Essay for Week 11: Canterbury Tale Analysis

Canterbury Tale Analysis

(The Canterbury Tales: Source)

This week I read the Canterbury Tales! I absolutely loved this unit! Probably even more so than the Native American Units the past two weeks. The idea of medieval times is fascinating to me and I love the morals that were present throughout all the stories I read! Everyone that deserved to be punished was justly reprimanded to the degree of their offense. For example, in The Story of the Summoner and The Revelers the evil summoner gets his just deserts by giving himself to the devil and the revelers are found by death because of their immense material greed!  These were really good stories. I didn’t have least favorite stories! I think I got a little agitated with the length of a few of them because of the tangents that some of them took. I don’t quite understand the purpose for all the tangents. They made sense in The Cock, The Hen, and The Fox, but not in others. The notes were perfect for the introduction to these stories, no additional information is needed! I really just wanted to enjoy all the readings for this class, and this unit definitely contributed to that! I think a lot of Americans are really exposed to British tales throughout their childhood so this unit was kind of a flashback for me. It’s just the tradition of American culture to see into the history of the state that birthed this one. I didn’t necessarily learn new things in this unit, I just saw the reinforcement of morals that I already have. Examples include, don’t disrespect women, do not let material wealth get the best of you, don’t think you can overcome death, etc. I just loved every story I read this week! By far my favorite unit, please don’t change anything with this one!

Storytelling for Week 11: What Women Really Want

What Women Really Want

(The Favored Knight of the Kingdom: Source)

Once upon a time in a land far far away from here, there lived a King and Queen and their most favored knight. This knight was the royal couple's favorite because of his ability to uphold every knightly responsibility without fail until the fateful day when he disrespected one of the kingdom's fair maidens.

As the law told at this time, the knight who disrespected a maiden was immediately sentenced to death and no one would speak of his existence again. This punishment proved to be a problem for the King and Queen because of the accused knight's favored status in the kingdom.

The King was reluctantly ready to end the life pf his favorite knight, but the Queen begged and begged for her husband to spare him. The king fell to his wife's request and gave her the power to decide whether the knight lived or died, leaving the King out of the equation.

The knight gratefully visited the Queen and knelt before her as she spoke to him in a strictly disappointed tone, "Sir knight, you have not escaped the grasp of death just yet. I will allow you to live if, upon one year's time, you return and tell me the truest desire of all women." The knight, reveling in his life's span of an additional year eagerly accepted the task and set off immediately to fulfill his Queen's request.

All over the world the knight searched for the next year. He never found a definitive answer though. Some women said riches while other said security or happiness. Not one answer held true for more than any of the others. In sadness, the knight was forced to return to the kingdom with his head lowered as he thought about the noose that was awaiting him.

Upon reaching the outskirts of the kingdom's walls, the knight came across an old hunchbacked women sitting along the tree line. "Old maiden," cooed the knight, "May I trouble you with the burdens of my heart and mind?" The old woman nodded in agreement for she was of a kind hearted nature and wanted to help the knight. "I am on my way to my death for I have failed to uncover the desire of all women at the request of my Queen." The old woman pondered the knight's statement for a moment and with her ages of wisdom decided that she knew exactly how to help him. "I will tell you the desire of any women's heart to save your life as long as you do the very first thing that I ask of you." The knight, of course, agreed for his life was on the line and the old woman whispered the secret in his ear and he was off to the Queen's court.

After the Queen received the knight into her throne room, the knight proudly told her of the discovery he had made, "Dear Queen, the utmost desire of any woman on this earth is to have complete power over their husband." The Queen sat back in her throne with a smirk on her face, not able to deny this fact, and allowed the knight to keep his life.

The knight was overjoyed that the wisdom of the old lady had saved his life and just as he was turning to enjoy his freedom, he saw the old maiden in the doorway. "Dear Mother," the knight exclaimed, "You have saved me from the noose! Please tell me what it is that you desire of me. The very first thing." The old woman's mouth gave way to a toothless smile as she said, "Take me as your wife."

The knight stopped in his foot steps as he realized he had to keep his word to this old woman. "Please madame, do not do this. Choose another request, take all my riches, my house! But please do not take my freedom."

"You must marry this elder woman, sir knight," declared the Queen from her perch, "If you made a promise to her, you must keep your word, lest I decide to take your life once and for all for, yet again, disrespecting a maiden of this kingdom."

(The Queen that held power over her husband and the favored knight: Source)

At this, the knight reluctantly took the old woman to be his wife and was respectful to her for the rest of their years together.

Author's Note: This story is from the Canterbury Tales Unit and is based off of The Unknown Bride Tale. I really like this story because of the king and queen aspect, those always get to me! In the original story, the old woman turns out to be a beautiful maiden that had taught the knight a lesson before she revealed her true self after their marriage. I liked it that way in the original, but I really didn't like the fact that the knight had disrespected a woman in the kingdom in the first place, managed to have his life spared twice by the King and Queen, and still didn't mention being sorry for whatever it was he had done to the woman. I felt that he needed to be punished for a while longer by just marrying the old woman against his will. The old woman got to live with his fortune for the rest of her days, so it worked out for her!

Bibliography: Tappan, Eva, The Chaucer Storybook: The Unknown Bride, 1908.

Week 11 Reading Diary: Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales

The Wife of the Bath's Tale: The Unknown Bride

Aw! What a cute ending! So weird that the knight had to marry the really old woman, but then so happy when she turned out to be one of the young and beautiful women that had been dancing in the forest! I wonder what it was that the knight had done to disrespect a woman...that makes me curious still. Here is the link to the other half of the story.

The Friar's Tale: The Story of the Summoner

Wow. The summoner was more evil and terrible than the Satan himself! That's so detrimental to my faith in humanity...torturing that old woman was so cruel. Serves the summoner right to go to hell! Here's the other part of the story.

The Pardoner's Tale: The Revelers

Ha! Good story. I love these. Even more so than the Native American ones. These horrible people in the stories all get what they deserve. The riches of the world will turn a man to a greedy heathen "before anyone can walk a mile". Here are the last two parts of the story: 2 and 3.

The Cock, the Hen, and the Fox

Yay! The cock survived! That fox was really smart. But the cock was smarter. I think the only reason the cock survived was because he wanted to believe the dream he had had and he also was not cocky...haha punny! He wasn't full of himself, other people were describing his greatness, not he. This was a good story. I don't know why there needed to be such an introduction to the old woman that owned him, but that's okay! That was just a tangent. Dreams do mean things and I've always thought that, this story just backs up my beliefs! Here are the links to the other 3 parts of the story: 2, 3, 4.