Two Knuckleheads In Love

The Knight’s Tale depicts three distinct knightly characters; Theseus, Arcite, and Palamoun.  Each character’s persona is inevitably defined by their fighting prowess.  However, the animosity, bred from jealousy between Arcite and Palamoun fuelling their combat, and facilitated by Thesues is ultimately disingenuous.  Yet, each knightly character’s devotion to violence is unwavering.  How are we to reconcile this phenomenon; dedication to violence without sound reason?

            When Palamoun hears Arcite’s lamentation, he fiercely exclaims “Arcite, false traytour wikke… / I wol be deed, or elles shalt dye. / Thou shalt nat love my lady Emelye, / But I wol love hire oonly and namo; / For I am Palamon, thy mortal foo” (1580-1590).  Despite their familial-blood ties, since each aim for the love of Emelye, they are “mortal foes.”  That is quite a leap to take having no real betrayal befall either of them.  In addition, Palamoun goes so far as to claim Emileye as “his lady” while they really have no relationship to speak of.  Yet they quickly resolve to violence and duel ferociously as described, “Thou myghteest wene that this Palamoun / In his fightyng were a wood leon, / And as a crueel tiger was Arcite; / As wilde bores gonne they to smyte, / That frothen whit as foom for ire wood” (1655-1659).  Why does such violence erupt between them?

            It can scarcely be said that they fight in the name of love because there is no relationship to speak of between either knight and Emelye.  More so, the knights are likened to two mighty felines foaming at the mouth as though they were hunting wild boar to kill.  So if it were in fact a sort of “love” they were fighting for, we are to understand their romantic endeavor in terms of hunting and killing by wild, untamed hearts.  It becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile a sincere sense of love in any realm of the imagination as their motivation for battle.  Of course, there is the discrepancy of their assisting each other just before their duel.  “Everich of hem for to armen oother / As freendly as he were his owene brother; / And after that, with sharpe speres stronge / They foynen ech at oother wonder longe” (1651-1654).  What a strange turnaround!

            If any love exists, it clearly lies between Arcite and Palamoun who arm each other as though brothers.  Alas, violence remains inevitable.

            Theseus, along with his wife and Emelye, stumble upon them and resolve to have them wage a battle with small battalions – enabling simply an even larger display of violence against each other.  Although responsible for devising this absurd clash of forces, Theseus exclaims that no blood should be shed.  Although this seems inconceivable given the circumstances he has Arcite and Palamoun put in, I find him to be sincere in his attempt to restore a sense of peace.  Theseus’s only means of bringing peace and happiness is through his prowess of battle as when he recovers the dead husbands for the widows.  He truly does not want any harm to come about for either knight, but as a knight himself, violence is the only sensible solution – so his devotion to violence remains resolute.

            In the end, Arcite defeats Palamoun yet succumbs to fate suffering a fatal concussion from his horse’s sudden gallop.  On his deathbed, Arcite proclaims, “As in this world right now ne knowe I non / So worthy to ben loved as Palamoun” (2793-2794).  It is evident that Arcite never really harbored any ill feelings toward Palamoun and I think it is safe to assume the same for Palamoun.  They revered each other as knights, as brothers, and I think overall as lovers (one who loves). 

            I think we are to understand Arcite and Palamoun far removed from knights fighting for a woman.  When they first set eyes on Emelye, they barely even describe her physical beauty.  So there is barely even an objectification of Emelye to speak of.  The love and passion these knights, particularly Arcite and Palamoun, fight for stems from something else.

            Arcite and Palamoun are basically in love with each other.  It is not necessarily a homosexual relationship, as it is clearly not the act of sex they engage in.  But is the act of violence however, that binds them as “paramours” in their homosocial relationship.  Just as violence secured the homosocial bond between Roland and Oliver in the Song of Roland, Arcite and Palamoun are bound by the very same violence that ultimately separates them in Arcite’s death.  This is far more tragic than the “love” being won or lost of a woman barely regarded so much as to make mention of her physical features beyond her blond hair and fair hue.  But why does this love find such obstruction?  Is it purely due to the presence of Emelye?  Does the love of a woman prevent the love between men?  Herein lies the true tragedy of The Knight’s Tale, this is the love that is ever fought for and never realized.