THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE

INNER BEAUTY

      In The Wife of Bath’s Tale knight raped a young girl because she was beautiful. In the following parts he kept saying “ugly, wretch, old, disgusting, poor, low class” to his wife. But she kept insisting to love him.

   He abhorred because of her appearance. After marriage, she offered him 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 like cheating him with every men who’ll try to seduce her. The knight turns the decision over to his wife, asking her to make the choice the for sake of both.

  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. 

  In this tale, Knight was caring about appearance so much. But when he started care about his wife, she chose to be both beautiful and faithful.

   However inner beauty is always more important than outer beauty.

   You may think it’s a chiseled face or a gorgeous physique that makes a person attractive. But more than anything else, it’s a person’s inner belief that they’re attractive that makes them more appealing to others.

  It’s true, physical appearances can be a bonus, but it’s something that’s easily overlooked when other traits are brought into the picture.

  Positive energy and self-confidence shine more than physical appearance.

  You’re beautiful if you believe you’re beautiful. You’re attractive if you feel attractive. Everyone only sees you as a projection of what you see when you look into the mirror.

                                                    Buket SINMAZ

THE CANTERBURY TALES

GENERAL PROLOGUE

   The pilgrims, like the narrator, are traveling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host. (He does not describe the Second Nun or the Nun’s Priest, although both characters appear later in the book.) The Host, whose name, we find out in the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale, is Harry Bailey, suggests that the group ride together and entertain one another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the best storyteller will receive a meal at Bailey’s tavern, courtesy of the other pilgrims. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the first tale.

THE KNIGHT'S TALE

      The Knight’s Tale is the story of two knights from Thebes who fall in love with the same woman, a princess of Athens named Emily. Since the two knights have apparently sworn to support each other in everything, each one's love for Emily does not go over well. 

  Summary:  Theseus, duke of Athens, imprisons Arcite and Palamon, two knights from Thebes (another city in ancient Greece). From their prison, the knights see and fall in love with Theseus’s sister-in-law, Emily. Through the intervention of a friend, Arcite is freed, but he is banished from Athens. He returns in disguise and becomes a page in Emily’s chamber. Palamon escapes from prison, and the two meet and fight over Emily. Theseus apprehends them and arranges a tournament between the two knights and their allies, with Emily as the prize. Arcite wins, but he is accidentally thrown from his horse and dies. Palamon then marries Emily.

  Analysis:  The Knight Tale is mostly concerned with two things. Chivalry And Courtly Love. The rules of chivalry included things like always keeping your promises, defending the helpless, and remaining loyal to your lord and fellow knights no matter what.  Courtly love was actually a "system" of love (the loyalty of the knight to just one person: his lady-love.), just as chivalry was a system of knightly behavior.

* Some of the information from:

-http://www.sparknotes.com

-http://www.shmoop.com