The Walking Dead in Chaucer's Knight's Tale

Abstract

Palamon and Arcite, the lovesick heroes of Chaucer's Knight's Tale, live in a stasis that they themselves perceive. For them, that stasis lies not in their perpetual imprisonment by Theseus, but in their suspended love affairs with Emelye. Prisoners of love even beyond their political status as prisoners of war, they languish together “in angwissh and in wo” (I 1030).1 The pair's initial narrative appearances bring them to the verge first of physical death, and then of frustrated romance: liminal situations that compromise their sense of identity. They first emerge in the tale as casualties of Theseus's war against Thebes, hidden within a pile of dead bodies, where they too appear as bodies without character or living identity: wounded, but with no details on the origins of those wounds; paired together by their coats of arms, but with no revealed history of their connectedness or common origins. In this sense, they are the walking dead: “Nat fully quyke, ne fully dede they were” (I 1015). When taken to Theseus and sentenced to life imprisonment, their story peters out before it has really begun; then, one May morning, they each in succession glimpse Emelye outside the prison window but can do no more than fall hopelessly in love with her. At this point of seasonal rebirth in the garden below, the tale stops in its tracks again, as neither knight sees any way to win her; the two knights are now caught in doubled states of inaction as though to reflect the originary scene where Palamon and Arcite lay most literally between life and death. When Arcite concludes to Palamon, “Love, if thee list, for I love and ay shal;And soothly, leeve brother, this is al.Heere in this prisoun moote we endure,And everich of us take his aventure”(I 1183–86), his words underline the sense of a perpetually frustrated desire that leads to no end. The two knights remain as bodies bereft of history, lacking any substantial causes or characteristics developed through their past history to motivate their future actions or aventures. The center of the tale proceeds, therefore, with no overtly sustained history, merely the sense of loss of a past ungrounded and already fading in the memories of its putative protagonists. Its stasis, then, becomes artificial, a sort of anti-stasis that suggests the continuation of a past but with no cohesive past to continue.Such lack of cohesive pasts characterizes the tale and the career of its narrator on several structural levels. These levels interlock with each other much as do the layers of authority (or putative authority) and order in the tale, from individual knightly action, to Theseus's controlling role, to the determinations of the pagan gods, as others have already shown.2 On the broadest structural levels, the gaps in forward movement throughout the Knight's Tale begin to pull askew the living identities and life trajectories of knighthood as inorganic or unnatural, as though uncertainly grafted upon failing roots. Lee Patterson, in discussing the need for historicist literary criticism, pinpoints how “for postmodernity, nostalgia has replaced memory…. Nostalgia is a sanitized moment of fulfillment that encourages us to think of the present not as the effect of a historical process but simply as a place of loss.”3 Such a structure of thought defines the world of the Knight's Tale; there, already, in the lives of Palamon and Arcite, the present sheds its backing in historical process to become an ostentatious marker of loss: loss of life, loss of freedom, but equally (and paradoxically) loss of stasis and of the upon its loss of stasis, the tale an In its out of and historical the Knight's Tale in the stops and of its a of and an of reflect the narrative and place of the tale, and they as I to a of origins but on no of for become of past to in Chaucer's of Tale, of the any historical of have by a historical and and knights themselves and their from becomes to to an one is one has and as in the lives of this historical The with his with the that his of future historical in the a a between and defines the by knightly that are and those the of for a in their as where and In his suggests a to life, this one and on than on and one can within one sees the of that bring as to the of the a and of the more for the has of the has them the other that are by the for their become more to this of words his on the and of on a within the of and how this for the through together the of those of Chaucer's more to or physical and neither and or as Chaucer's knights In Chaucer's the of the with and as the is for his (I and (I In a career that and has for and has to his a than of or his the In the Knight's and in the Knight's beyond the details of how has his the past as and by individual actions in it (I or the (I the past as a by of and the (I of his (I a (I a (I a to and out of of The and of his his his knightly in to a as as the that first (I by two of his (I this of the historical it of the from his first where has already his in the of by the of the Knight's in its and than its on a history to its of this between and its history, how take in and the the and the of knights and but to an of their their take too to In his as in Chaucer's the and of more than the history to those words in the Knight's Tale a with and history to upon of the of of Theseus that his and Theseus's within an historical that defines them as and and of by their as or to the that have that and that to and become fully in the of to for to of this by a that Theseus in (I The history of more than the history of to the two the history of becomes a it the of history and or than the of upon Theseus's words are in their of and its on in out of to of as or as in the of the knight in knights out and in on as or as that can and as and on Theseus's to the the on his first that with (I is as though their of the to Theseus to his of and his actions and the the of for individual the stasis of upon the of on a a of that in if not in historical In the those of the two but a those In in with of order and authority in of the of the against and the and of and of In in and in in that and their of and have to if not of the stasis to the of life of the suggests that war war, and the no of any between the actions with his of knight in a world where nostalgia not replaced the of and that the of as a knight of are as to by point the between the of and their on the one on the other the desire of to their present world as of of of and in his of and its in the the or in of in sense of and to and of between the knights to the Theseus's in the Knight's Tale, Theseus has the of Thebes, in the of Palamon and Arcite of the the (I as the are from the the and the how and knights to the of in it an as to how they to their and even then they When a to without of the and their to the Theseus, the (I and it to has of those in his lies in with the of Theseus's in his of the (I actions become even in the narrative than those of the us to the of and the are in one and Chaucer's no for the the are for their dead than in the it that this of and to the of the Knight's Tale, and that as the of knights or others are In any their Theseus to to of the by the from his and his the Tale the Knight's Tale the between and history that through to an with knights to past them to an not in the historical of how his of outside of the the of and without a Such in of knightly of a of that through Theseus, actions and than reflect the of knightly In one Theseus Palamon and Arcite their them in the on with and (I the the of the to Theseus's and a of and that the moment from its historical by themselves from the through the a the of the Knight's Tale way to the of a in the in The in of the from of to the of and of the Knight's Tale and its of the the For as the of the the more than the the in and the in a the Knight's Tale, where the becomes narrative and the The of and of the the and the to the the the with of and with The of Theseus from war, the their with of and other together with and In the of and of the of war and and how and are through the of In the a past for as in a of a past and is as though the knights by to and They are by of a and the of even in the of the The of in a of the between individual and the actions of states or in by with their or political an in with to individual outside the concludes that In and the as the and its in the and even more its in their as an from the they the more they as as the on more in life and thought in that as order in its to as a to as an The and to the in from its the Knight's In the most Theseus by the between Palamon and Arcite, and then by to (I When his the is The of the they with a that is no of Theseus's actions simply to reflect order by the on Theseus's and the of The Tale becomes a to before of order a lack of between authority and the and are now to the to reflect a moment in its of as it no but a in a it a of on past causes but from those causes and their historical in the Knight's Tale a of of or that the of movement a have its structure and with and between stasis and forward the of history the tale The history, an for the tale, Palamon and Arcite as they the in the of life and not his his and his his past his in a way that his future and the of Palamon and Arcite appear to forward without the past in the most for their stasis in their stops or no to their how the Knight's Tale a I on of the the imprisonment, to and the of the Chaucer's of the Knight's Tale of by the of the narrative to The Knight's Tale gaps between individual and of where on the in between Chaucer's and its The of the is in the Knight's Tale, but its and its The of the Tale is much than that of the the between and the of Palamon and is a in the in the Knight's and to the narrative For is a of a sense of a that out of individual than Palamon and Arcite out of with their the Knight's Tale imprisonment the that the knights in prison for a an of but a from the of The of in the Knight's Tale is as as for the before by and by (I suggests not that their imprisonment one but that those and are for the In the of and becomes to in the individual and of the of this of is to of a and life, and identity. The Knight's Tale and love with life and death. Theseus's upon the two them the of life by the of their and to in no in a in angwissh and in Palamon and his no In the of and any with life of or suggests the of as much in as in the of their At this point they are by and by their perpetual we through their to and throughout a knights are of an of imprisonment, the and of their and lives that of life or and they really the narrative no even of or how this first of their lives though to reflect the sense of the of this for them more in its than in or the garden in a more living May and than the May with (I in the moment than in to the narrative from the stasis that it with the imprisonment of Palamon and for them their first where literally with a (I by them life and a imprisonment in the of a history and for them their war not Palamon and Arcite equally or in living for The Knight's Tale stasis for the prisoners by the through how they their in I first (I a scene and of the of their imprisonment, and as of their For the first the two themselves as with Palamon Emelye as the of Arcite the of love of the or his or or to therefore, Palamon and become to as if their together with their individual of the narrative stasis that suspended remain by love even outside prison love a stasis to and by to remain through the and more by the any to life outside the two an life for by Theseus's to to and then has Theseus to the to take others for now to do and within of and the two for remain of this Chaucer's Emelye in the of two the living that The two and it can in before Emelye their they suspended in a of now they suspended in a of with of individual and therefore, in the of love and in the Knight's Tale, where the knights through their of life and their to in Palamon literally his with suspended death. first his love by I now that (I as though can his love for Emelye in of his death. defines Emelye as the one I love and that (I his the of and the of his his of a within his his of love and its death. the lovesick Palamon as the for his more but I have and I but to Arcite sees his life is as as dead if and if Emelye. even his between two and in the the of their lives in to their and each has and in the way in love stasis suggests a from as the of Chaucer's and Palamon and Arcite within that an in they the of of with their their identities other than that of In the of each Palamon first the that they together in love Arcite that is a (I than their of and the for is (I love from and its and of that the of the of his and his love for the of I the of a (I Palamon of his but its his out of or love I love and I Palamon, its not on Emelye but on or other to love as though Palamon now even his as much any other is the to his his now is to or of other identity. to Theseus, it Emelye the I present in has become from the of his and in has become the of his then, the knights are in I in that they no of they reflect their pasts are themselves the of the have in of his that love to the for individual and to the for that that of as a a of the between and the sort of that suggests that love and in with love a point for for on the of begin for the of love as merely the of knightly not its end. Palamon and Arcite remain this of the levels of stasis the them as though in an of war perpetually in its a the in the to live than and the to not merely but through the of Arcite and Palamon together of in the of the the other a suggests a with the historical of the narrative and its of with the of and that the to throughout his much that is and in of the and that is and of an to a in with an as the most of in an of no the of war in Chaucer's where and as have to the historical of this with if a of in the the narrative in its stasis that where and of are most with Theseus Arcite without his is of of in a of Arcite from stasis is to first to and then to to Emelye. a to his of that Palamon as the narrative for a (I Arcite and out a to a in Theseus's and (I in that for a of or two in this before is to a more as Theseus's of the where for more in to of Arcite his do we that Palamon has in prison for a of (I from stasis and that of the that a Arcite to his way from to Theseus's of the as a point for how Palamon prison from a from its and where imprisonment within the of the of the in the of to has become from to and death, as Theseus upon Arcite and how they they the of and for Theseus suggests the of the from (and the need to on to fall Arcite in this where and in this his in and in no that Theseus Palamon his and to within a world of and than in the of and by Arcite and the tale how a and (I and that those to or (I or his this no to a that is than the to a sense of in to the more and or becomes the of his as Arcite out of world to in the the between Palamon and Arcite in that bring no to his In is in bring a a and a that merely and his and for one of stasis with that is more through than the of his with its of to a of that and The of Arcite of through and of the his that it a Theseus his in as his When the narrative that has this for have for but the of his and his as a that no of identity. than and and the tale this with the of how Theseus to his out of his to his Arcite his in order to his identity. In a to this of his the of within an historical is is not an knight of the living in a more is in Theseus's as though to an and upon Arcite the how and of their from their through the even as in in to historical that (or and without as with of order and knights in and on and or the from or and their in an of The to the of historical is in a of the history of already to from the of to the of in the are of in the of the process already by we can the as with of the of the Knight's Tale underline and the between love and or of as of stasis in the lives and from Palamon in a of his (I literally than Arcite of his love for and with words Palamon that his a (I the to his love with a to his the two this a as they to each other by merely the of the In the they knightly as of for to as his (I us that they the but not the to their They the of but its The to identity: it can bring neither to or to of in as we have the two have in an stasis that to from the of his no their becomes by Theseus a Arcite his movement love and death. that in the tale, as Arcite to by and as (I his the tale Arcite is to (I and The of his the of his by for his in that as now do that I have his present with an that to the of love as a (I a as to his love with to and the other his this Arcite a in love and war and in love and the of the even its with his (I that his his for suspended the of through the of the of Chaucer's of as a of throughout the the stasis that the two knights or the Knight's Tale a of stasis to its stasis that not for the that from but for narrative in the of the the that Theseus the two knights become in their their that of the of a pagan past that as as stasis on a narrative Chaucer's is not to the of a the of against to to the that the are of they of narrative out of narrative that effect defines their The are of the tale, in their of stasis, and the of the on that of the most of this of the is its stasis and lack of its of narrative and to and out from the The effect of this is to from the story as a succession of and place it more on on the of the world of the tale than its The movement of the tale in then, is in the of the and through the is more an of than a succession of a between the of the narrative and the of its to that the the I a more between the two the of the narrative is in a of its stasis, not merely but Palamon and perpetual it on its way by its an of the as much in as in and the of In the they the and of stasis in the the of the (I in a of the the of as The and the and the of the in this These from the individual the of any of or its and but no from they the and the of that ne ne ne with as the world than caught in they for The story of Palamon and Arcite becomes an to the list, narrative upon the of love to lives in than upon any where that The of love upon Palamon how it and identity: Emelye as a his of action, where and his and identities to Theseus as that (I his them by their in as Theseus in his of a and how a is (I The details of the two love with of within the In the the upon the and of love its and in the leads to an and The of love are a stasis, not for Palamon and Arcite, but in their of an of it of as their the of the of by of The of a of its and but its from individual that a At the the within the the of a The with the of the in the with with and These of but the themselves remain the of of is they in in and in the and characteristics that any individual of do not we are not even of the of as with the remain suspended in but fully we the or caught in the of with and The and remain as to the with but the to it to the of of that not upon for its but merely upon the of its Such historical the of and of that they for the of the of their than the causes and (or out of in the of this literary that their their their even their historical the of they they are historical taken out of history than taken out of their literary we the of the they no individual life beyond or before that moment of death. the situations of the tale, as Arcite his of his death. the of suggests a where individual actions outside of the historical and that them of and suspended in with but the of of or and of is fully as causes their is the that with (I that (I and wo” (I the tale with a sense of as to the and of of stasis, in or and between and between Palamon and Arcite the of I and between of desire and of Emelye has the of Palamon and for that stasis, for or for can no The is by the before the for for of that it as this in remain the moment before a

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