In Geoffrey
Chaucers Canterbury Tales he depicts a short story, The Knights
Tale, describing the lives two young cousins named Arcite and
Palamon. These two men are from the kingdom of Thebes, which was
under the rule of Creon, until it was defeated by Theseus, Duke of
Athens. Arcite and Palamon are found and brought back to Athens to
be imprisoned for the remainder of their lives. This short story
depicts the tale of the fight between Arcite and Palamon over a
beautiful
woman, Emily.
Although, while some things are similar about them, there are also
numerous differences. In The Knights Tale, Arcite and Palamon
share the same background,
lovefor Emily, and
the feeling of luck, while how they perceive Emily, their location,
and their
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When Palamon is
first struck by Emilys beauty he says, I do not know whether she
is a woman or a
goddess, / but
my guess is that she is in truth Venus. (243-244) Palamon sees
Emily as the goddess of Venus, while on the other hand, Arcite sees
her as a human woman. Arcite tells Palamon, You love a holy deity;
/ I love a created human being. (300-301) The cousins disagree
over if Emily should be loved as a human or worshiped as a goddess.
Another difference between them is the location in which they end
up. Arcite becomes free, away from the sight of Emily, but able to
capture her with an army. Palamon stays imprisoned, able to stay in
sight of Emily, but no way to get to her. Arcite solves his problem
by sneaking into the castle as a working man but his true identity
is discovered by Palamon and they intend to duel over Emily. Before
the fight Arcite and Palamon each pray different prayers to
different gods. Arcite prays to the goddess Venus that he will win
Emilys love, and Palamon prays to the god Mars that he will win
the war over Emily. In the end both of their prayers are answered,
but Aricte dies shortly after the fight and Palamon ends up
marrying Emily years
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