictional works set in Arthurian times contain numerous similar elements, whether that be in the structure of its plot or encounters with mythical beings; however, one particular element of these tales stands out among the rest, that being the knights in the stories. Both chivalrous and virtuous, knights are the very embodiment of Arthurian mythology, and are a staple in many Arthurian legends. Their courageous acts of selflessness and loyalty to their lords only add to their reputation, inspiring many authors throughout the ages to capture their likeness in various texts; however, only one author has been able to truly capture what it means to be a knight, that author being the “Gawain Poet.” Also known as the “Pearl Poet,” the “Gawain Poet” is most known for his chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The story revolves around a central conflict in which the protagonist, Sir Gawain, must fulfill an agreement with a mysterious knight. Gawain’s “debt” must be repaid exactly one year after their agreement, and if Gawain should fail to do so, his honor and reputation would be tarnished. It is through his struggles that Gawain not only grows as a character, but also shows what it means to truly be a knight. Sir Gawain is the epitome of a knight because he is not only chivalrous and virtuous, but also stays true to his word in the face of danger.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, the author encapsulates chivalrous characteristics in his telling of a battle for love. In its fundamental form, chivalry idealizes a knight’s conduct, both on and off the battlefield (Gregory-Abbott). Chaucer employs this “heroic code [of] bravery, loyalty, and service to one's lord” to illustrate the idillic knight throughout the narrative (Rossignol). Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, exhibits the ideals of chivalry in the form of two knights, desperately in love with the same woman, and a wise Duke who embodies the voice of reason. Each knight upholds honor through compassion, troths, and heroism on the battlefield, despite their afflictions with each other.

Even though the narrator does not say much about the Knights physical appearance, we can assume that the Knight and the Wife of Bath were not identical. The Wife of Bath was a bold face woman with a red hue complexion, "Boold was hire face, and fair, and reed of hewe"(line 458). She was also gapped tooth, "Gat-tothed was she, smoothly for to seye"(line 468) with large hips, "A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large", (line472).

Protagonists also known as the main character or the hero. A protagonist can make or break the story. A hero is defined as a person who goes on a quest to save, restore or heal the community. Most heroes have the same qualities; however, what the character does with the qualities is a different story. For example, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, author unknown and Oroonoko by Aphra Behn are two works where the protagonists are comparable. For example, both men are on a dangerous journey, a woman starts their downfall, and lastly, both put their trust in the wrong people. However, they differ in many factor; the main one however, is that Sir Gawain is a knight and Oroonoko is a prince.

The tales of Marie de France, shed light on the romantic relationships and chivalry of this time period. This is very insightful for modern people to be able to read and understand the culture of that time. Knighthood and chivalry were respected by some, but many times they were disregarded for passion. Love and marriage are largely connected to physical attractiveness of the person and the passion involved. Marriage is not a very serious commitment and will be disregarded whenever another presents themselves as a more attractive lover. Religion is not huge in the stories but can be present when looking for a lover. Magic plays a part in the Yonec and Bisclavret stories, but is not largely present throughout.

The contrast of the two stories, The Knight’s tale, and the Wife of Bath’s Tale, by Geoffrey Chauser, is by the chivalric romances, which have the elements of, based from our previous discussion, wise and just leader, an unattainable woman, a monster / dragon / mythological creature, involvement of destiny, fate, chance, and god, and many more elements that were discussed. The Wife of bath’s tale is a chivalric romance because, first it has the element of a wise and just leader, like the queen, because a queen can also lead a country, just like the Queens of England, Victoria, Mary and the Elizabeths, but the society on medieval times look into women just as a product to be used, because this was stated in the first few parts of the story,

I offer couples the Queen/knight metaphor. Some alternative approaches center on a Mistress/slave metaphor. The problem with the Mistress/slave metaphor is that slavery is an involuntary institution. Slaves are taken into labor by force. By contrast, a knight willingly dedicates himself to the service of his Queen.

of the poor outfit of the Knight. Instead he attempts to point out that the

The Canterbury Tales begin with The Knight’s Tale; which chronicles the tragic love triangle of Palamon, Arcite and Emilye. The following tale, which is told by the Miller, is also a love triangle, and is in many ways similar to the Knight’s tale. However, the Miller’s tale sharply contrasts the Knight’s, almost parodying it. The Knight’s tale is a tragic of nobility, heritage and focuses heavily on mythology and astrology, whereas The Miller’s tale is a comedy, focusing on the common-man and his less civilized, and bawdy lifestyle. The two stories mirror one another in many ways, but are presented from completely different sides of the spectrum. When the two tales are looked at closely, it doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that they occur

Despite the fact that the knight despises her, the old woman persists on getting the knight to love her. While the knight is complaining about how terrible his marriage is, the old woman says he will give him the choice of she either being old and unattractive, or young and more attractive, making males more attracted to her. She tried to give him the choice of which way he wanted her, when in all reality, she was gaining more control over him by allowing him to think he had control over her. After this, the old woman

The short story must have taken place in the medieval times, suggested by the social structure consisted of Barons and the economic structure of castles and tenants. In this time, women did not make many of their own decisions, often men made those decisions for them. The lover made the decision of holding an affair with a married woman, the Baroness. By having an affair, the Baroness wasn’t loyal to her husband, which further led to her disloyalty towards his instruction to not leave the castle, despite the fact she promised to stay. Had her loyalty not been spoiled by the lover she would never have left the castle for any reason. Unsurprisingly, the lover happened to be the reason for Baroness leaving the castle. Had the lover not held the affair, the Baroness would not have left the castle, since she left only to meet him. In fact, the Baroness could have