Lesson video

Hi, welcome to today's English lesson.

This is lesson six ,'The Canterbury Tales' series on The Knight's Tale.

Today we're going to be looking at the conflict Courtly Love and Chivalry in the Knight's Tale.

But before we make a start, let's make sure that you've got a pen and paper or something else to write on and with, and that you've turned off any notifications and apps that might distract you during the lesson.

We're going to need your full attention stare because there's some tough ideas.

So if you need to do those things, then pause the video now and take a moment to get that sorted.

All done, fantastic.

Let's make a start then.

We begin with a recap.

'The Knight's Tale' is one of a series of tales told during a pilgrimage that happens in Geoffrey Chaucer's mediaeval epic, 'The Canterbury Tales.

' In our previous lessons, we've gone over this in much more details if you want to go back and review your learning and feel free to do so in our previous lessons.

The tale is a story of Chivalry and Courtly Love.

In the story , Duke Theseus of Athens saves the lives of two Theban Knights, hurt in a battle with King Creon Palamon and Arcita are the names of these knights, but he has them imprisoned in a tower never to be released.

Let's just take a moment here to refresh our memory of the story so far.

The princes are locked in a tower by Duke Theseus Palamon sees Hippolyta's sister Emily ,from the tower.

Palamon's love is so strong, he feels a physical pain at seeing Emily.

Palamon cries out the pain that he feels in his heart.

Arcita hears Palamon cry out in pain and looks from the window.

And he sees Emily and falls madly in love with her too.

He feels the pain of love as deeply as Palamon does.

So the two princes, both locked in the tower simultaneously have both now seen Emily and both have fallen madly in love with her.

And the theme of courtly love and means that they both feel a physical pain at the sight of her.

Now, you might imagine that the fact that both Knights, Palamon and Arcita both fallen madly in love with Emily causes a bit of a problem, and you'd be absolutely right.

Palamon and Arcita have both seen Emily and through courtly love, feel duty bound to make her their love.

However, both Palamon and Arcita have also sworn an oath of loyalty to one another.

As a result, this means that both had sworn on their honour to try to help the other one in attaining love.

And this certainly is a problem that most friends wouldn't want to come across.

Let's just take a moment now to refresh our learning.

In a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video, when you do that would ask you to copy and complete the sentences below by filling in the gaps.

So there are three sentences, you're going to write them out and complete those missing gaps to make the sentences make sense.

Pause the video now.

Great effort, let's see how you got on.

So sentence one.

Courtly love is when love in works of literature features suffering and drama.

Palamon and Arcita will suffer for that love when they see Emily.

They love her so much they feel physical pain at the strength of their emotion.

Sentence two.

Chivalry is when Knights prize religion, glory and honouring women above all else.

Theseus was a chivalrous Knight and as a result when the morning women asked him immediately to go and fight Creon Athens, then he did this without question.

Sentence three.

Both Palamon and Arcita falls so deeply in love with Emily that they feel physical pain.

This physical pain as we've already stated, is referred to as courtly love.

This conflict between the Knights chivalric code, their code of honour, and their courtly love that they feel for Emily is definitely going to cause problems. Let's go back to our story now and see what happens.

This Palamon when these words he'd heard, pitilessly he watched him and answered, "do you say this in earnest or in play?" "Nay," quoth Arcita, "earnest ,now I say! God help me, I am in no mood for play!" Palamon knit his brows and stood at bay.

"It will not prove," he said," to your honour after so long a time to turn traitor.

To me who I am your cousin and your brother, sworn as we are, and each unto the other.

Palamon makes the point here that he and Arcita sworn oaths to each other, that they are cousins, literally, but equally they are brothers in arms, they are so honor-bound to help each other, that this becomes a problem in itself.

He uses language such as honour to refer to this oath, and he also discusses the concept of Palamon and Arcita being traitors to each other because they have sworn oath and are now going back on that oath.

That never though for death in any pain.

Never indeed, till death shall death partner us twain, either of us in love shall hinder other, no nor in anything, O my dear brother.

Again here Palamon makes reference to Arcita being his dear brother, not literally but his brother in arms, his brother in terms of the sworn oath that they have made to each other.

He says that until death parts them, they will never hinder never cause a problem in love for each other.

Obviously, this becomes an issue, when they both have seen Emily.

But that instead, you shall so further me ,as I shall you.

All this we did agree.

Such was your oath and such was mine also.

You dare not now deny it, well I know.

Palamon makes this step into Arcita, being very clear that both have sworn an oath to help each other in matters of love.

We've come across some new language there then, the concept of oath.

An oath is a promise that he's made to do something.

An oath is a sworn vow that shouldn't be broken.

The knight swore an oath to protect his Lord's lands.

The key word oath here means that both Palamon and Arcita have sworn and unbreakable Promise to help each other in matters of love.

However, on seeing Emily, both seem prepared to break this promise.

Let's take a second now to just check our understanding.

Why is Palamon so angry with Arcita? In a second, I'm going to ask you to pause the video and decide which option of the four on the screen is the reason why Palamon is angry with Arcita.

Is it option one, Arcita has sworn an oath to love Emily? Is it option two, that Arcita refuses to swear enough to help Palamon? Is it that option three, Arcita breaking is off to help Palamon in matters of love? Or is it option four, Arcita is breaking is off to never fall in love? Pause the video now and make a decision.

Great effort, let's see how you did that.

So why is Palamon so angry with Arcita ? Well, it is option three.

Arcita is breaking his oath, the same oath that Palamon has made to him to help Palamon in matters of love.

They've both promised to help each other out when it comes to love.

So we can see here exactly why Palamon is so angry with Arcita.

Let's return to our story.

Nay false Arcita shall not be so.

I loved her first and told you all my woe, as to a brother and to one that swore to further than me, as I have said before.

Again here Palamon's states that he saw Emily first and told Arcita that he had fallen in love with this vision that he had seen outside the fact that his brother or brother in arms Arcita sworn to further him in acts of love suggests to Palamon that he feels he is the rightful claim to Emily's love.

In a second, I'd like to pause the video again we have a question.

Why just Palamon feel he has the rightful claim to Emily's love? You're going to decide which of the four options on the screen most fit this answer.

Is it option one, Palamon saw her first and exclaimed his love.

Is it option two , Palamon's saw her even though he didn't tell Arcita.

Is it option three, Arcita swore that he would never get in Palamon's way in matters of love? Or is it option four, Palamon is the older of the two and so should have first claim.

Make sure you read that question carefully.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you think you've got that one right.

Let's see how you've done.

The answer is of course, option one.

Why does Palamon feels he has the rightful claim to Emily's love? Well Palamon's saw her first and exclaimed his love to Arcita.

You would then argue that it was Arcita duty to help Palamon in matters of love.

This stage you would argue that if anyone has a rightful claim to Emily's love then Palamon seems to have it.

But let's find out what Arcita thinks as we return to our story.

Then this Arcita proudly spoke again.

"You shall, he said" be rather false than I, and that you're so I tell you utterly, for par amour I loved her first, you know.

What can you say? You know not, even now.

Whether she is a woman or goddess.

Arcita argues that when Palamon saw Emily, he wasn't sure whether she was a real woman, a mortal human or a goddess.

Why does Arcita feel that he has the rightful claim to Emily's love? In a second, pause the video and decide which of these four options fits the answer best.

Is it option one, Arcita saw her first but did not tell Palamon.

Is it option two, Palamon saw her even though he didn't tell Arcita.

Is it option three, Palamon thought was a Goddess while Arcita loved her as a human.

Or is it option four, Palamon is sworn an oath to help Arcita in all matters of love.

Pause the video now make a choice.

Great efforts.

I hope you didn't find that too challenging.

Let's find out what the real answer was.

It was of course option three, Palamon felt that I thought Emily was a Goddess while Arcita loved her as a human.

And this is why Arcita feels that his claim to Emily's Love is the rightful one.

He feels that Palamon loved her as a Goddess not a human, and therefore his oath to help him in matters of love doesn't really count.

It would seem that Arcita claim to Emily's a bit of a technicality.

Let's see what he says in the remainder of our story.

And therefore the king's court, o my brother, it's each man for himself and not for other.

Love if you like for I love and aye shall, and certainly dear brother that is all.

At this point Arcita makes it very clear that the concept of Palamon loving her as a Goddess isn't very, very clear.

And so he makes the ultimate statement in courtly love in matters of love, it's each man for himself.

And ultimately, they don't have to go by that oath and try to help each other out and support each other in matters of the heart when it comes to the same woman.

Chance to check our understanding here then, true or false? There's four statements for each of them.

I want you to tell me whether it's a true statement or a false statement.

Statement A, the Princes had sworn an oath to help each other in matters of love, true or false? Statement B, Arcita sees Emily first and so has a rightful claim to Emily.

Statement C, Arcita says that it should be each man for himself.

And statement D, Palamon thinks Emily is a Goddess.

For each of these, put true or false.

Feel free to write a T or F depending on whether you feel it's true or false.

Pause the video now and complete this activity.

Okay, let's see how you got on there.

Statement A, the Princes sworn oath to help each other in matters of love, this is very much true.

It's one of the in all things to do with love.

They would support and help each other.

Statement B, Arcita sees Emily first and so has a rightful claim to Emily.

No, it's Palamon that sees Emily first and that is why he feels he has the rightful claim to Emily.

But as we know, Arcita has got other ideas.

Statement C, Arcita says that it should be each man for himself.

That's true, he feels that his arguments that Palamon thought that Emily was a Goddess and therefore he has the rightful claim doesn't hold a lot of water.

So he makes the statement that in matters of courtly love, each man is for himself.

Statement D, Palamon thinks Emily is a Goddess.

Well, this is what Arcita claims, but in fact, we would argue that Palamon probably is using a metaphor, and he's suggesting that Emily is like a Goddess.

If you got all four of those correct, then congratulations.

If not, at any point, you can always go back in the video and review your learning so far.

Let's move on.

So we've been learning about a new concept here, the conflicts between the two Knights , the conflict that they feel between their chivalric code and the courtly love that they feel for Emily.

The two Knights' conflict over their love for Emily sets The Knights Tale up as what is referred to as a mediaeval romance.

A mediaeval romance follows the story of an Knight who struggles to uphold the expectations of the code of chivalry in the face of courtly love.

We can see how this is echoed through the Knight's Tale.

Stories of mediaeval romance, will often follow a very similar pattern.

A chivalric Knight will journey in search of glory.

The Knight encounters a beautiful woman who makes him break his oath.

The Knight redeems himself and pays penance for breaking his oath.

I'm sure you can see this echoed in a lot of stories that you'll have come across through your other learning.

We can certainly see the conventions of mediaeval romance shown in a lot of literature.

Let's take a look at one now.

One mediaeval romance that's very common, is Sir Gawain and the Green Knights.

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knights , Gawain journeys to slay the Green Knights, along the way he falls in love with the Lord's wife.

Gawain owns up to what he has done and accepts his punishment.

We can see here that Sir Gawain travels in search of glory.

He meets a beautiful woman, the Lord's wife, who makes him break his oath of chivalry.

He then redeems himself by owning up for what he has done and accepting his just punishment.

It follows the mediaeval romantic conventions.

Another key element of the mediaeval romantic conventions is that a Poetic Metre.

Now all the way back in lesson One, we spent a considerable amount of time talking through the poetic metre of the Knight's Tale.

And we discussed the idea of Iambic Pentameter.

A traditional mediaeval romance often follows the metre of Iambic Pentameter.

The two syllable pairs, called iambs, symbolise the beating of a heart.

That paired rhyming line ends, called heroic couplets, also symbolise the love between two people.

We can see how this echoes the feeling of love and the feeling of life that we see throughout the Knight's Tale.

That's just remind us of what that looks like in practise.

And they're upon down on his knees, he fell and said, O Venus, if it be thy will to be transfigured in this garden.

Thus before me sorrowing wretch oh now help us.

Out of this prison to be soon escaped.

And if it be my destiny is shaped.

By fate to die in durance, in bondage, have pity then, upon our lineage.

You can see from the backslashes this is where the paired iambs divide up the line.

We have five pairs of lines.

Iambic pentameter, and they're upon down on his knees he fell.

Each paired line fell and will end with a rhyme fell ,well, thus ,us escaped, shaped, bondage lineage.

These are called heroic couplets.

And if you remember back to Lesson One, we note these by saying AA, BB, CC, DD and so on rhyme scheme.

And I'm sure you can hear from the beats of the line, the symbolism of the heart beating and the heroic couplets bringing the idea of two people coming together.

Let's take a moment then to review what we've learned.

Why do mediaeval romance tales often follow iambic pentameter? In a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video.

When you do that, I'd like to just choose which of the four options best answers that question.

Why do mediaeval romance tales often follow iambic pentameter? Is your option one, because Iambic pentameter mimics normal speech.

Is it option two? Because iambic pentameter gives a nice flow to the words.

Is it option three? Because iambic pentameter is a traditional way of writing, or is it option four? Because the paired syllables mimic the beating of a heart.

Pause the video now make your choice.

Okay, let's see how you got on.

The correct answer is option four the reason that mediaeval romance uses iambic pentameter is because the paired syllables mimic the beating of a heart, though interesting, all three other options are also true.

However, the reason behind it is that symbolism of the beating heart.

Okay, onto our main activity now.

In a second, I'm going to ask you to pause the video and then follow the instructions on the next slide.

Sentence expansion activity.

In a moment I'm going to ask you to pause the video and write out and expand these three sentences.

Number one Palamon feels Arcita is a traitor because.

explain it from your learning why Palamon feels that Arcita is a traitor to their oath.

Two, Arcita feels that he has the rightful claim to Emily because.

From your learning tell me how Arcita feels he has the rightful claim to Emily's love.

And finally, three, mediaeval romance is when.

From your learning in this lesson explain what mediaeval romance is.

Pause the video now and complete the sentences.

Okay, let's check how you've done that.

Sentence one then, Palamon feels Arcita is a traitor because.

we could have written Palamon feels Arcita is a traitor because he saw Emily and fell in love with her first.

This is true, it was Palamon looked down to the tower and saw Emily first and fell madly in love with her.

We could have developed this answer further however, Palamon feels Arcita is a traitor because the two of them had an oath to help each other in matters of love.

And Palamon explained his love for Emily first.

This emphasises the fact that the pair of them Palamon an Arcita had an oath and it is the breaking of this oath that in Palamon's view makes Arcita a traitor.

Let's look at sentence two.

Arcita feels that he has the rightful claim to Emily because.

We could have written , because Palamon only loved Emily because he thought she was the Goddess, Venus.

This is true, Palamon does make the statement that he feels that Emily is the Goddess Venus.

Though we would argue that this is probably a metaphor for how beautiful and how much in love, he feels he is with Emily.

We could have developed the answer further of course, and say Arcita feels he has the rightful claim to Emily because he loved Emily as a human woman, while Palamon thought she was a Goddess.

Arcita says that each man is for himself in matters of love.

This answer has some depth here, it looks at the idea that Emily was a human woman.

And this is the reference to love.

Palamon, according to Arcita, thought that she was the Goddess Venus, and therefore this negates goes around the idea that this have had to be held up.

We also add to this, the fact that Arcita seems to think that this argument about the Goddess doesn't hold much water, as he adds to it the concept of courtly love.

He says that each man is for himself in matters of love, and it doesn't have to stand by itself.

Let's look at sentence three.

Mediaeval Romans is when a night breaks off for love this very the story in a nutshell of what a mediaeval romance is, and it covers the bare bones and night breaks he chivalric off for courtly love.

However, we could have developed this answer further and said mediaeval romance is when a knight goes against his code of chivalry because of courtly love.

It often uses iambic pentameter, to symbolise love with a heartbeat.

And what this answer does is it develops the concept of courtly love and chivalry mentioning those two technical terms specifically, it also adds that second sentence the idea that iambic pentameter is used to symbolise love with the beating heart.

Don't forget, if you haven't used words exactly like these three sentences, then don't worry.

As long as you're using similar terms, and the gist of your answer is very much the same.

Then you're doing a fantastic job.

Now, you've worked incredibly hard today covering some really difficult concepts.

We've looked at mediaeval romance, we've looked at courtly love and chivalry, and we've looked at the conflict that brings between Palamon and Arcita.

But I know that some of you are up to an extra challenge.

So in a second, I'm going to ask you to go on to the next slide, and take a moment to read through the extra challenge question.

In a second, we're going to ask you to pause the video and try to answer the following question.

Try to answer the following question as part of your review work on this lesson.

Who do you think has the rightful claim to Emily's love? In your answer, you should consider the following things, the code of chivalry, the princes oath of loyalty to each other, and courtly love.

Think of all three of these things, and answer the question that if anybody has a rightful claim to Emily's love, who is it in your opinion? Now, I'm not going to give you the answer to this question.

I'd like you to think about it, develop it based on all of your learning so far.

Best of luck.

Okay, we've come to the end of today's lesson then, and you've worked so hard.

This was the sixth lesson in the Canterbury Tales the Knight's Tale.

And today we've looked at conflict courtly love chivalry, and the problems that these two things cause between Palamon and Arcita.

If you've missed our previous five lessons, feel free to go back through and remind yourself of all the things that have happened so far between Palamon, Arcita, Emily, and Theseus of course.

In a second when the video finishes, I'd like you to use that time to review your learning.

There's a few things I'd like you to do.

Go back through your notes from today's lesson and pick a new piece of vocabulary, something that you've just learned, or something that you've got a deeper understanding for, for this lesson.

Secondly, I'd like you to you to review the plots from today's lesson.

There's been some extra things that have happened to Palamon and Arcita.

And I'd like you to go back through remind yourself of what has happened.

And lastly don't forget to complete those exercises.

If you haven't downloaded the worksheet or the downloadable resource, then go back and do that now and make sure you complete that exercise, especially the extra challenge one.

See you next lesson when we look at lesson seven on the Canterbury Tales, The Knight's Tale.