Lesson video

Hi.

Welcome to today's English lesson.

This is lesson five in the series on the Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale.

Today's lesson is going to look at the Two Courtly Lovers, Palamon and Arcita, our two Theban nights.

But before we get started, you're going to need something to write with and something to write on today.

So if you want to take a moment to go and grab a pen and paper, then I'd pause the video now.

If you also want to think about turning off any notifications or apps you've got running in the background that might distract you in the lesson.

If you'd like to go and do that, then pause the video now.

Okay.

All ready? Let's begin.

Before we move on with our tale, let's have a little recap.

The Canterbury Tales is an epic poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the mediaeval period.

It is the story of a group of pilgrims on a pilgrimage.

Along the way, the pilgrims hold a storytelling competition.

And the first story is told by The Knight.

In our previous lessons, we spent a long time going through the information about pilgrims, the pilgrimage and the Knight himself.

If you'd like to go back and review your learning, you can always go back and look at the pre previous videos in the series.

So let's recap on the story so far.

The chivalrous Duke Theseus kills King Creon of Thebes in a battle.

Theseus finds two injured Theban Princes after the battle, Palamon and Arcita.

Theseus saves the Princes' lives, but decides to lock them in a tower.

He saves their lives because they fought bravely, but locks them in the tower because they're still his enemies.

And he can't afford for them to raise an army against him From the tower window, Palamon sees Emily and falls immediately in love.

Emily, if you remember is Hippolyta's sister.

Hippolyta is the wife of Theseus.

At the sight of Emily, Palamon's emotions are so strong, it feels like a physical blow to his heart.

This is known as Courtly Love.

Let's take a second to check you've understood that.

In a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video, when you do so I'd like you to fill in the three sentences by copying them out and completing the empty gaps.

That's pause the video, fill in the three sentences, copy them out and fill in the gaps.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic effort, let's see how you did there.

So sentence one.

When love in literature includes suffering and drama, it's called courtly love.

As we've already discussed, the suffering comes from the physical pain that Palamon feels when he sees Emily and falls immediately in love.

Question two.

When Palamon sees Emily from his prison, he feels physical pain to his heart.

That is the concept of courtly love.

Question three.

The emotion that Palamon feels is so strong, it causes him to cry out in pain.

It is that emotion of love that he sees and he feels that causes the pain that he feels.

If you managed to get all three of those, then congratulations.

You've done a fantastic job.

If you're not quite there yet, feel free to go back and review your learning.

Let's move on.

Despite being locked up in a tower, Palamon's love at first sight for Emily follows the tradition of courtly love.

To Palamon the love feels like a physical wound to his heart.

And thereupon he blenched and cried out "Ah" as if you'd been smitten to the heart.

Smitten meaning smote, meaning attacked to his heart.

So we've learned what happens to Palamon when he looks out the window and sees Emily.

But there's Arcita in the tower too.

Let's move on with our tale.

And at that cry did Arcita up-start asking: "My cousin, why what ails you now that you've so deathly pallor on your brow? Why did you cry out? Who's offended you for God's love show some patients as I do.

Arcita feels that Palamon is upset at being in prison, which I can completely understand.

And he's saying he needs to just basically get a grip of himself and stop being so upset about something that they can't do anything about.

Let's just double check what we mean by this.

In a moment I'm going to ask you to pause the video and you're going to look at the four options to answer the question why does Arcita think Palamon has cried out? Is it option one? Arcita thinks that Palamon is hurting from his wounds.

Is it option two? Arcita thinks that Palamon has fallen in love.

Is it option three? Arcita thinks that Palamon is in despair as a result of being imprisoned.

Or is it option four? Arcita thinks that Palamon has hurt himself.

Pause the video now and make your choice.

Okay.

Great effort.

Let's see which one you've chosen.

The answer is of course option three.

Arcita thinks that Palamon is in despair as a result of being imprisoned.

Now being imprisoned for life, it's understandable why Palamon would be so upset, but Arcita sees that he needs to be humble and understand that this is their life and accept their fate.

Okay.

You've done brilliantly so far.

Now it's time to just keep up to date with our plot.

The Princes have been locked in a tower by Duke Theseus.

Palamon sees Emily from the tower window.

Palamon's love is so strong he feels a physical pain and cries out at the pain that he feels in his heart at seeing Emily.

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

He sees Emily and falls madly in love too.

He feels the pain of love as deeply as Palamon.

Of course at this point, Arcita doesn't know the real reason that Palamon cried out.

So he explains.

It's not our prison that caused me to cry, but I was wounded lately through the eye down to my heart and that my bane will be.

The beauty of the lady that I see.

Palamon explains here that the woman that he's seen, the beauty of the lady out of the window has wounded him down to my heart.

He refers to the term bane, almost a weapon or somebody that has hurt him to the point where it's almost as though he was going to die.

Of course, I'm sure you can recognise that I am the pentameter that's being used throughout this set of lines and the heroic couplets that we mentioned in lesson one.

If at any point you want to go back and remind yourself of those, then feel free to do so.

There in that garden pacing to and fro is cause of all my crying and my woe.

I know not if she's woman or goddess, but Venus, she is verily I guess.

Palamon here talks about Emily who he's seen from the window.

And he says that he's not sure if she's a woman or a goddess.

Interestingly at this point, he makes the comparison to Venus, the Roman Goddess of love and beauty.

And it is this technicality that he says, he's not sure as to whether or not she's a woman or a Goddess that Arcita is interested in.

The Goddess Venus.

When Palamon says of Venus she is verily, he's referring to the Roman Goddess of love and beauty, Venus, the Romans named the five planets that they could see after their Roman gods and goddesses.

Venus shone the most brightly, and was the most beautiful of the planets that they could see.

And so they named that planet after their goddess of love and beauty.

Now it's unlikely that when Palamon says that he thinks she is Venus, that he actually thinks that there's a goddess walking around in the garden beneath him.

So we can assume that Palamon is using a metaphor when describing Emily.

He is saying that she is so beautiful that she may well be the goddess of love and beauty and not just a mortal woman.

Let's look at that term metaphor.

You've no doubt come across it before in your earlier lessons, but let's just review our learning here.

A metaphor is a word or a phrase used to describe something as actually being something else.

The Knight was a lion.

She cried a river.

In that first sentence, we're suggesting that the Knight is not just as brave as a lion, as strong as a lion as quick or as courageous as a lion, but he actually is a lion.

He's soft physically strong and fierce.

Now at no point is anybody suggesting that someone has knighted a lion and that the Sir Lion actually is a real life lion, but the suggestion that his physical attributes and his personality traits are so similar to a lion, he might as well actually be one.

Equally with the metaphor she cried a river.

Now at no point is anybody suggesting that a woman actually was so upset that she managed to cry out to the amount of water that would cause a river.

However the implication here is she cried so much that she might as well been crying a river.

A metaphor.

In our text we see the metaphor Venus she is verily.

And this brings out several connotations.

Firstly, Venus is the Goddess of love.

Secondly, Venus is the Goddess of beauty.

So when Palamon says Venus she is verily, he's suggesting the Emily is so beautiful and he feels such love for her that she could actually be the Goddess Venus, hence his use of the metaphor Venus she is verily.

Let's just pause for a second here and check your understanding.

In a second, I'm going to ask you to pause the video and answer the question, why does Palamon say Venus she is verily on seeing Emily from the tower window.

You've got four options to choose from.

Option one.

Palamon thinks that Emily shines like the planet Venus.

Option two.

Palamon thinks that Emily is beautiful like the Goddess Venus.

Option three.

Palamon thinks Emily is so beautiful that she could actually be the Goddess Venus.

Or option four.

Emily reminds Palamon of the stone statue of the Goddess Venus.

Pause the video now and make your choice.

Okay.

Let's see how you got on.

The answer was of course, option three.

Palamon thinks Emily is so beautiful that she could actually be the Goddess Venus, hence his use of the metaphor Venus she is verily when he sees Emily.

Now as we returned to our story, I just want to issue a spoiler alert.

Remember Palamon's words.

I know not if she's woman or Goddess, but Venus she is a verily, I guess.

He's not sure.

He states as he's mentioned the love for this woman he's seen outside, whether she's a woman or a Goddess, but he suppose she's so beautiful she must be the Goddess Venus.

And it's this technicality that's going to come back and cause him a problem when Arcita moves on.

And on that word Arcita looking to see this lady who went roving to and fro.

And in that look, her beauty struck him so that if poor Palamon is wounded sore, Arcita is as deeply hurt, and more.

So Arcita here stands and looks out of the window to see what the problem was.

What Palamon had seen, this Goddess that he'd mentioned and on seeing Emily her beauty strikes him so much that he is as wounded as Palamon.

The courtly love physically hurts him.

He's deeply hurt and more.

The physical pain that is a key aspect of courtly love is now felt by Arcita too.

Here's also been wounded by love that if poor Palamon is wounded sore, Arcita is as deeply hurt, and more.

Both men Palamon and Arcita have fallen deeply in love with Emily from the window and both have been hurt so keenly that they've felt the love as a physical wound.

So this causes a bit of a problem, doesn't it? Both Palamon and Arcita are in love with Emily.

Courtly love has wounded Palamon to the heart.

Courtly love has wounded Arcita to the heart and both feel honour bound a need bound to try to win the love of Emily.

However, there's another problem here, both Palamon and Arcita have sworn an oath of loyalty to each other.

They have professed and sworn that they will help each other and stand by each other in all matters.

Now this causes the traditional love triangle with Palamon and Arcita, swearing odds of loyalty to each other while at the same time both in conflict over the love of Emily.

And with a sigh he said then piteously: the virgin beauty slays me suddenly of her that wonders yonder in that place and save I have her pity and her grace that I at least I may see her day by day.

I am, but dead.

There is no more to say.

At this point Arcita says he is happy to remain in the prison forevermore, as long as he can look out and see Emily day by day.

He says, I might as well be dead if I can't see Emily.

She is so beautiful and he is so in love with her.

Okay.

Let's check your learning at this point.

In a moment, I'm going to ask you to pause the video.

You're then going to decide which of the following four statements are true or false.

Statement A.

Arcita is the first to see Emily.

Statement B.

Palamon says that Emily could be the Goddess Venus.

Statement C.

Knights prize loyalty above all else.

And D.

Courtly love prizes love above all else.

Pause the video now and decide which is true or false.

Feel free to write a T or a F to indicate which is true or false.

Okay.

Hopefully you didn't struggle too much there.

Let's see how you got on.

Statement A then.

Arcita is the first to see Emily.

No and that's false I'm afraid.

It was Palamon who saw Emily first from the tower window.

Statement B.

Palamon says that Emily could be the Goddess Venus.

That's true.

He does.

When he first sees Emily, he says that he thinks she could easily be the Goddess Venus.

She is so beautiful.

Statement C.

Knights prize loyalty above all else.

I'm afraid that's false.

Now while loyalty is very important to Knights, it is religion honouring women and glory that their price above all else.

Statement D.

Courtly love prizes love above all else.

Well that's true.

In the concept of courtly love, love supersedes everything else.

It is more important than all else, including oaths, religion and loyalty.

Hopefully you did well there.

If you weren't quite sure about some of that learning, feel free to go back in the video and review what you've learned.

So we learned an awful lot about Palamon and Arcita here, but what about Emily? Despite Emily being the object of both Palamon and Arcita's love neither have actually met her or heard her speak.

They have fallen madly in love with her beauty while knowing nothing of her as a person.

Even though the Code of Chivalry, which both knights live by, prizes honouring women highly, they're both fall in love with Emily's beauty alone.

This is not a very 21st Century idea.

The idea of falling in love with somebody's aesthetics, the way they look alone without considering their personality or even meeting them, seems like a strange concept to us.

Of course, the Knight's Tale isn't a modern text at all.

The Canterbury Tales was written during the mediaeval period.

Society at the time followed a patriarchal structure.

This meant that men were in charge, despite what the code of chivalry may suggest.

Some new language here then.

The word patriarchal, a patriarchal society is one in which men have more power and influence than women.

Men being in charge in society is called patriarchy.

The mediaeval period was a patriarchal society.

If you want to take a moment to write down this new language and its definitions then do so now.

A patriarchal society and the word patriarchy is one that crops up many times during literature.

So it's very important that you understand it.

Let's check that we are completely comfortable with the idea of patriarchy.

The Canterbury Tales was written in the mediaeval period, which was a patriarchal society.

Patriarchal coming from patri and archal.

Patri meaning of the father or of the Lord, and archal meaning to rule or govern.

So it is very literally that patriarchal means that the father rules or the father governs the society.

Back to Emily then.

As the Knight's Tale is told during the mediaeval period, despite being set in ancient Greece with Roman Gods of course, the pilgrims' would have lived in a patriarchal society.

And that's why Emily adheres to the patriarchal concept.

It explains why so much importance is placed on the feelings of Palamon and Arcita, our male protagonists or our male characters and why the description of Emily is limited to her beauty.

Emily has no importance in the tale except as a prize to be won by the men.

Let's take a second now to check your understanding.

In a moment you're going to choose from four options to answer the question.

Why has Emily not spoken in our tale? Is it option one? Emily has sworn an oath of silence.

Is it option two? Emily's voice and opinions are not seen as important in a patriarchal society.

Is it option three? Emily has been struck silent because of our love for Palamon.

Or is it option four? Emily's locked in a tower and so cannot speak.

Pause the video now and make your selection.

Okay.

Hopefully you didn't struggle too much with that one.

Let's see which is the correct answer.

Why has Emily not spoken in our tale so far? The answer is option two.

Emily's voice and opinions are not seen as important in a patriarchal society.

Emily is secondary in importance to our male protagonists, Palamon and Arcita, and they have priority within the Tale itself.

Okay.

You've done brilliantly so far.

Now it's time to just keep up to date with our plot.

The Princes have been locked in a tower by Duke Theseus.

Palamon sees Emily from the tower window.

Palamon's love is so strong, he feels a physical pain and cries out at the pain that he feels in his heart at seeing Emily.

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

He sees Emily and falls madly in love too.

He feels the pain of love as deeply as Palamon.

Okay onto our main activity then now.

In a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video on the next slide and follow the exercise that you can see there.

Sentence Expansion.

In a moment you're going to write out and expand the three sentences below.

Sentence one.

When Arcita sees Emily he feels.

Think about all of your learning from this lesson so far and explain to me what Arcita feels when he sees Emily.

Sentence two.

Patriarchal society is when.

From your learning so far in this video, tell me what is patriarchal society.

And sentence three.

Emily has not spoken in the tale because.

from our learning in this video, tell me why do you think that Emily has not spoken in the video so far? Pause the video now and complete those expanding sentences.

I'm really pleased to see you're challenging yourself there.

Let's see how you've got on Sentence one then.

When architect sees Emily he feels.

We could have written when architect sees Emily, he feels a pain because he's fallen in love with her.

This would be a perfectly reasonable answer.

When Arcita sees Emily, he does feel pain because he's fallen in love.

This is courtly love.

We could have developed the answer further though and said when Arcita sees Emily, he feels a physical pain that is as deep as Palamon's as a result of the suffering of courtly love.

This answer is deeper because he adds in the idea of courtly love and also compares Arcita's physical pain to that of Palamon's.

Let's look at sentence two.

Patriarchal society is when men are in charge of women in society.

This is patriarchal society in a nutshell.

It makes sense and it tells exactly what patriarchal society means.

Men are in charge and women are subservient.

However, we could have developed this answer further, patriarchal societies when men rule or govern while women have little importance except as prizes.

This answer delves deeper and adds those key terms, rule or govern that we looked at while we were looking at patriarchal root words.

In this case, it also refers to the women being important as prizes, but as little else.

This harks back to our story in the Knight's Tale, where Emily is largely seen as a prize.

Let's look at sentence three.

Emily has not spoken in the tale because.

She's a woman and so not important to the tale in mediaeval society.

This is a great answer.

It looks at mediaeval society and it refers to the fact that women at the time had little importance.

However, we always could delve a little deeper and develop our answer.

Emily has not spoken in the tale because she reflects the conventions of patriarchal society and so has less important than the male characters.

This mentioned specifically the term patriarchal society and explains that because of the conventions, the ideas behind patriarchal society, Emily has less important than the male characters in the piece.

Really impressed by how hard you're working there.

Hopefully you've had answers that are very similar to our answers on the screen.

Don't worry if they're not exactly the same, as long as the words and the language and the gist behind your meaning is similar, then you're doing a fantastic job.

That being said, I know that you can challenge yourself further.

Let's look at a challenge question now.

In a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video and you're going to have a go at our final challenge question.

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

What do you think will happen now that Palamon and Arcita are both in love with Emily.

In your answer, you should consider the Code of Chivalry, their oath of loyalty to each other, and courtly love.

All three of these elements play a part in what's going to happen between our three lovers.

Pause the video now or have a go at this challenge once the video is over and give it some real time and real thought to develop your answer further.

Okay.

We've reached the end of lesson five now on the Canterbury tales.

Really impressed by how hard you've worked.

There were some really difficult ideas there.

Time after this video finishes to review your learning.

I'd like you to do three things, please.

Firstly, I'd like you to pick a new piece of vocabulary.

It might be any of the words that we've learned today.

It may be looking at patriarchy or patriarchal society.

And I want you to remember exactly what that means and its definition.

Perhaps you could write it out a few times or think of some pictures that might refer to it and help you to remember it.

Second, I'd like you to review the plot from today's lesson.

A lot's happened between Palamon, Arcita and Emily.

And I want you to make sure that you know it ready for next lesson.

And finally, don't forget to complete those activities.

If you haven't done them during the lesson, make sure you complete them afterwards, especially that challenge activity.

And make sure you give yourself plenty of time to do a thoroughly good job.

You've done ever so well during this lesson, and I look forward to seeing you again in English lesson six of the Canterbury Tales: Knight's Tale, but until then see you next lesson.