The description of the images and statues adorning the Temple of Mars are filled with vivid, sanguinary imagery. The various scenes of grisly death, violence, and crime are a stark contrast to the imagery described within the other two temples and they serve a very different purpose within the tale itself. The speaker lists a variety of the gruesome scenes in specific detail: The pykepurs and the pale Drede,
The smylere with the knyf under the cloke,
The shepne brennynge with black smoke,
The tresoun of the mordynge in the bedde,
The open werre with woundes al bibedde,
Contek with blody knyf and sharpe manace […]. (1998-2003)
The bulk of the imagery is very explicit. Mars’ malign influence within the world of humankind is reflected in the concrete nouns employed by the speaker. Hidden knives beneath cloaks, burning stables, and bloody beds all relate to the …show more content…
The Temple of Mars has little to do with abstract concepts of worldly ills; bloodshed and violence are palpable manifestations of Mars’ sway over the human frame. The realistic depictions also relate to deceptions, guile, and dishonorable deeds. The purpose here is manifold: the imagery relates to the actions of Arcite, the profession of the speaker, and upon war itself. Arcite is a knight that for his own selfish motivations (however he may seek to justify them), is a breaker of oaths and a deceiver, thus his supplication to Mars within a monument to human malignity is apropos. The images with speak to treachery, subterfuge, and opprobrium, qualities that are overtly exhibited by Arcite in his self-serving quest for Emyle. Chaucer’s Knight, as previously discussed, is a character that has seen the harsh realities of battle and recognizes that the idealized concept of war does not
The smylere with the knyf under the cloke,
The shepne brennynge with black smoke,
The tresoun of the mordynge in the bedde,
The open werre with woundes al bibedde,
Contek with blody knyf and sharpe manace […]. (1998-2003)
The bulk of the imagery is very explicit. Mars’ malign influence within the world of humankind is reflected in the concrete nouns employed by the speaker. Hidden knives beneath cloaks, burning stables, and bloody beds all relate to the …show more content…
The Temple of Mars has little to do with abstract concepts of worldly ills; bloodshed and violence are palpable manifestations of Mars’ sway over the human frame. The realistic depictions also relate to deceptions, guile, and dishonorable deeds. The purpose here is manifold: the imagery relates to the actions of Arcite, the profession of the speaker, and upon war itself. Arcite is a knight that for his own selfish motivations (however he may seek to justify them), is a breaker of oaths and a deceiver, thus his supplication to Mars within a monument to human malignity is apropos. The images with speak to treachery, subterfuge, and opprobrium, qualities that are overtly exhibited by Arcite in his self-serving quest for Emyle. Chaucer’s Knight, as previously discussed, is a character that has seen the harsh realities of battle and recognizes that the idealized concept of war does not