English Literature

The Knights Tale is a romantic literary genre that depicts the nature of struggle and power in human life. The revolution of the simple fight between Palamon and Arcite forms the fundamental basis of friendship and struggle as the nature of human life. The Knights Tale is the first story in the Canterbury tales and sums up the motifs, themes and ideals of courtly love. The epic poem contains several characteristics of battles and fights to emphasis the classic implication of the earthly struggles that seem imperative in human life. It resonates with the themes in the entire Canterbury tales which has elicited a host of arguments and interpretation. This essay seeks to examine the tension between friendship and love by focusing on how the sworn love between Palamon and Arcite is compromised by their mutual love for Emily.

The Knights Tale portends the element of an allegory in which each character stands for a certain element of love. Set in a mythological Greece, the Knights Tale figures out what was typical of medieval as well as renaissance romances. Palamon and Arcite are two cousins who may be argued to represent the active and contemplative life of romance. The eminent duel between Palamon and Arcite for Emilys hand in marriage forms the basis on which the tension of their friendship and love ensues (Chaucer and Coghill, 2334-236). Evidently, this is characteristic to the way both of them express their distinctive concerns for Emily. Palamon and Arcite are quite similar and arguably, none of them seems to have the stronger claim of Emily.

The joys and sufferings of life are never far apart from each other and possibly, The Knights Tale borders on the instability of human friendship. This is deeply founded in the struggles in life as evident in the attempts of Palamon to have Arcite kill him if at all he has to marry Emily (Chaucer and Coghill, 137-139). Violence thus sets the stage for the sworn love for both Palamon and Arcite to be compromised and heightens the tension between their friendships. Emily, who is being fought for, complicates the friendship of the two cousins thus compromising their sworn love. She wished to remain a maiden for life and craved fro an opportunity where the two men would be have their friendship rekindled. However, she depends on fate because she will have to marry one of them. Similarly, Arcite struggles fro victory in the battle because that would mean that he marries Emily.
In addition loyalty to the law as set by the king is another pedestal on which tension between Palamon and Arcite compromises their sworn love. Theseus rule clearly indicated that nobody was bound to suffer a mortal blow in the war. In addition, if one of the fighters got tired, he was to surrender or leave the battlefield. As such, this influenced Arcite to pursue Palamon with retribution which Palamon paid back in almost the same measure (Chaucer and Coghill, 319-320). As Arcite managed to wound Palamon with a sword, Theseus declared Arcite a winner and before Arcite could take on his prize Emily, his horse throws him off and he dies eventually. Palamon is therefore left to marry Emily. This is arguably the basis on which the sworn love between the two was compromised bringing into play tension between friendship and love.

Emily proves the problem in the whole scheme of the story. This determines why and how Palamon and Arcite prepare to fight to death just because of her love. The Knights Tale is profoundly questionable in several ways because it poses the moral question that seems more essential to the particular persons. For example, after being jailed and subsequently seeing a maiden and falling in love with her without the slightest clue of whether she will love them, Palamon and Arcite exist in the tale as persons that are moved by fate and the events in the story. They allow themselves to b set apart by falling in love at first sight a primary factor that compromises their friendship and sworn love and trashes the fact that they were imprisoned together (Chaucer and Coghill, 298-299). Possibly, the tension between their friendships is further heightened by their lack of free will in the story. For instance, after their indecisive attempts to agree on who is to take Emily, it emerges that they can not take control of their own fate.

To recap, The Knights Tale offers an extensive decoration of love-hate relationship that builds tension in human relationships. Without Emily, Arcite and Palamon would probably lead a normal life within the precinct of mutual friendship and love. However, Theseus heightened the scuffle by exercising impartial judicial treatment where he released Arcite leaving Palamon prison and on his own devices. As the tale continues, it is imperative to understand that the forces of nature are bound in fate which determined the ceiling of Palamon and Arcite Relationship. From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that tension between love and friendship is issues that arise in The Knight Tale and the sworn bond between Palamon and Arcite is finally compromised by their mutual love for Emily.