The Knight's Tale

The Knight's Tale is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Related Topics:
Tale - Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales

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The story is about two knights, Arcite and Palamon, who are imprisoned by Theseus, duke of Athens. In prison they see and fall in love with the sister of Hippolyta, Emily (Emelye). They variously get out of prison and end up in a tournament over Emily arranged by Theseus. Arcite wins, but dies before he can claim Emily as his prize and so Palamon marries her. It introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas, etc. The story is in the form of poetry.

Related Topics:
Knight - Theseus - Athens - Hippolyta

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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 2000 lines. 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.

Related Topics:
Giovanni Boccaccio - Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius

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The Knight and his tale both embody the ideas of chivalry, but Chaucer's Knight, a book by Terry Jones, portrays the knight as a mercenary and far from a gallant, ethical, gentle character (although this theory has been widely disputed by the academic community). 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 get up the Knight's nose.

Related Topics:
Chivalry - Terry Jones - Mercenary - Miller

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

Related Topics:
The Two Noble Kinsmen - William Shakespeare - John Fletcher

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The 2001 movie A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger, is also very loosely based on the story, and a fictionalized Chaucer himself appears in it as a character.

Related Topics:
A Knight's Tale - Heath Ledger

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