The Knight’s Tale is the first of the Canterbury Tales. His tale tells us about what is necessary to make the journey in life. The story is not just for his fellow travelers, but also especially for his son, the squire, who is traveling with him. After a great battle, his men find two young men from the vanquished army who are not dead. They are brought back to the knight’s kingdom restored to health and placed in prison. They lament their fate. They view a beautiful woman in the garden and both fall immediately in love. They quarrel, become bitter enemies. One cousin is pardoned from the prison and seeks to see the woman. The other cousin escapes, also to seek the woman. The cousins meet, battle to near death. The knight intercedes and sets a proper tournament to decide who will marry the woman. All three pray, the woman to remain a virgin, or if she must marry, to marry the man who truly loves her. One cousin prays to win the woman, the other to win the tournament. They all get what they ask for, but not what they expected. We are part of God’s great plan.
The ghost of the dead King Hamlet: is he of heaven or hell? Is he leading young Hamlet to good or evil? This problem will hover over the whole play. The ghost is tempting Hamlet to revenge King Hamlet’s murder by Claudius. This is the pattern in Shakespeare’s other tragedies: Brutus is tempted by Cassius to kill Caesar, he kills Caesar and Brutus falls. Othello is tempted by Iago to kill his wife Desdemona, he smothers her, and he falls. Macbeth is tempted by Lady Macbeth and the witches to kill Duncan, he kills him, and he falls too. The only tragedy that does not follow this pattern is King Lear. In Hamlet, the ghost is the tempter. However, that the issues are not clear says something about the problems that underline the play. The ghost further casts doubt on Hamlet’s high praise for his father by admitting dastardly deeds when alive. And finally, he shakes Hamlet’s esteem for his mother. Hamlet has nothing left to trust. The solution: kill Claudius. Hamlet has sworn to remember the ghost, to root the evil out of Denmark. His family is destroyed, the kingdom destroyed. “Why do I have to clean all this up?”
The Miller’s Tale follows the Knights Tale and is a response to that tale. It is bawdy, it is funny, it is man at his lowest, it is one long well told joke. The miller is a big man: loud, rude, bigger than life. His tale matches himself. While the knight tells of making order out of chaos, of pity for others, and understanding our roles in God’s plan, the miller tells of debauchery, chaos and disorder. The knight submits to God, the miller will do what he wants. Chaucer the pilgrim tells the readers to be careful in the reading of this tale; we may not want to read it. He asks us not to think that he is doing this for the wrong reasons. When he set out on the pilgrimage he promised to tell each story, or he would be false to his intent. It is not his intent to offend us. He has to tell all of the stories. If you don’t want to read this story, turn the page. There are many other good pious stories. It is not my fault if you read this. All of which compels us to read The Miller’s Tale.
That an unknown spirit asks Hamlet to commit murder is evidence that this is an evil spirit. Hamlet himself is not sure, questions the ghost as to who he is. Doubt. Hamlet is not thinking with a clear mind. He is pushed to the edge. There is a parallel structure in keeping an eye on the young men in the play: Laertes is being watched to see that he is not drinking, gambling, fencing, or acquainting himself with wanton women. Hamlet is watched to discover what he is thinking. Fortinbras is watched for his political activities. These are typical behaviors of young men that must be watched over by the adults. Hamlet is not ready to follow the order of the ghost. He is not ready to act. He is still bound in a world of thought. With rejection by Ophelia as well, he has lost his final source of stability. Life is becoming an awful burden for him. There is nothing left to hold onto in this world. He talks of death; not of the kings, but of his own.
The Wife of Bath’s Tale is complicated even though tale is shorter than the prologue. Before getting to her tale, she tells a great deal about herself. Loves to talk. She is a willful woman. She is a woman of size, volume and attitude, and like the other pilgrims and their tales, her tale too matches her personality. She has a fair face, a bold face, a red face. She has a gap between her front teeth, which in medieval times was considered sensuous. She has outlived five husbands and is on this pilgrimage to find her sixth. Her first three husbands were old and rich. They let her run the marriage and they are happy. The fourth husband has another woman on the side. She is losing her beauty. Her fifth husband was younger and she was passionate about him. She married a real man. She is a troubled soul, and Chaucer takes pity on her. She too has a soul to save. She admits to loneliness, a heart that is softening. She is open to spiritual guidance and can now use the help of a good priest. Her tale comes just before the Parson’s Tale, a good priest.
The Merchant’s and Franklin’s Tales continues the central theme of marriage and divine providence. The stories reflect souls that know themselves well and those souls that do not. The unexamined life is not worth living. In the Merchant’s Tale, old January is a lusty man, but cannot commit fornication. So he reasons to fulfill his passions in marriage to young May. It is marriage for the wrong reasons. He has found a loophole in God’s law. It is a sham marriage. The husband goes blind and cannot see he is being cuckolded. His sight returns and she tells him not to believe what he sees. He remains blind, both spiritually and emotionally. He does not know himself. The Franklin’s Story is about courtly love, a popular story of the time. A knight falls in love with a lady. He sails off and she worries he will die on the rocks of the coast. A squire in town falls in love with her, promises to remove the rocks to win her favor. He does. The knight returns safe, she must keep her promise, the squire says no. They all follow the new commandment: just be nice. They do not know themselves.
