The first tale, The Knights Tale, is remarkable in that it tells a love story that not one person I know would be able to relate to. Even though it is so distant from us, we cannot help but be drawn in. The story goes something like this: A duke named Theseus encounters several ladies whose husbands have been killed and their cities besieged and they have been cast out. Noble Theseus sets out to avenge the innocent ladies and he takes two princes as perpetual prisoners, Arcita and Palamon. Theseus' friend visits and recommends that Arcita is set free as they once knew each other. Arcita is released on the condition that he never comes back. The problem with this banishment is that in prison Arcita and Palamon lay eyes on the fair lady Emily (Theseus' sister) and are both stricken with "love". Arcita curses the day he was born and rots away until he plots to disguise himself as a servant and go back to Athens. This disguise works and he slowly gains the respect of the duke until there is no one in all the land that the duke trusts more. Then one day, seven years later, while Arcita was in the woods hunting or something he stumbles across Palamon who had recently escaped from prison. They dispute
about the lady Emily and decide to fight like honorable men would over her. The next day during the fight the duke, his wife, and Emily stumble across the fighting men and the duke is about the kill them both when the weeping of his wife and Emily puts pity into Theseus' heart. He proposes that they go away for a year and then with exactly one hundred knights, fight for the fair lady Emily. I'll stop here because I don't want to give anything away... but the point is: both of these men are willing to go through suffering, pain, war wounds, endless waiting for a woman who they've only ever glimpsed on occasion, one whom they have little chance of ever attaining her favor, and one whom another loves as well.When I first read this I thought "how utterly ridiculous," "oh my gosh he's so dramatic... just get over it." I then stopped myself and heard that it was voice of my culture speaking in my mind. This way of love and sacrifice is unheard of because most men are lazy, they go through girls like a child with a play thing, and if that doesn't work out they go through another one. Also I've seen a lot of girls in my seemingly short life and I've never seen light coming off of a girl as it seemed to have done in this story. I've never seen a girl so beautiful that she could be compared to a goddess. But I realized that that is because our eyes see things differently. Our boys in mens clothing are taught to think that each girl is just another fish in the sea. Our hearts prepare for disappointment and so we stop fighting for what we probably won't get.
I had to force myself to stop saying "wow Arcita and Palamon are so stupid they should just get over it" because the way our culture says to love is different from their love. Our love is cheap. Our men aren't willing to sacrifice everything they have, everything they are, and everything they will be for true love. And us women are not working to be worthy of this love by being wholly beautiful, pure, and true. The reason why this "love" is not merely cheap infatuation, though it seems like it, is because of the commitment, the risk, and the cost. These men are willing to give up everything for Emily. It seems selfish, but why not go after the one woman, fairest woman, purest, most beautiful woman you know and give up everything for her safety comfort and pleasure and a life shared with you, the essence of chivalry and honor? Instead, the real selfishness lies in the modern meager hunt after what young men want in hopes of finding love. But love without sacrifice is a piteous love indeed.
This true love, though, is so secretly pure and encapsulates the beauty of this story. That is why no one can relate to this love story and that is why deep down we are hopelessly captivated.
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