John Gower's Tale Analysis

There is always a desire as a reader to be able to identify a hidden meaning in a tale or story, especially middle English literature. Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower were two famous authors of that time and conveniently wrote tales that seem to relate to each other in many ways, and are opposite in many ways as well. Both tales have knights being asked to make a choice, one that will affect their knighthood as well as their future. Both tales have an old hag challenging the morals of the knights, but only one tale seems to have that quintessential fairy tale ending. It makes readers ponder on whether of not this has to do with the morals and the intentions of the authors, or if the different authors simply deemed it more fitting to bring the …show more content…
In wife of Bathe there is a strong sense of pride placed on the knight and whether or not his attitude is changed at the end. For tale of florent you see a redemption happen in the knight because of his trials. Ogla C.M Fischer mentions in their article Gower’s Tale of Floret and Chaucer’s Wife of Bath Tale: A Stylistics Comparison the different representation of lessons that the authors of these two tales are imposing on the readers. For Wife of Bath it has been assumed that the knight in the story could be a comparison and relation back to Chaucer’s pilgrim, the wife of bath and all her fortunes and misfortunes. They state in the article “The Wife of Bath’s personal interest remains strong throughout the tale, there is a close affinity between the teller and the character’s tale”. In turn Fischer talks about Gower’s tale in a completely different light. It is stared in the article “This is not present in the confessor’s tale because of his lack of interest in the characters themselves. They are not, important, the moral consequences of the tale are still on the level of maritime structure…”. The point that stand out the most in this article is the comparison of how the authors and what type of ending is written for each …show more content…
Mostly Chaucer’s knight raping of a women is considered to be a very unknightly deed, so the question to be answered is why would Chaucer put a type of crime in his Wife of Baths Tale… One idea is the development of the knight as the story goes on. The knight is presented as a prideful young man who is despite to escape a death sentence for his un-chivalric actions. Be that as it may, there is no great character change or evolution seen in the knight. We read in the beginning of the story how the lusty and strong knight rapes a woman. When put on trial with the queen he is asked t to find the answer for what women most desire for his life to be spared. His saving grace is an old hag he oaths his life to before finding out what is the cost of her price. After he is released from his death sentence, the knight tries to beg his way out of marriage to the old hag rather than being faithful to his promise. Once in bed with the old hag he turns away from her in disgust rather than being faithful to his oath to her. In contrast the tale of Floret’s knight’s crime is not as much of a sanction and is significantly humbler about his punishment for his sins. The endings to these tale’s end similarly but one knight seems to be humbled by his experience with the old hag and the other does