Some thoughts on the "Knight's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, trans. Nevill Coghill (Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1952).

It occured to me as I was finishing up with Statius' Thebaid that Chaucer has the knight tell a story about Theseus set in the time period of the close of the Thebaid. I thought that I would do well to look at this instance of Nachleben on the book that I read. Here are a few thoughts as I read. Though the named setting is ancient Thebes and Athens, Chaucer tells a medieval story. His Theseus is more like a medieval king or duke than the ancient king of Athens. He rides about with knights and, when he wishes entertainment, is ready to call for a jousting tournament. The rules that the characters in the "Knight's Tale" live by are those seen in medieval literature (note that the nobility of characters in medieval literature was not borne out in reality oftentimes -- witness the bloody Crusades, which had little to do with nobility or even simple Christian charity). The two young Thebans, Arcite and Palamon are both in love with the Amazon princess, Emily (I know it doesn't sound like an Amazon name, but she is sister to Hippolyta -- that makes her an Amazon), and they display the virtues of courtly love towards their lady. That the knight tells this tale may account for this story of courtly love and chivalrous knights.

Chaucer has no problem allowing anachronisms -- iron is used in the stadium that Theseus has built for the great joust, though iron did not exist during the Heroic period of Greece (it was the Bronze Age). The stadium built is closer to what the Romans would build -- it even has stadium seating (every seat has a good view). One of the knights carries a Prussian shield, though Prussia did not exist in the time of the story. There is an Indian king supporting one of the young knights -- India had not been discovered in Homeric times.

One of the most striking parts of the story is the description of the stadium complete with three shrines. One is to Venus, the second is to Diana, the third to Mars. Each is described in great detail. The shrine to Mars has scenes in it of Julius Caesar and Nero's bloody death -- even though they hadn't happened yet. Very strange. It is interesting that there is no shrine to Athena, very unlikely in an Athenian setting. The three shrines serve each of the main characters in the love triangle. Palamon prays to Venus; Emily prays to Diana; Arcite prays to Mars. So Arcite wins the joust, but dies soon after, so that Palamon gets the girl, though he lost the fight. Her wishes for cotinued virginity are not seriously entertained, even by Diana. Why Theseus prays to Diana is peculiar, as she didn't look out for his son very well. There is even a mixtue of traditions when Saturn says that he is the one who brought down Samson (though not a Greek story, but one from the Jewish tradition).

The tale is told well enough, but I often find trouble accepting updates of ancient stories. It must be my classical background with a greater emphasis on history that causes me to cringe when authors play fast and loose with the facts. Still, it's not a bad medieval romance, though it would have worked just as well if the characters all had Arthurian names instead of Theseus, Creon, Hippolyta and the rest.