`The Knight's Tale'の詩的構成とその意味
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概要
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In recent years, the critical emphasis on structure and texture has been mainly directed to theme and meaning, which function as means for expressing Chaucer's 'intention' in the Knight's Tale. In the first part of this paper, I tried to focus on systematic balance and symmetry in the presentation of central characters in the poem. Especially, the parallelism of the two knights, Arcite and Palamon, is significantly intensified throughout the poem. As Charles Muscatine points outs, it is obvious that "order, which characterizes the structure of the poem, is also the heart of its meaning." So, the descriptions of scene, action and characters indicate careful and precise order and contribute to the understanding of the essential and significant issue in the poem. Moreover, as Richard Neuse suggests that "the geometric design of the Knight's Tale functions more as cosmic 'mechanism' than as a means for expressing a concept of order," I went on to postulate that the whole structure of the poem represented a moving pattern which repeated itself incessantly in the realization of order and disorder as the poem progressed. I also argued that a moving pattern was largely a reflection, or a reproduction of life pattern in the universe. This conception of life represents a significant aspect of cosmic order. At the end of the poem Chaucer seems to conclude, just as Theseus does in the First Mover speech, that Arcite's death, however unjust it may seem, is a part of transcendental order which God established in this world. In the second part of this essay, I attempted to discuss the motif of the poem, which developed a conflict between love and freindship in the hearts of the two knights. No doubt this conflict reinforces the thematic development of the poem. Concerning their reactions towards love, a significant difference can be seen between their views and opinions of the two knights. Some modern scholars have argued that it reflects a difference of character between them, one being a practical man, the other an idealistic man. They have also claimed that they represent allegorically the active and contemplative lives of medieval writings. The main point is that we see the positive law established between the two knights by their oath of brotherhood denied and broken by the love law, an irresistible force which is above all laws. But their freindship has remained powerful and has been elevated to an ideal mode of human conduct and dignity. At the very end of the poem, there is a moving scene in which freindship triumphs over love. Arcite in his dying speech forgives Palamon and recommends him to Emily. At this point, A.C. Spearing points out that "Amor, is an all-powerful force operating on men from outside, but amicitia is a willed human response by which man may achieve a spiritual triumph in the very moment of bodily defeat." In conclusion, if we seek any satisfactory solution to the moral problem in the poem, no moral conclusion can be drawn in the difference between the two knights embodying apparently opposed values and moral views. We must look at their common position in relation to the universe rather than at the relationship between them, to find the real moral conclusion in the poem.