The Knight's Tale Summary

The Knight’s Tale is the story of Palamon and Arcite. They are captured by
Theseus, the king of Thebes, and imprisoned in a tower together. The tower has
one window, which the knights spend their days looking out of.

One day, they see Emilye, the queen’s young sister, walking in her garden. Both
Palamon and Arcite fall in love with her instantly; while they fight over her at first,
they soon realize there is no point in fighting, since they’re both trapped in a
tower and therefore equally unlikely ever to meet her, let alone marry her.

Several years later, however, Arcite managers to escape the tower with the help
of a friend. He becomes a page in Emilye’s household, but does not confess his
love to her. Meanwhile, Palamon spends several more years in prison before
escaping.

The two knights meet and fight over Emilye, but the fight is broken up by Theseus,
who insists that they hold a proper tournament. Palamon and Arcite are each
given one year to build an army and return to Thebes. The tournament will be a
fight to the death, and the winner of the tournament will receive Emilye’s hand in
marriage.

The evening before the tournament, Palamon, Arcite, and Emilye each visit one of
the three shrines built into the walls of the tournament arena. Arcite visits the
shrine of the Roman god of war, Mars, where he prays to win the tournament.
Palamon visits the shrine of the Roman goddess of love, Venus, where he prays to
win Emilye’s hand. Emilye, meanwhile, visits the shrine of the Roman goddess of
chastity, Diana. There, she prays that Diana will allow her to remain unmarried,
but she states she is willing to accept whatever Diana’s will is for her.

The next day, the tournament begins. After much fighting, Arcite emerges as the
winner of the tournament, but he is thrown from his horse and suffers a fatal
injury. On his deathbed, he announces his wish for Palamon to marry Emilye.
The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale Summary

In a land populated by fairies and elves, in the days of King Arthur, a young knight
rapes a maiden he sees walking from the river one day. For his offense, Queen
Guinevere and her ladies rule that his punishment is to find out within one year what
women most desire, or else he'll be beheaded.

The knight departs on his quest to find the answer to this question, but despite
questioning women all over the land and receiving numerous answers, he cannot find
two women who agree on what women most desire.

After a year, the knight returns to King Arthur's court with a heavy heart, no closer to
knowing what women most desire. On the way, he comes across a ring of 24 fairy
ladies dancing. The fairies quickly disappear, only to be replaced by an ugly old hag.
Upon learning of his quest, the hag agrees to tell the knight what women most desire if
he promises to grant her anything she desires. The knight agrees.

The hag tells the knight what women most desire – to have sovereignty over their
husbands and lovers. The queen and all the ladies assemble agree that he is correct.
As the court is adjourning, the hag petitions the queen to force the knight to fulfill his
promise to her: she wants the knight to marry her. Despite the knight's reluctance, the
queen insists that he must do so, and the knight and hag are married.

On their wedding knight, the knight doesn't want to consummate the marriage. The hag
asks what ails him, and he tells her that she is so ugly, old, and low-class that it's no
wonder he does not desire her. This prompts a long speech from the hag on the true
origins of gentility, and the advantages of poverty and old age. The hag concludes her
speech by offering the knight a choice: either he can have her old and ugly, but a good
and faithful wife, or he can have her young and beautiful, but with no guarantee of these
other good qualities. The knight turns the decision over to his wife, asking her to make
the choice.
Once the hag has confirmed that her husband has yielded sovereignty to her, she tells
him that she will be both: young and beautiful, and a faithful, good wife to him. The
knight takes his young, beautiful wife in his arms and they live happily ever after. The
wife is not only faithful and good, but also obedient to her husband for the rest of their
lives together.

The Wife concludes her story by praying Jesus to send women "housbondes meke,
yonge, and fresshe a-bedde / and grace to'overbyde hem that we wedde" (1265-1266).
She also calls down a curse on husbands who refuse to be ruled by their wives.