Themes
Line 9-25, Theme of Religion: The first major shift in tone we experience in the poem is when Caucher shifts from talking about fairies to the holy friars. The poem starts off describing how happy the environment used to be when the elves were around, but they don't exist anymore due to the holy friars presence, which has ruined the kingdom's reputation.By comparing the holy friars to the fairies, it emphasizes the theme of both religion and female sovereignty, because the fairies had all the power, and times were better, which also puts more contrast between the two figures, and emphasizes Caucher's strong distaste for the church. It's important to note that throughout the existence of the Church, corruption has been a major issue. Therefore the author is trying to convey a message of dislike towards the church, and believes that those that govern it, such as the holy friars, defy the purpose of it. Specifically within the poem, the author describes how the holy friars go everywhere collecting money for God's cause, but instead of investing it back into the church, they use the money for personal enjoyment, which is a blasphemy.
Lines 40-41, Theme of female sovereignty: The King, who has the most sovereignty in the whole kingdom, so when he decides to let the Queen make a decision for him, the Queen suddenly becomes a symbol for sovereignty. Her sovereignty is further emphasized by determining the future of the knight, who acted in a dominant way towards another women. It emphasizes the theme, because Chaucer is showing that women are not to be misjudged, and that it isn't gender that determines sovereignty, because during this moment in the poem the Queen holds as much sovereignty as the King, and instead it is other qualities such as personal ones that determine whether someone is worthy of sovereignty.
Line 9-25, Theme of Religion: The first major shift in tone we experience in the poem is when Caucher shifts from talking about fairies to the holy friars. The poem starts off describing how happy the environment used to be when the elves were around, but they don't exist anymore due to the holy friars presence, which has ruined the kingdom's reputation.By comparing the holy friars to the fairies, it emphasizes the theme of both religion and female sovereignty, because the fairies had all the power, and times were better, which also puts more contrast between the two figures, and emphasizes Caucher's strong distaste for the church. It's important to note that throughout the existence of the Church, corruption has been a major issue. Therefore the author is trying to convey a message of dislike towards the church, and believes that those that govern it, such as the holy friars, defy the purpose of it. Specifically within the poem, the author describes how the holy friars go everywhere collecting money for God's cause, but instead of investing it back into the church, they use the money for personal enjoyment, which is a blasphemy.
Lines 40-41, Theme of female sovereignty: The King, who has the most sovereignty in the whole kingdom, so when he decides to let the Queen make a decision for him, the Queen suddenly becomes a symbol for sovereignty. Her sovereignty is further emphasized by determining the future of the knight, who acted in a dominant way towards another women. It emphasizes the theme, because Chaucer is showing that women are not to be misjudged, and that it isn't gender that determines sovereignty, because during this moment in the poem the Queen holds as much sovereignty as the King, and instead it is other qualities such as personal ones that determine whether someone is worthy of sovereignty.
Line 41-55, Theme of Justice and Ruling: The crime that the knight has committed is not worthy of beheading according to the Queen, because even though his crime was grave, she believes that rehabilitation would be a more appropriate "punishment" than capital punishment. This also ties in with the theme of female sovereignty, since the King wanted to kill the knight and the queen didn't, it shows that because of the Queen's eye for justice she deserves more sovereignty.
Lines 87-89, Theme of Appearances: The dancing ladies appeared to be visually pleasing, so the knight was more inclined to seek wisdom from them. Had he first seen the old hag, he would've been more reluctant to approach. This speaks to the power of appearances as we as humans are put at ease much easier when presented with something appealing to the eye. After the dancing ladies disappear and the old woman takes their place, the knight implies that the old woman is very unattractive in a highly colorful way - "a fouler person no man could devise"- showing his contempt at the appearance of such an unappealing sight.
Line 99, Theme of old age: Age is often associated with wisdom. The reason being that the many years of living have granted the old woman knowledge through many life experiences. The old hag being aware that the knight has a problem and being able to provide the knight with the answer that effectively saves his life speaks to the wisdom and knowledge gained from old age.
133-134, Theme of female dominance/sovereignty: These lines are the embodiment of the mentioned theme. That women want sovereignty over their love lives reveals that it is in a womans nature to desire sovereignty over all matters, not just sovereignty in her relationships but also sovereignty over her own being. The Author believes that what women most desire is sovereignty over all matters, and likely most especially over matters to do with her own being. Over the course of history, women's thoughts and actions have been dominated and controlled by the will of the men around them. The poem advocates for female sovereignty by giving the prominent female roles (The queen and the Loathly lady) the power to control the male figure, effectively reversing the role exemplified through the course of history.
Lines 87-89, Theme of Appearances: The dancing ladies appeared to be visually pleasing, so the knight was more inclined to seek wisdom from them. Had he first seen the old hag, he would've been more reluctant to approach. This speaks to the power of appearances as we as humans are put at ease much easier when presented with something appealing to the eye. After the dancing ladies disappear and the old woman takes their place, the knight implies that the old woman is very unattractive in a highly colorful way - "a fouler person no man could devise"- showing his contempt at the appearance of such an unappealing sight.
Line 99, Theme of old age: Age is often associated with wisdom. The reason being that the many years of living have granted the old woman knowledge through many life experiences. The old hag being aware that the knight has a problem and being able to provide the knight with the answer that effectively saves his life speaks to the wisdom and knowledge gained from old age.
133-134, Theme of female dominance/sovereignty: These lines are the embodiment of the mentioned theme. That women want sovereignty over their love lives reveals that it is in a womans nature to desire sovereignty over all matters, not just sovereignty in her relationships but also sovereignty over her own being. The Author believes that what women most desire is sovereignty over all matters, and likely most especially over matters to do with her own being. Over the course of history, women's thoughts and actions have been dominated and controlled by the will of the men around them. The poem advocates for female sovereignty by giving the prominent female roles (The queen and the Loathly lady) the power to control the male figure, effectively reversing the role exemplified through the course of history.