Preliminary Proposal
Throughout this course, there are many themes that have enthralled my interest in early medieval literature, but one that specifically excited me is the cosmic symbolism of marriage. When it comes to marriage, specifically in a Christian sense, it encompasses certain themes such as romance and courtliness. This paper will endeavor to explore that within Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. I chose two tales, ‘The Knight’s Tale’ and ‘The Wife of Bath’ to further my analysis. In the Wife of Bath story, sexual love is idealized which in turn, lowers the standard of purity and chastity in marriage. In the Knight story, the two knights compete for the hand of a fair maiden in a tale of courtly love. I will endeavor to prove how virtue in marriage between both sexes, according to Chaucer and through analyzing the Philokalia, is flawed at best and sinful at worst. Passion and chivalrously, the main driving virtues that exudes human pheromones are the rising action in any romantic relationship. I want to take these two stories, deduct them both separately and in the end, bring my conclusion through evidence that Chaucer believes marriage is inherently non-religious (based on virtue), but based on modern societal factors such as sex, romance, love, and the soul of each sex.
Sources
Jeffrey, David Lyle. Christianity and Literature Philosophical Foundations and Critical Practice. InterVarsity Press, 2011.
Mandel, Jerome. “Courtly Love in the Canterbury ‘Tales.’” The Chaucer Review, vol. 19, no. 4, 1985, pp. 277–89. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25093927. Accessed 7 Mar. 2024.
Close-Reading Quotes
- “Yblessed be God that I have wedded fyve! Welcome the sixte, whan that evere he shall. For sothe I wol nat kepe me chaast in al. Whan myn housbonde is fro the world ygon, Som cristen man shal wedde me anon” (Chaucer 212)
- The Wife of Bath, like many of Chaucer’s characters, can be shameless. In this part of her Prologue, she gleefully thanks God that she has had five husbands and declares that she will happily marry the sixth after the fifth dies. In these lines as in others, she praises marriage for its sexual pleasure, barely mentioning the Medieval value of courtly love or even affection or partnership.
- And therwithal on knees doun he fil, And seyde, ‘Venus, if it be thy wil Yow in this gardyn thus to transfigure Bifore me, sorweful, wrecche creature, Out of this prison helpe that we may scapen. And if so be my destynee be shapen By eterne word to dyen in prisoun, Of oure lynage have som compassioun, That is so lowe ybroght by tirannye.’ (Chaucer 41).
- Medieval literature was obsessed with the idea of courtly love. In this idealized relationship, described in the Knight’s Tale, a knight was utterly devoted to a woman from afar, sacrificing everything for her but never consummating the relationship. The story possesses passion but manages to reflect religious values and detail the woman’s virginity. The Knight, a symbol of chivalry, begins his tale with what seems to be an ideal example of courtly love, such as when men who are in love with a woman from afar and can never have her.
- “The practices of virtues, even though performed with care and effort, does not afford complete security to the soul unless grace transforms them into an essential disposition of the heart…But without grace the whole bevy of virtues is usually dead, and in those who appear to process them and practise them this appearance is but a shadow, a phantom of virtues and not the real things.” (St. Gregory of Sinai 53-54).
- Here is a portion of the Text on Commandments and Dogmas by St. Gregory of Sinai in the Philokalia. This quote discusses the essence of passion as a godly and Christian virtue that is essential to the “performance” of the heart, including the act of love, sexual love, and marriage as a whole. Passion, across both sexes, has always been controversial in medieval times when it comes to Christian love and marriage. Letting a woman overcome her passion, which diminishes her grace and virtue, can also diminish the sanctity of marriage and the purity of God bringing two people together in holy matrimony. At the same time, sexual desire and courtly love both feature prominently in the debate over what makes a good, passionate marriage, which is a question that many of the pilgrims ask themselves throughout their tales. Both male and female roles are considered in the question of what makes successful and sustained relationships.
Thesis Statement
Essentially, Geoffrey Chaucer in his eminent novel The Canterbury Tales, lays out a foundation in both ‘The Knight’s Tale’ and ‘The Wife of Bath’s Tale’ of the true medieval nature of lustful courtly love and pure marital stereotypes which can be analyzed as a criticism of the passionate and chivalrous virtues based on religious and Christian teachings that are necessary for a balanced, divine soul and a successful and sustained relationship.
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