English Literature

Chaucers The Knights Tale, though not much different in substance from many stories written today, is greatly complicated by the structural and idiomatic differences peculiar to the writing conventions of Chaucers time.  Part of the charm of the story, and part of the challenges associated with deriving a comprehensible meaning in todays idiom, is the process involved in translating ones own language into ones own language the irony is that such translation efforts are necessary and that understanding hinges on this process.  In light of these rather formidable challenges this paper will attempt to summarize the story and to make some idiomatic adjustments in an effort to render the story more familiar and accessible to modern readers.

Summary  This passage essentially tells the story of the fight by a noble knight and duke against an evil king.  Theseus, it is implied, has lived an honorable life as a successful soldier and he seems to live his life according to a fairly strict ethical code.  King Creon, on the other hand, seeks to maintain absolute power regardless of ethical considerations or social values.  As Theseus is returning home from his successful battles abroad, some widows tell him about the torments caused by King Creon.  The honorable knight is offended and promises to help dispose of Creon and to help the powerless people to regain what were once-happy lives and to bury their deceased husbands who had been killed by Creon.  The honorable and ethical knight marches to Thebes and defeats Creon.  The tyrant is dispossessed and his relatives are put in jail.  In effect, the story illustrates the horrors of authoritarianism and the desireability of chivalrous and ethical knights such as Theseus.  In many ways, it is not much different from the Star Wars battles between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.  It would be fair to conclude that many modern stories borrow from this type of story pattern.

Idiomatic Adjustments  A modern idiomatic approach might characterize the story in this manner.  There was well-respected General of Greece named Theseus  He had earned the respect of his people by serving as a soldier with distinction, by earning the respect of other countries through clever diplomacy, and by empathizing rather than harming his fellow citizens.  All was not well, however, in Greece.  The leader of Thebes, Creon, was a cruel and selfish dictator.  He killed and imprisoned political opponents and frequently displayed the dead bodies of his victims in public places.  This caused much pain for the widows of these slain men and they waited on a road to appeal the great soldier, Theseus, to help them to rid Thebes of this terrible dictator.  As Theseus motorcade approached the widows kneeling on the sidewalk, he noticed with curiosity that they were dressed in black and that they were folding their hands as if in prayer.  He ordered his driver to stop and he questioned the women.  He wanted to know whether they were attempting to insult him because his soldiering abroad had led to many deaths and the women were, after all, dressed in the color of death.  The widows replied that they meant no insult or political protest quite the contrary, they told how they had been respectable citizens of Thebes with happy families until the dictator Creon murdered their husbands and forced them to live like shameful peasants.  They told Theseus how Creon left the dead bodies in the street as a warning to political opponents or critics.  They told the great General how he refused to allow for a proper religious burial and that dogs and rodents were feeding on the rotting bodies.  Theseus was very sympathetic and outraged.  Creon, he learned, was neither honorable nor respectful of his political position and was abusing all of Greeces traditions and most scared values.

He promised to help the people and to challenge Creon.  He dropped off his wife and his sister-in-law in Athens, and then continued on with his men towards Thebes and Creon.  There would be no negotiation.  Theseus was marching now on Thebes as a great general rather than as a mere citizen or rival politician.  Only war could dislodge this evil tyrant and restore proper values and social relations.  Theseus arrived and killed Creon, routing his defenders, and the widows previous requests were attended to in the absence of the dictator.  Two of Creons henchmen, Arcita and Paloman, were identified and returned to Athens where they were sentenced to life imprisonment.  They all lived happily ever after, except Arcita and Paloman.