ABSTRACT
The Knight’s Tale tried to exemplify the truths that lie at the heart of the fourteenth-century feudal establishment. The conflict of human passions and the dire influence of warring planets constantly threatens to dissolve the world in chaos, but behind this apparent chaos lies an eternal, immutable hierarchical order. In the social and political realm this order is represented by the institution of chivalry, which gives form and beauty to the otherwise savage pursuits of love and war. Chivalry is patterned upon the grand cosmic design of the Prime Mover who has bound all elements in a “faire cheyne of love.” Man’s duty is to accept his lot within the universal order and make a virtue of necessity. In Theseus’s words: Whoso gruccheth ought, he dooth folye, And rebel is to hym that al may gye. (I.3045–46)
