The Canterbury Tales

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the ideals of courtly love in the "Knight's Tale" with those in the "Wife of Bath's Tale". The Knight and the Wife of Bath are two very divergent characters, with equally divergent outlooks on love. The paper shows how these two wildly different characters share some ideas of the time in order to fit into their society.

From the Paper:

""The Knight's Tale" is one of the most memorable in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." It tells the story of two young knights, Palamon and Arcite, who are imprisoned together in a tower, and both fall in love with the same girl, Emelye. "The Knight's Tale" is the first story in Chaucer's book. That he began his story with the tale of this knight gives some weight to what an important role they played in society. Regarding the book, critics often say, "The Knight is often called one of the 'ideal' pilgrims along with the Parson and sometimes the Clerk because unlike the other portraits, Chaucer offers no attack or satire against them" (Lambdin 2)."

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