Answer TWO of the following…
1. Why does the Knight describe the temples of Venus, Mars, and Diana in such detail in Book Three? For someone who likes to avoid detail and just get on with the story, why does he slow down and linger here? What might the Knight (or Chaucer) want us to see here?
2. Discuss the Knight’s narrative style focusing on a specific passage. Does his manner betray any doubts, subtext, or satire? Related to this, do you ever feel Chaucer is satirizing/poking fun at him? Or are his sympathies largely with the Knight?
3. Discuss Arcita’s death speech in Part IV: how do you think the Knight/Chaucer wants us to “read” this? Is this what we expect from a dying knight—is it noble and chivalric? Or does it seem somewhat artificial and shallow? Again, consider the fact that the Knight may be addressing the brunt of this story to his son, the Squire.
Q1: I believe that the lengthy descriptions signal that the gods will play an important role in this story. In Venus's temple, the wall is decorated with "the sacred tears and the lamenting songs...to those that suffer love..." (pg 54). I did not notice any positive portrayals of love described in the temple; Palamon and Arcite, however, have hoped for their sufferings to end once they are united with Emily.
ReplyDeleteIn Mars's temple the paintings become a bit more graphic. The Knight describes "treason [to be] there, murder on a bed .... a screaming made the place more dreadful yet" (pg 57). Oddly enough, Arcite chose to visit this temple in which portraits of "who shall die for love" (pg 57) resided; could this have been foreshadowing?
In the temple of Diana, the walls are filled with portraits of change - Callisto being changed into a bear, Actaeon turned into a stag before he could brag of seeing Diana naked. Basically, the whole temple represents change. Emily comes here to beg Diana to let her remain a virgin, but Diana tells her she will marry one of the two cousins despite her wishes.
I think Chaucer is trying to tell the reader that what we want and what the gods want will not always aline.
Q3: If I could sum up Arcite's speech as told by the Knight, it's a big "I told you so." The Knight's opinion of Arcite's death is blunt - "... where nature will not work, physic farewell! ... Arcite must die " (77). The speech itself, while meaningful, leaves the reader wondering what the point of all this was. Arcite himself explains that the "lady of [his] heart ... ends [his] life" (77). I believe the Knight's point here is to illustrate that fighting for Emily was absolutely pointless, because fate and the gods were going to win out in the end; Arcite and Palamon have both lost their chivalric honor and betrayed their brotherhood. In the end, no one really wins. Life just takes its natural, predestined, course.
Great, detailed responses--and yes, he's definitely showing the danger of following the "gods," which might translate as ideals (ideals of love, knighthood, etc). As a battle-hardened knight, he probably has no more illusions about love or war--he's seen it all, and might want his son to see the reality behind the myth.
DeleteQ2. I feel as though the death speech was just a really dramatic and over done part. Out of nowhere he's sponsoring his cousin as a great guy and how sad he is when they had a death match not five pages ago. It seems kind of like a parody for the knight to give his son the ending he'd like without any actual sense. I mean, they had a year to gather an army, I doubt he was grumbling to himself like "Stupid cousin and his amazing husbandry skills! Why, if I can't have Emily, at least he's not a bad choice!"
ReplyDeleteQ4. I feel like he was going on a bit about how dumb they were. Both of them could have just moved on and had long lives but instead they went into a death match over a girl they don't even know. There also might have been a bit about how they prayed to different God(esses) and expected a favorable outcome. Technically, no one got what they wanted. Really, their prayers barely mattered.
Kenia Starry
Good responses!
DeleteQ1: The three temples and gods are symbolic in nature: Venus for love, Mars for war, and Diana for the hunt. The three also represent the struggles Arcita, Palamon, and Emily face. Acita and Palamon are in a constant hunt for their love of Emily and are at war with each other to obtain their prize. The details given to the temple are also relative symbols that paint a picture of emotion towards each individual. You feel the representation of the patron god and have a grasp on what is to come, a bit of foreshadowing. As we read on we discover the choices of Arcita, Palamon, and Emily. The patron they choose to pray to reveals a lot about the characters' personalities and leads the reader to speculate the way the story may turn.
ReplyDeleteQ4: Theseus starts on page 83 talking about the growth of a tree and conclude on 84 that "It has so long a life, and yet we see / That in the end it falls, a wasted tree…for all things have an end." He sheds some truth on the situation in that all things come to an end and die, it is the course of nature and will of Jupiter. He does not want them to mourn the death of Arcite. His death is part of the nature of their fight, saying they knew this was going to happen. Out of this conflict though rises a joy in the union of Palamon and Emily, her "true knight." He finally honors Palamon saying that he "would be worth considering" and to Palamon "there needs but little sermoning To gain your own assent to such a thing." Theseus redeemed Palamon by tying the band about them, literally tying things up.
Great details here--strong reading in general!
DeleteQ.3) I took Arcite’s speech as shallow but also chivalric. I see both sides of it. On one hand I took it as him telling Emily, “I may not get to marry you, but the next best man is Palamon.” He is basically telling her, well I’m the best but if I cannot marry you, the second best would be Palamon. Although, I thought it was noble and sweet of him to tell her she needs not to forget about Palamon. He tells her that he is a worthy knight and that he is great-hearted. It shows that even though the two have been battling each other for this woman, Arcite still loves his brother in a way.
ReplyDeleteQ.4) I feel like Palamon and Arcite redeemed themselves in Theseus’s eyes. At the end he gives Palamon and Emily a speech about how everyone dies at some point and to refuse death is folly. Theseus is the one who makes Palamon and Emily feel better about Arcite’s death, therefore, I believe Theseus sees the situation differently because he takes the time to share his knowledge with Palamon and Emily. I don’t think he would have shared this insight if he didn’t have a change of heart about the situation.
Good responses!
DeleteMy thoughts on question #3 -
ReplyDeleteI feel like the speech was more tongue in cheek. She is settling if she will not marry/have him. He knows what he can offer but if that does not satisfy her then the second choice is the first loser. These two almost seem a bit like Kane and Able. We shall fight for death because we cannot stand to see the other do better.
My thoughts on #4 -
While tying up the passage on page eighty-five he writes -
"If good Arcite, the flower of chivalry,
Is gone in honour and in duty, free
Of the foul prison of this life?
Shall those he loved, his cousin and his wife,
Murmur against his welfare, or suppose
He can return no thanks? Not he, God knows."
This speaks to him not being forgiven for all he did. Why can he not say thank you, why can he not treat people proper. Why must you act as though you were better. These actions are the reasons that Palamon espoused Emily. Palamon was noble and saw Arcite's actions and knew that was not for him. If he wanted to prevail he must do the opposite.
Palamon has regained the graces and is now living in joy, wealth, happiness and bliss as mentioned towards the end of the passage on page eighty-six.
Rook Rawls
Great responses and details!
DeleteQuestion 1: the description of the temples is to describe all of the bad things of the categories that the gods represent. The knight is giving the image of the awful things that are going to happen to the Knights because the battle is pointless.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: Arcita is stupid. The man is dying and he is sitting here complaining about how Emily doesn't get to marry "the best" because he is dying. I hate to break it to him, but if he was the best he would have won. The knight's mockery towards Arcita shows that from the very beginning he thought it was all pointless and both thought of them as ignorant.
Jessica Johnson
Good ideas, but these are more answers than responses: you're just giving me a quick answer to the question. Instead, show me WHY you think or read the work this way. Be more specific, since this will help you more on future exams and papers.
ReplyDelete