The Miller's and the Knight's Tales of Courtly Love

The Miller's and the Knight's Tales of Courtly Love

"The Knight's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale" include the concept of courtly love. Although sharing a similar concept, these two tales are very different indeed. In The Knight's Tale, the Knight explains the normal concept of courtly love. While on the other hand, the Miller tells a tale that jests about the idea of it. They are different in three main ways: the portrayal of women, the keeping of promises, and the way that knights were expected to behave.

In "The Knight's Tale" there are four main characters: Palamon, Arcite, Emily, and Theseus. Palamon and Arcite both fall in love with the beautiful maiden, Emily, while locked away in Theseus's prison. The first example of courtly love is love at first sight where both Theben knights fall in love with Emily and use words to describe her such as what Palamon says, "I do not know whether she is a woman or a goddess, but my guess is that she is in truth Venus" (Canterbury Tales Lines 242-243). When Arcite's eyes fall upon Emily he is struck with a sharp pain and cries out, "The fresh beauty of her who wanders in that place yonder works sudden death upon me; unless I have mercy and favor from her, I am but dead; there is no more to say" (Lines 260-264). This quote from Arcite tells of courtly love by saying if he cannot obtain her favor then he will die.

"The Miller's Tale" is a story that pokes fun at the idea of courtly love. In "The Miller's Tale", they make fun of courtly love by having John's wife, Alison, cheat on him with a sly and clever clerk named Nicholas, thus turning John into a cuckold. They make fun of the way women were supposed to act by making Alison very unfaithful to John and also by sticking her butt out the window to fart in the face of Absalom; this makes fun of women at that time because they were supposed to be faithful to their spouse and act like a lady, not fart in the face of one who only seeks their love and attention. Even though there are no actual knights in this story, Nicholas, as a man, should have honored the marriage of John and Alison and not have enticed her into cheating on him.

To sum it all up, in The Knight's Tale promises are mostly valued especially compared to those of "The Miller's Tale" where they do not