Hernandez

Sylvia Hernandez
Figueroa
Senior English 1
14 December 2018
Blind to Love

Honor is an extremely important trait to have because it is the one thing that that can weigh

or put value in your words. Once one has found their reason to honor, they will find love. Geoffrey

Chaucer, born in 1343 was the first author to write to write in English and known as ‘the father of

literature” for writing about the people, for the people. His tale, “The Unknown Bride” references

the time back when King Arthur ruled, knights were upheld to their word, and women were treated

equally with respect. All things are well until one knight is sentenced to death by King Arthur for

mistreating a woman and his life is spared by the Queen, only if he can answer the question “What

do women desire most?” In Chaucer’s story a theme well displayed is love, it can be seen by the

way the King treats his Queen and how one of the knights fell in love.

In Chaucer’s story, King Arthur believes in the equality of women and men, and that they

are equal. The knights were held up to a lot of responsibility and were expected to keep their word

and respect all women, the penalty of refusal was death. “Every one of the court ladies from the

Queen down, pleaded that his life might be spared. They begged King Arthur for mercy… so that

at length he said, ‘I will give him to the Queen, and he may live or die according to her will.’”

(Chaucer 1) As the King is seen as the highest authority, he is still willing to give his Queen the

same power and puts the fate of the knight in the palm of her hands. Another theme found in

Chaucer’s story comes when he hints that true love can exist in the heart, and not what the eyes

can see. ‘“On my word I will be as true a wife as ever lived since the world was made.” Declared
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his bride. “Now kiss me once and then draw the curtain.” The knight obeyed; and when he drawn

up the curtain and turned his eyes upon her in the full sunlight, behold, she was young, fair and

charming.”’ (Chaucer 4) The knight had been saved by an older lady and he had refused to marry

her because she had wrinkles and did not appeal to his standard of beauty. When he finally took

her, for her and agreed to make her his wife, she appeared younger and beautiful and they lived

happily until the end of time.

The characters in Chaucer’s story represent true love by how the knight fell in true love

and the way the King loves his Queen and gives her equal authority. Chaucer’s beliefs include that

of honoring your word and staying true to what you say. Another belief he showed is gender

equality, seeing that women are to be treated with respect and the penalty of disrespecting a women

was death. He also poked fun at women by including a short story within his story, where one of

the characters speaks about women not knowing how to keep a secret. Overall, an important piece

to take from this story is when he mentions that at first the knight did not want to marry the old

woman, but as she promised to be faithful and loving and he took her to be his wife, she turned

beautiful and young. From Chaucer’s story, you can learn that lust does not come with loyalty and

will not guarantee you love, but love comes truthfully and lasts a lifetime.
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Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury Tales.” 1932.