The Knight's Tale page 5 - lines 927 ff
Theseus' speech here is largely invented by Chaucer rather than being derived from the main source, Boccaccio's Teseida, and therefore must be significant in revealing his intentions. It starts with a generalisation about love, praising the god of love and his power, with an unrealistic claim that "Ayeyns his might ther gaineth none obstacles" [no obstacles prevail aginst his might] when the story has been about many such impediments. The god is miraculous because he can make "at his owene gyse" [just as he chooses] every heart as he wishes it; the whims and control of the god are stressed. "Lo heere" is a phrase used to draw down general sententiae to the particular exemplum, in this case of the comrades who know they are his "mortal" enemy, a word much used throughout. He underlines his own power over the death penalty but moves on to the topic of love which has brought them here to die. Soon pagan love is equated with "heigh folye", a quality of lovers alone. The true God is called upon to witness the agony caused by the false god and Theseus uses an ironic and inappropriate tone to point attention to their state: "Se how they blede! be they noght wel arrayed?" The rhetorical question needs no answer as it is heavily sarcastic. This seems to show that pity does not come to him as easily as scorn as he sees their suffering as the payment by the god for their service. The bitterness may indicate the Knight's own emotion at his treatment by employers. Theseus now emphasises the irony in their situation since Emylye, who is present, "Kan hem therfore as muche [meaning here "as little"] thank as me" [shows them as little gratitude as I do]. Sarcasm shows in his use of "the best game of alle" and the word "jolitee" [fun], the whole matter being one for him to deride and sneer at, as shown further in the belittling animal image which describes her entire ignorance of the "hoote fare" [hot-blooded happenings]: she knows no more than "a cokkow or an hare." Bathos and disparagement meet in these lines. These harsh words show him to appreciate the ironies in the situation but increase the suffering of the lovers. He does say that he was once such a fool, a long time ago, and seems more considerate and sympathetic in this although his motive for forgiveness is unclear. It seems to be out of pity for the women, his wife and his sister-in-law, and it does sound like total forgiveness and a final resolution, provided they remain peaceful and friendly in every way possible. They swear to this, begging him for protection and mercy and he grants grace, the lexis having shifted to the Christian. Because they have put themselves beyond the law with their misdeeds they ask him to become their feudal lord and look after them. This sense of an ending must be false because the love strife has not been addressed and the two men have not been differentiated in any way. Considered together, the issue is concluded; considered as rivals it is far from finished.
This fact is recognised now by Theseus who treats them the same as rivals from a royal and wealthy line and we note again how impressed the Knight is by position and hierarchy but his solemn speech once again loses consistency of register with the banal: "Ye woot yourself she may nat wedden two" and the abruptly crude dismissal of the loser: "He moot go pipen in an ivy leaf". (This is a proverbial country expression meaning to go and do something useless.) He takes no account of their feelings of jealousy or anger and the word 'love' is not apparent. With a direct appeal to the audience, Theseus, through the Knight, asks us to consider the question of destiny: "herkneth in what wise" [listen to how] and form our judgement, a neat trick to involve listeners in the story. The moment is complex as regards narrative as it is Chaucer speaking through the Knight who is reproducing the voice of Theseus, the target being both the pilgrims and the readers/listeners to The Canterbury Tales. We, as modern audience, are an unlooked-for third. Theseus announces his decision which, because of what has gone before, takes on the resonance of destiny.
He wants a "plat conclusion" [a plain end of the matter] with no "repplicatioun" [answering back] but does hope it will be acceptable - one feels that such is his control, that no-one would say it is not. His plan is that there should be a tournament, precisely fifty weeks ahead but there is a major divergence from the source here. Whereas Boccaccio stresses the skill, bravery and chivalrous nobility of the contestants in a non-mortal combat or palestral games, this Theseus now wants two hundred knights armed for the lists in every respect potentially slaying one another. The winner out of Palamon and Arcite will marry the passive Emelye as a gift of Fortune parading as Theseus who seems to be abandoning his power of choice whilst designating the way the decision will be settled. He promises to be a true and impartial judge but he will accept only the death or capture of one of them. "Yow thinketh" is impersonal meaning "if it seems to you" and he is blunt and tyrannical where Boccaccio's ruler is always courteous: "Seyeth youre avis and holdeth you apayd" [satisfied.] This will be "youre ende" [the end of the quarrel] and it seems that he is also hypocritical in trying to make it appear they have any choice in the matter which will finalise the dispute by death. His speech contains words of honour such as "trouthe", "wisely", and "trewe" but the issue is savage. In sycophantic fashion the two rivals are overjoyed as is everyone else in another externalised display of emotion because Theseus has done "so fair a grace " [favour but with Christian implications]: they all fall submissively to their knees after this announcement of appalling bloodshed to come. It is worth pausing to ask exactly what favour the ruler has done as a single combat or a non-mortal encounter of expertise has been turned into a massacre. The consent of the people was a vital element in the right to rule of a Medieval prince but Theseus wants merely automatic and mindless approval of his decision and the people obligingly behave like automata in a manner satisfactory to a tyrant. They are grateful for an irrational change from this private single fight to a public bloodbath and the Knight clearly approves also. He is trying to place himself inside a courtly world but we, and possibly the pilgrims, remain critically outside it as he does not fully understand the manners and mores and has not convinced us of the authenticity or appeal of Theseus or his entourage. The same women who wept at two wounded men now look forward to more unnecessary suffering, uncalled for as the source material shows. The significant change from Boccaccio is that men in this version will kill each other and Chaucer must therefore want to show how the Knight longs to describe this conflict whilst placing it in olden times: "Thebes, with his olde walles wide" as a distancing device.
Part III
The Knight now uses a skilful method of excusing his own desire to describe the expense and pomp of the tournament by claiming that people "wolde deem it necligence" if he did not do so. He clearly admires the extravagant cost of resolving the conflict between two rivals in love and the busyness that goes into the arrangements. The amphitheatre is a mile in circumference, walled and ditched and "in manere of compas" [in an exact circle] with "degrees" [tiers] to the height of sixty "pas" [feet] so that no-one's view is blocked by the person in front. We see that this means that all can savour the bloodshed. A circle symbolises order and perfection but here its contents will, ironically, be chaotic savagery. The Knight loves symmetry and recounts the fact there are two similar white marble gates at the East and West and continues with superlatives to describe the venue: "noon in erthe, as in so litel space" [none on this earth arranged in such a small space] as Theseus has employed everyone learned in geometry and arithmetic as well as artists and carvers, giving them food and wages to "maken and devyse" [plan and construct] the arena. This praise of the ruler is dotted with negatives: "ne" stressing the positive aspects by piling them on. This would be truly admirable if the contest were either necessary or a display of skill but at this point it is to be a fight to the death and, as we will later hear, with few chivalric constraints. For the conducting of rites and sacrifices, a temple to Venus has been added to the Eastern gate and, on the Western one, a temple to Mars. We are reminded that the twin main themes of the Tale are Love and War. The emphasis on wealth and display continues with the mention that the one to Mars has cost "largely [fully] of gold a fother" [cartload] and, presumably, the others have also. The mention of a cart is an inappropriate lowering of register here. To the North in white and coral alabaster is a shrine to Diana, goddess of chastity (but also hunting), constructed nobly. He goes on to describe the carvings, paintings, shape, faces and figures in the three places for prayer. The symmetry is no longer dual but triple as there are three main persons involved: Palamon, Arcite and Emelye.
In the source, the Teseida of Boccaccio, Comeliness, Elegance, Affabilty and Courtesy are portrayed as wandering arm-in-arm and so any changes from this must indicate Chaucer's intentions about the presentation of the Knight and his Tale. The account becomes close to the listener as the Knight uses "maystow se" [you may see] to encourage us to imagine the scene. The guided tour is of emblematic depictions and so they are not merely decorative but significant and Chaucer has made them more sombre than in the source, particularly in the added lines 1060-6 where the wretched consequences of passion are shown and in lines 1089-94 where destructive outcomes are revealed. These would be difficult to show in the visual arts and so there is some sleight-of-hand involved. In this version by Chaucer, the murals stress broken sleep, cold sighs, devoted tears and lamentation and the fiery strikes of desire (fire being a leitmotif in the Tale). Service to Venus is a miserable affair here as are the "othes that hir covenantz enduren" [the oaths with which they seal their promises]. In the list of qualities we see that Venus is amoral and that good and bad are mixed: "Pleasaunce [pleasure] and Hope, Desir, Foolhardinesse/Beauty and Youthe, Bauderie [gaiety], Richesse/Charmes and Force, Lesinges [lies], Flaterye/Dispense [extravagance], Bisynesse [labour]; and Jalousye". Good and bad consequences will follow from such an influence where there is no differentiation and no sense of rational judgement. In the Middle Ages, colours had a fixed emblematic quality: yellow for jealousy, blue for constancy, green for inconstancy, and the introduction of the cuckoo, symbolising cuckoldry and infidelity as a cause of jealousy, emphasises the unhappiness and untrustworthiness of love. In Boccaccio there are birds of all kinds. "Festes [banquets], instrumentz, caroles [ring dances], daunces/Lust [desire] and array [adornment]", painted in order on the wall do little to lighten the mood and we feel that the rest, which the Knight does not describe, would have the same gloomy undertone, making us sense that the outcome of this love rivalry will contain tragedy.
A slip on Chaucer's part equates Cythera, island home of Venus or Cytherea, with Mount Citharon, home of the Muses, but this was a common error and not a sign that our Knight is ignorant. Everything there is shown in Theseus' comparable temple and this descriptio is a vehicle for ideas about love. Idleness is the porter of the garden of love in the Roman de la Rose and this is followed by a list of figures from scripture and classics connected with love, a device which would have been popular in the Middle Ages. Whereas Boccaccio included real love, this account mentions Narcissus, the self-lover, and the account of those not forgotten is peppered with stressed negatives: "Nat... ne" including anaphora by repeating them at the start of several lines for further emphasis. From all Solomon's qualities, the folly of his love is chosen for portrayal and the list is composed of those who fared miserably in love: Narcissus died by looking at his own reflection in a pool out of vanity; Solomon was misled by his lovers; Hercules (who made fifty girls pregant in one night) was murdered with a poisoned shirt sent by his jealous wife; Medea killed her own children; Circe turned men into animals; Turnus with his "hardy fiers corage" [daring fierce spirits] was dispatched fighting for the love of Lavinia; rich Croesus was degraded (but not for love in this case). Venus has universal power and often uses it to destroy people and bring death and misery. "Ye seen" is another example of the Knight's inviting us to imagine what we could not see even if we were there, as it could not be depicted accurately and in detail - but the point is made that nothing can share power, "holde champartie", with the omnipotent, luring, amoral, and malign Venus, goddess and planet. Not beauty nor "sleighte" [trickery], strength nor "hardinesse" [boldness] can challenge her since she guides the world "as hir list" [as she pleases], according to her whim rather than the victims' merit. The metaphor of a snare, "las", picks up on the imagery of capture and prison throughout and people are seen as manipulated by her until they cry out "allas!" The Knight summarises as is in accord with the rules of rhetoric by saying that he has given one or two examples, exempla, and he assures us that more instances could be given, though we note that we have had more than a couple already. The account has been full of conflict, ill-fortune and wretchedness with no realisation of happiness in love. Perhaps the Knight has never encountered it and sees in love only another version of violence not differing much from that of war: the two themes are both savage to him.
The description of the statue of Venus, goddess of sexual love, is more traditional with conventional emblems and sensuous appeal and she is often portrayed as rising from the sea. The position she takes (we recall Botticelli's Birth of Venus), the musical instrument, the roses and the "flickering" [fluttering] doves are formalised attributes with which the Knight is clearly familiar and it seems that a gentler view of her is being presented with brightness and colour: "wawes [waves] grene", delicate scents from the garland: "fressh and wel smellinge" and peaceful birds in tranquil motion but the mention of her blind son Cupid at the end changes the tone and painful destruction enters once more: "A bowe he bore and arwes brighte and kene." We are reminded that the force behind her is uncaring and that there has been scant attention to mutual or fulfilling love or indeed any love that we might recognise as such. The irony is pointed again as the amoral, alluring, omnipotent but malign Venus is in charge of the motives of two men and their entourage who are about to risk their lives in serving a woman who barely knows them and a goddess who takes no heed of merit or devotion. This may be more prominent to us than to the contemporary audience but it seems unlikely that the Knight's imagined listeners would not have picked up the bitterness of the situation and anyone reading or listening to The Canterbury Tales in reality would almost certainly recognised it, particularly when the account of the Temple of Mars follows.
It is as though the Knight cannot maintain the elevated tone of his descriptio as bathos occurs when he brusquely defends his intention to move onto the next temple: "Why sholde I noght as wel eek tell yow al [of all]/"The portreiture ..." Mars is both a mighty god and red planet and the walls of his shrine are painted like the inner rooms "estres" of the Thracian temple in the icy region where he had his "soverein mansioun" [chief dwelling, 'mansion' being also an astrological term for a sign of the zodiac, here especially belonging to Mars] and the descriptio is again a method of communicating ideas. In the Teseida of Boccaccio and the Thebaid of Statius the temple of Mars is prsided over by Valour but here a much darker side of war is evident. The walls reveal a painting of an uninhabited forest with "Knottyt, knarry [gnarled], bareyne tress olde", "stubbes sharpe" through which may be heard "a rumbel in a swough" [a rumbling and murmuring] - we note the alliteration and the onomatopoeia here as in "bresten every bough": it is a cheerless, cold and terrifying place where sights and sounds are fearful. From the long, narrow entrance of the burnished steel temple itself "gastly for to see" issues "a rage [blast] and swich a veze" [rush of wind] that the gate shakes: the light is chill and gloomy, from the North and the door of eternal adamant "Yclenched overthwart and endelong" [clamped together crosswise and lengthwise] with tough iron and every pillar holding up the temple is "tonne greet [wide as a barrel]" of bright shining iron. The Knight's tone is full of admiration for this strength but the account of war deepens into brutality in what follows, casting doubt on how power is used in wars he has known.
It does seem that he is carried away by visual pictures based on reality as he uses "Ther saugh I" as if he has been there or in battles which exemplify the underbelly of conflict. He "sees" the dark "imagining" [plannings] of Felonye [treachery] and the "compassing" [execution of them], cruel "Ire", red as a coal, the pickpocket and pale "Drede", the smiler with the knife under the cloak, the general use of "the" making it seem that he has encountered these many times and we are struck by the succinct and pointed phrase about the smiling villain. Some of the qualities are personifications of abstractions but the smiler and pickpocket are actual examples of what happens in real war. He goes on to the "shepne [stable] brenning with the blake smoke" as the innocent are affected by this, the "tresoun of the mordring in the bedde", the open wounds "al bibledde [bleeding or covered in blood]". The effect of this is to show the concrete reality of abstract ideas and how everyday life is involved through all ranks and all classes. The vocabulary and detail are powerful and we have no doubt this comes from experience as Boccaccio is less clear on some points such as "Contek [Strife]" with his bloody knife and "sharp menace". Apart from visual detail we have sounds of "chirking [a grating noise]", inhuman and horrifying. A suicide is seen with blood from the heart in his hair, a truly graphic insight to be made more gruesome by the nail in the crown of his head. Death is face upwards and in the middle sits "Meschaunce [misfortune]" looking wretched. Other abstract figures to add to the horror are: "Woodnesse [madness], laughinge in his rage", "Armed Compleint [grievance]," Outhees [Outcry]" and "fiers Outrage"; these are not concepts from chivalrous warfare but from massacres. There is the corpse in the bush, "the careyne in the busk", with his throat cut, a thousand dead but not from the plague (presumably a grotesque joke), the tyrant with his snatched prey and a town completely destroyed. There is no bravery here or heroism or comradeship, merely slaughter.
Moving to sea the Knight again uses "saugh I" which intensifies the account and describes the burning ships ( "hoppesteres" being an error by Chaucer who took the Latin words from the sources meaning 'warships' to indicate 'dancing'.) This passage is full of verbs and includes many savage scenes from what may have been mercenary warfare: the strangled hunter, the sow eating the child in the cradle, the scalded cook and the Knight seems to praise the detail where nothing of the bleak physical reality of war is omitted or the "infortune of Mars" [the ill-fortune caused by Mars]. Not even the carter overrun by his cart, lying beneath the wheel, is forgotten, a poignant detail of the harmless man killed. In Mars' company or control are the barber [surgeon?], butcher and smith who forges sharp swords on his "stith [anvil]" and we note they are all shedders of blood, the Knight being in his element picking them out for inclusion. The images of civil destruction are not in Boccaccio or Statius, who recount only blood split in war, and it was considered a scandal at the time that military conflict spread out into ordinary life. Yet there is too much relish in the telling for us to even consider that there might be a pacifist element: the Knight loves his task so much that he has no thought for the tender sensibilities of some of the pilgrims such as the Prioress. Neither does he appear determined to shock but to recall and communicate his own dark and bloody experiences. He does, after all, want to win the prize and seems carried away in the telling. Chaucer's purpose is perhaps to show how his life has been so brutal that it cannot be obliterated by the fact of being on a pilgrimage in mixed company.
The abstraction of Conquest is depicted like Damocles with a sharp sword overhead hamgimg by a "soutil" [fine] thread ready to deprive the conqueror of his glory and three famous heroes are painted in death: Julius Caesar who was murdered and Nero and Mark Antony who committed suicide, all examples of a fall from a great height of power, even though, says the Knight, with a qualification that descends to bathos, they were not born at that time. He does not explain this but pre-empts our criticism by stating that their fates were " depeynted ther-biforn" [depicted beforehand]. The threats of Mars, exactly according to the diagram of astrological forecast or horoscope as shown in the stars, control who is killed or dead for love. Bluntly, the Knight announces that one example is enough from "stories olde" although he would like to tell many - thus demonstrating vaguely his knowledge to the pilgrims. It is a world of menace, gloom and death, and love seems bitterly ironic when mentioned in this context.
The statue of Mars stands on a "carte" which has been translated as "chariot" but Terry Jones argues that it is "carroccio", a symbol of war and used in Italian states where mercenaries fought. Mars looks grim as if he were mad and we recall that the only laughter in the temples is mad mirth (l. 1153) and that insanity is a leitmotif. Over his head shine two figures of stars written about in "scriptures" [other texts]: Puella and Rubens, derived from a method of divination called geomancy whereby four random rows of dots were taken to be symbolic of the position of the stars - the Knight seems to be showing off his knowledge here, but again unaware of the possible repsonse of Christians amongst the pilgrims.The red-eyed wolf eating a man, between his feet, is a detail added by Chaucer to the source but is also an emblem of the tyrant Visconti of Milan, probably famous at that time. Red has become another leitmotif with connotations beyond those of the red planet Mars. The only comment the Knight makes is the bland praise of the expertise of the artist with his "soutil [skilful] pencel" and so we must assumes he approves of the contents as well as the method.
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Theseus' speech here is largely invented by Chaucer rather than being derived from the main source, Boccaccio's Teseida, and therefore must be significant in revealing his intentions. It starts with a generalisation about love, praising the god of love and his power, with an unrealistic claim that "Ayeyns his might ther gaineth none obstacles" [no obstacles prevail aginst his might] when the story has been about many such impediments. The god is miraculous because he can make "at his owene gyse" [just as he chooses] every heart as he wishes it; the whims and control of the god are stressed. "Lo heere" is a phrase used to draw down general sententiae to the particular exemplum, in this case of the comrades who know they are his "mortal" enemy, a word much used throughout. He underlines his own power over the death penalty but moves on to the topic of love which has brought them here to die. Soon pagan love is equated with "heigh folye", a quality of lovers alone. The true God is called upon to witness the agony caused by the false god and Theseus uses an ironic and inappropriate tone to point attention to their state: "Se how they blede! be they noght wel arrayed?" The rhetorical question needs no answer as it is heavily sarcastic. This seems to show that pity does not come to him as easily as scorn as he sees their suffering as the payment by the god for their service. The bitterness may indicate the Knight's own emotion at his treatment by employers. Theseus now emphasises the irony in their situation since Emylye, who is present, "Kan hem therfore as muche [meaning here "as little"] thank as me" [shows them as little gratitude as I do]. Sarcasm shows in his use of "the best game of alle" and the word "jolitee" [fun], the whole matter being one for him to deride and sneer at, as shown further in the belittling animal image which describes her entire ignorance of the "hoote fare" [hot-blooded happenings]: she knows no more than "a cokkow or an hare." Bathos and disparagement meet in these lines. These harsh words show him to appreciate the ironies in the situation but increase the suffering of the lovers. He does say that he was once such a fool, a long time ago, and seems more considerate and sympathetic in this although his motive for forgiveness is unclear. It seems to be out of pity for the women, his wife and his sister-in-law, and it does sound like total forgiveness and a final resolution, provided they remain peaceful and friendly in every way possible. They swear to this, begging him for protection and mercy and he grants grace, the lexis having shifted to the Christian. Because they have put themselves beyond the law with their misdeeds they ask him to become their feudal lord and look after them. This sense of an ending must be false because the love strife has not been addressed and the two men have not been differentiated in any way. Considered together, the issue is concluded; considered as rivals it is far from finished.
This fact is recognised now by Theseus who treats them the same as rivals from a royal and wealthy line and we note again how impressed the Knight is by position and hierarchy but his solemn speech once again loses consistency of register with the banal: "Ye woot yourself she may nat wedden two" and the abruptly crude dismissal of the loser: "He moot go pipen in an ivy leaf". (This is a proverbial country expression meaning to go and do something useless.) He takes no account of their feelings of jealousy or anger and the word 'love' is not apparent. With a direct appeal to the audience, Theseus, through the Knight, asks us to consider the question of destiny: "herkneth in what wise" [listen to how] and form our judgement, a neat trick to involve listeners in the story. The moment is complex as regards narrative as it is Chaucer speaking through the Knight who is reproducing the voice of Theseus, the target being both the pilgrims and the readers/listeners to The Canterbury Tales. We, as modern audience, are an unlooked-for third. Theseus announces his decision which, because of what has gone before, takes on the resonance of destiny.
He wants a "plat conclusion" [a plain end of the matter] with no "repplicatioun" [answering back] but does hope it will be acceptable - one feels that such is his control, that no-one would say it is not. His plan is that there should be a tournament, precisely fifty weeks ahead but there is a major divergence from the source here. Whereas Boccaccio stresses the skill, bravery and chivalrous nobility of the contestants in a non-mortal combat or palestral games, this Theseus now wants two hundred knights armed for the lists in every respect potentially slaying one another. The winner out of Palamon and Arcite will marry the passive Emelye as a gift of Fortune parading as Theseus who seems to be abandoning his power of choice whilst designating the way the decision will be settled. He promises to be a true and impartial judge but he will accept only the death or capture of one of them. "Yow thinketh" is impersonal meaning "if it seems to you" and he is blunt and tyrannical where Boccaccio's ruler is always courteous: "Seyeth youre avis and holdeth you apayd" [satisfied.] This will be "youre ende" [the end of the quarrel] and it seems that he is also hypocritical in trying to make it appear they have any choice in the matter which will finalise the dispute by death. His speech contains words of honour such as "trouthe", "wisely", and "trewe" but the issue is savage. In sycophantic fashion the two rivals are overjoyed as is everyone else in another externalised display of emotion because Theseus has done "so fair a grace " [favour but with Christian implications]: they all fall submissively to their knees after this announcement of appalling bloodshed to come. It is worth pausing to ask exactly what favour the ruler has done as a single combat or a non-mortal encounter of expertise has been turned into a massacre. The consent of the people was a vital element in the right to rule of a Medieval prince but Theseus wants merely automatic and mindless approval of his decision and the people obligingly behave like automata in a manner satisfactory to a tyrant. They are grateful for an irrational change from this private single fight to a public bloodbath and the Knight clearly approves also. He is trying to place himself inside a courtly world but we, and possibly the pilgrims, remain critically outside it as he does not fully understand the manners and mores and has not convinced us of the authenticity or appeal of Theseus or his entourage. The same women who wept at two wounded men now look forward to more unnecessary suffering, uncalled for as the source material shows. The significant change from Boccaccio is that men in this version will kill each other and Chaucer must therefore want to show how the Knight longs to describe this conflict whilst placing it in olden times: "Thebes, with his olde walles wide" as a distancing device.
Part III
The Knight now uses a skilful method of excusing his own desire to describe the expense and pomp of the tournament by claiming that people "wolde deem it necligence" if he did not do so. He clearly admires the extravagant cost of resolving the conflict between two rivals in love and the busyness that goes into the arrangements. The amphitheatre is a mile in circumference, walled and ditched and "in manere of compas" [in an exact circle] with "degrees" [tiers] to the height of sixty "pas" [feet] so that no-one's view is blocked by the person in front. We see that this means that all can savour the bloodshed. A circle symbolises order and perfection but here its contents will, ironically, be chaotic savagery. The Knight loves symmetry and recounts the fact there are two similar white marble gates at the East and West and continues with superlatives to describe the venue: "noon in erthe, as in so litel space" [none on this earth arranged in such a small space] as Theseus has employed everyone learned in geometry and arithmetic as well as artists and carvers, giving them food and wages to "maken and devyse" [plan and construct] the arena. This praise of the ruler is dotted with negatives: "ne" stressing the positive aspects by piling them on. This would be truly admirable if the contest were either necessary or a display of skill but at this point it is to be a fight to the death and, as we will later hear, with few chivalric constraints. For the conducting of rites and sacrifices, a temple to Venus has been added to the Eastern gate and, on the Western one, a temple to Mars. We are reminded that the twin main themes of the Tale are Love and War. The emphasis on wealth and display continues with the mention that the one to Mars has cost "largely [fully] of gold a fother" [cartload] and, presumably, the others have also. The mention of a cart is an inappropriate lowering of register here. To the North in white and coral alabaster is a shrine to Diana, goddess of chastity (but also hunting), constructed nobly. He goes on to describe the carvings, paintings, shape, faces and figures in the three places for prayer. The symmetry is no longer dual but triple as there are three main persons involved: Palamon, Arcite and Emelye.
In the source, the Teseida of Boccaccio, Comeliness, Elegance, Affabilty and Courtesy are portrayed as wandering arm-in-arm and so any changes from this must indicate Chaucer's intentions about the presentation of the Knight and his Tale. The account becomes close to the listener as the Knight uses "maystow se" [you may see] to encourage us to imagine the scene. The guided tour is of emblematic depictions and so they are not merely decorative but significant and Chaucer has made them more sombre than in the source, particularly in the added lines 1060-6 where the wretched consequences of passion are shown and in lines 1089-94 where destructive outcomes are revealed. These would be difficult to show in the visual arts and so there is some sleight-of-hand involved. In this version by Chaucer, the murals stress broken sleep, cold sighs, devoted tears and lamentation and the fiery strikes of desire (fire being a leitmotif in the Tale). Service to Venus is a miserable affair here as are the "othes that hir covenantz enduren" [the oaths with which they seal their promises]. In the list of qualities we see that Venus is amoral and that good and bad are mixed: "Pleasaunce [pleasure] and Hope, Desir, Foolhardinesse/Beauty and Youthe, Bauderie [gaiety], Richesse/Charmes and Force, Lesinges [lies], Flaterye/Dispense [extravagance], Bisynesse [labour]; and Jalousye". Good and bad consequences will follow from such an influence where there is no differentiation and no sense of rational judgement. In the Middle Ages, colours had a fixed emblematic quality: yellow for jealousy, blue for constancy, green for inconstancy, and the introduction of the cuckoo, symbolising cuckoldry and infidelity as a cause of jealousy, emphasises the unhappiness and untrustworthiness of love. In Boccaccio there are birds of all kinds. "Festes [banquets], instrumentz, caroles [ring dances], daunces/Lust [desire] and array [adornment]", painted in order on the wall do little to lighten the mood and we feel that the rest, which the Knight does not describe, would have the same gloomy undertone, making us sense that the outcome of this love rivalry will contain tragedy.
A slip on Chaucer's part equates Cythera, island home of Venus or Cytherea, with Mount Citharon, home of the Muses, but this was a common error and not a sign that our Knight is ignorant. Everything there is shown in Theseus' comparable temple and this descriptio is a vehicle for ideas about love. Idleness is the porter of the garden of love in the Roman de la Rose and this is followed by a list of figures from scripture and classics connected with love, a device which would have been popular in the Middle Ages. Whereas Boccaccio included real love, this account mentions Narcissus, the self-lover, and the account of those not forgotten is peppered with stressed negatives: "Nat... ne" including anaphora by repeating them at the start of several lines for further emphasis. From all Solomon's qualities, the folly of his love is chosen for portrayal and the list is composed of those who fared miserably in love: Narcissus died by looking at his own reflection in a pool out of vanity; Solomon was misled by his lovers; Hercules (who made fifty girls pregant in one night) was murdered with a poisoned shirt sent by his jealous wife; Medea killed her own children; Circe turned men into animals; Turnus with his "hardy fiers corage" [daring fierce spirits] was dispatched fighting for the love of Lavinia; rich Croesus was degraded (but not for love in this case). Venus has universal power and often uses it to destroy people and bring death and misery. "Ye seen" is another example of the Knight's inviting us to imagine what we could not see even if we were there, as it could not be depicted accurately and in detail - but the point is made that nothing can share power, "holde champartie", with the omnipotent, luring, amoral, and malign Venus, goddess and planet. Not beauty nor "sleighte" [trickery], strength nor "hardinesse" [boldness] can challenge her since she guides the world "as hir list" [as she pleases], according to her whim rather than the victims' merit. The metaphor of a snare, "las", picks up on the imagery of capture and prison throughout and people are seen as manipulated by her until they cry out "allas!" The Knight summarises as is in accord with the rules of rhetoric by saying that he has given one or two examples, exempla, and he assures us that more instances could be given, though we note that we have had more than a couple already. The account has been full of conflict, ill-fortune and wretchedness with no realisation of happiness in love. Perhaps the Knight has never encountered it and sees in love only another version of violence not differing much from that of war: the two themes are both savage to him.
The description of the statue of Venus, goddess of sexual love, is more traditional with conventional emblems and sensuous appeal and she is often portrayed as rising from the sea. The position she takes (we recall Botticelli's Birth of Venus), the musical instrument, the roses and the "flickering" [fluttering] doves are formalised attributes with which the Knight is clearly familiar and it seems that a gentler view of her is being presented with brightness and colour: "wawes [waves] grene", delicate scents from the garland: "fressh and wel smellinge" and peaceful birds in tranquil motion but the mention of her blind son Cupid at the end changes the tone and painful destruction enters once more: "A bowe he bore and arwes brighte and kene." We are reminded that the force behind her is uncaring and that there has been scant attention to mutual or fulfilling love or indeed any love that we might recognise as such. The irony is pointed again as the amoral, alluring, omnipotent but malign Venus is in charge of the motives of two men and their entourage who are about to risk their lives in serving a woman who barely knows them and a goddess who takes no heed of merit or devotion. This may be more prominent to us than to the contemporary audience but it seems unlikely that the Knight's imagined listeners would not have picked up the bitterness of the situation and anyone reading or listening to The Canterbury Tales in reality would almost certainly recognised it, particularly when the account of the Temple of Mars follows.
It is as though the Knight cannot maintain the elevated tone of his descriptio as bathos occurs when he brusquely defends his intention to move onto the next temple: "Why sholde I noght as wel eek tell yow al [of all]/"The portreiture ..." Mars is both a mighty god and red planet and the walls of his shrine are painted like the inner rooms "estres" of the Thracian temple in the icy region where he had his "soverein mansioun" [chief dwelling, 'mansion' being also an astrological term for a sign of the zodiac, here especially belonging to Mars] and the descriptio is again a method of communicating ideas. In the Teseida of Boccaccio and the Thebaid of Statius the temple of Mars is prsided over by Valour but here a much darker side of war is evident. The walls reveal a painting of an uninhabited forest with "Knottyt, knarry [gnarled], bareyne tress olde", "stubbes sharpe" through which may be heard "a rumbel in a swough" [a rumbling and murmuring] - we note the alliteration and the onomatopoeia here as in "bresten every bough": it is a cheerless, cold and terrifying place where sights and sounds are fearful. From the long, narrow entrance of the burnished steel temple itself "gastly for to see" issues "a rage [blast] and swich a veze" [rush of wind] that the gate shakes: the light is chill and gloomy, from the North and the door of eternal adamant "Yclenched overthwart and endelong" [clamped together crosswise and lengthwise] with tough iron and every pillar holding up the temple is "tonne greet [wide as a barrel]" of bright shining iron. The Knight's tone is full of admiration for this strength but the account of war deepens into brutality in what follows, casting doubt on how power is used in wars he has known.
It does seem that he is carried away by visual pictures based on reality as he uses "Ther saugh I" as if he has been there or in battles which exemplify the underbelly of conflict. He "sees" the dark "imagining" [plannings] of Felonye [treachery] and the "compassing" [execution of them], cruel "Ire", red as a coal, the pickpocket and pale "Drede", the smiler with the knife under the cloak, the general use of "the" making it seem that he has encountered these many times and we are struck by the succinct and pointed phrase about the smiling villain. Some of the qualities are personifications of abstractions but the smiler and pickpocket are actual examples of what happens in real war. He goes on to the "shepne [stable] brenning with the blake smoke" as the innocent are affected by this, the "tresoun of the mordring in the bedde", the open wounds "al bibledde [bleeding or covered in blood]". The effect of this is to show the concrete reality of abstract ideas and how everyday life is involved through all ranks and all classes. The vocabulary and detail are powerful and we have no doubt this comes from experience as Boccaccio is less clear on some points such as "Contek [Strife]" with his bloody knife and "sharp menace". Apart from visual detail we have sounds of "chirking [a grating noise]", inhuman and horrifying. A suicide is seen with blood from the heart in his hair, a truly graphic insight to be made more gruesome by the nail in the crown of his head. Death is face upwards and in the middle sits "Meschaunce [misfortune]" looking wretched. Other abstract figures to add to the horror are: "Woodnesse [madness], laughinge in his rage", "Armed Compleint [grievance]," Outhees [Outcry]" and "fiers Outrage"; these are not concepts from chivalrous warfare but from massacres. There is the corpse in the bush, "the careyne in the busk", with his throat cut, a thousand dead but not from the plague (presumably a grotesque joke), the tyrant with his snatched prey and a town completely destroyed. There is no bravery here or heroism or comradeship, merely slaughter.
Moving to sea the Knight again uses "saugh I" which intensifies the account and describes the burning ships ( "hoppesteres" being an error by Chaucer who took the Latin words from the sources meaning 'warships' to indicate 'dancing'.) This passage is full of verbs and includes many savage scenes from what may have been mercenary warfare: the strangled hunter, the sow eating the child in the cradle, the scalded cook and the Knight seems to praise the detail where nothing of the bleak physical reality of war is omitted or the "infortune of Mars" [the ill-fortune caused by Mars]. Not even the carter overrun by his cart, lying beneath the wheel, is forgotten, a poignant detail of the harmless man killed. In Mars' company or control are the barber [surgeon?], butcher and smith who forges sharp swords on his "stith [anvil]" and we note they are all shedders of blood, the Knight being in his element picking them out for inclusion. The images of civil destruction are not in Boccaccio or Statius, who recount only blood split in war, and it was considered a scandal at the time that military conflict spread out into ordinary life. Yet there is too much relish in the telling for us to even consider that there might be a pacifist element: the Knight loves his task so much that he has no thought for the tender sensibilities of some of the pilgrims such as the Prioress. Neither does he appear determined to shock but to recall and communicate his own dark and bloody experiences. He does, after all, want to win the prize and seems carried away in the telling. Chaucer's purpose is perhaps to show how his life has been so brutal that it cannot be obliterated by the fact of being on a pilgrimage in mixed company.
The abstraction of Conquest is depicted like Damocles with a sharp sword overhead hamgimg by a "soutil" [fine] thread ready to deprive the conqueror of his glory and three famous heroes are painted in death: Julius Caesar who was murdered and Nero and Mark Antony who committed suicide, all examples of a fall from a great height of power, even though, says the Knight, with a qualification that descends to bathos, they were not born at that time. He does not explain this but pre-empts our criticism by stating that their fates were " depeynted ther-biforn" [depicted beforehand]. The threats of Mars, exactly according to the diagram of astrological forecast or horoscope as shown in the stars, control who is killed or dead for love. Bluntly, the Knight announces that one example is enough from "stories olde" although he would like to tell many - thus demonstrating vaguely his knowledge to the pilgrims. It is a world of menace, gloom and death, and love seems bitterly ironic when mentioned in this context.
The statue of Mars stands on a "carte" which has been translated as "chariot" but Terry Jones argues that it is "carroccio", a symbol of war and used in Italian states where mercenaries fought. Mars looks grim as if he were mad and we recall that the only laughter in the temples is mad mirth (l. 1153) and that insanity is a leitmotif. Over his head shine two figures of stars written about in "scriptures" [other texts]: Puella and Rubens, derived from a method of divination called geomancy whereby four random rows of dots were taken to be symbolic of the position of the stars - the Knight seems to be showing off his knowledge here, but again unaware of the possible repsonse of Christians amongst the pilgrims.The red-eyed wolf eating a man, between his feet, is a detail added by Chaucer to the source but is also an emblem of the tyrant Visconti of Milan, probably famous at that time. Red has become another leitmotif with connotations beyond those of the red planet Mars. The only comment the Knight makes is the bland praise of the expertise of the artist with his "soutil [skilful] pencel" and so we must assumes he approves of the contents as well as the method.
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