Theme Of Love In The Canterbury Tales - 887 Words

Literature has played a major role in conveying messages of love throughout the centuries. There exists many tales and accounts that teach important lessons to the society. The writers have taken the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about the society as a whole. For instance, in these Canterbury Tales, love has been painted in many different ways. This paper is going to explore the theme of love in these three chosen Canterbury Tales: the Knight’s Tale, the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and the Miller’s Tale. â€Å"The Knight’s Tale† is the first story in the Canterbury Tales. In â€Å"The Knight’s Tale†, love is portrayed like a disease that has the power to change the health and physical appearance of those whose love is not well†¦show more content†¦However, as she goes on with her tale, she begins to describe her love for money and how much she has made through holding back her existent feelings. Overall, she states that love given freely is cheap and meaningless. Further on into the text, the Wife of Bath’s speaks of how she loved Jankyn, her husband. At this time, the reader is able to depict that Wife of Bath is talking about real love to represent the feelings she has for Jankyn (Chaucer 181). One is able to finally connect the â€Å"Wife of Bath’s Tale† theme of love as it is obvious that after accumulating wealth from the many husbands, she finally settles down to marry a poor fellow, Jankyn. She finally got to be with t he man she longed for which for her depicts real love. In â€Å"The Miller’s Tale†, a complete mockery is made of love and everything it stands for. Chaucer makes courtly love seem so insensitive by talking about the characters in a very sexual manner and their deeds, â€Å"She was a primrose, and a tender chicken/ For any lord to lay upon his bed,/ Or yet for any good yeoman to wed.† (â€Å"The Miller’s Tale† 165-167). In this story, Absolon is trying hard to win Alison’s love, â€Å" The moon, when it was night, full brightly shone,/ And his guitar did Absalon them take,/ For in love-watching he’d intent to wake†¦Until he came unto the carpenter’s house†¦ (â€Å"The Miller’s Tale† 244-248). However, despite his efforts Alison never reciprocated his love, and insteadShow MoreRelatedEssay on the Knights Tale1622 Words   |  7 PagesDiscuss Questions The Knights Tale. 1. Do you admire Palamon and Arcite for sacrificing everything, including their friendship, to pursue Emily? Or, like Theseus, do you think its sort of stupid? 2. Are Palamon and Arcite two different characters, or the same character in two different bodies? 3. Why is Emily the only character whose prayer to the gods is not granted. 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