The Knight's Tale

"The Knight's Tale" (The Knightes Tale) is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The story introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas. The story is in iambic pentameter using 10 syllables for every line.

Story
Arcite and Palamon, who are nephews of King Creon of Thebes, have a close brotherly bond. But they are captured and imprisoned by Theseus, duke of Athens following his intervention against Creon. Their cell is in the tower of Theseus's castle which overlooks his palace garden. In prison Palamon wakes early one morning in May, to see Emily (Emelye) in the courtyard; his moan is heard by Arcite, who then too wakes to see Emily, and falls in love with her as well.

The sense of competition brought about by this love causes them to hate each other. Arcite is released from prison through the good offices of Theseus's friend Pirithoos, and then returns to Athens in disguise and enters service in Emily's household. Palamon eventually escapes by drugging the gaoler and then encounters Arcite while on the run.

They attempt to fight a duel but are thwarted by the arrival of Theseus, who sentences them to enroll their friends and fight a mass judicial tournament, the winner of which is to marry Emily. The forces assemble; Palamon prays to make Emily his wife; Emily prays to stay unmarried and that if that should prove impossible that she marry the one who really loves her; and Arcite prays for victory. Arcite wins the battle, but is killed by his horse falling on him before he can claim Emily as his prize, and so Palamon marries her.

History
Teseida delle nozze di Emilia by Giovanni Boccaccio is the source of the tale. "The Knight's Tale", though, is a very loose translation, shortening Boccaccio's 9000 line epic to a little over 3000 lines and changing the genre to romance. Although some of the plot is lost, an undercurrent of philosophy is added by Chaucer, mainly inspired by the Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius which Chaucer had also translated.

The following tale, by the Miller, is a direct antithesis to the Knight's with none of the nobility or heritage of classical mythology, but is instead rollicking, bawdy, comedic and designed to annoy the Knight.

The Two Noble Kinsmen, a 1613 play co-written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, is based on the tale.

John Dryden translated this story to a more modern language in the style of his time. Dryden's book is entitled Palamon and Arcite and is longer than the original text due to Dryden's own poetic touches.

The story is one of the tales that gave inspiration for the movie A Knight's Tale.