Tales’ summaries

The Wife of Bath’s Tale starts with a Prologue in which she gives an account of her colorful life with five husbands. The tale continues the main question of women’s desire for sovereignty over men. A young Knight rapes a maiden while she was returning home. As a punishment for his heinous act he has to discover within a year what women most desire. The Knight was searching in the whole country in search of the answer. At the end he promises to grant a wish to an ugly old hag in return for the right answer. When he has given the answer in court and secured his liberty, the old hug jumps up and demands that he marries her. The Knight begs her to reconsider and wish for something else but the old hag stubbornly refuses. The Knight marries her secretly. At night as they lay in bed, the Knight keeps on turning restlessly. The old hag asks him if he would prefer her ugly and faithful or beautiful and faithless. The Knight allows her to decide. The old woman is delighted to have won ‘sovereignty’ over her husband and rewards him by becoming faithful and beautiful all the time.

The Knight’s Tale describes how two kinsmen Arcite and Palamon fall in love with the same woman named Emily, whom they first see out of their prison window. Emily is the niece of King Theseus. Arcite gains his freedom but is banished from Athens. He comes back masked since he cannot bear to live away from Emily. In the meanwhile Palamon breaks out of prison and coincidentally meets Arcite in a forest grove. Here Theseus discovers them fighting a bloody duel. Theseus puts an end to their fight and organizes a contest to resolve their quarrel about Emily. Before the contest Arcite prays to Mars for victory while Palamon prays to Venus for the sole possession of Emily. This creates uproar in heaven and finally both the wishes are granted. Arcite emerges victorious in the joust,