Palomon: character analysis in the knights tale

In the Knights Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer there are two main characters that both fall in love with the same woman. The character Palomon truly loves the woman, Emely, while his cousin Arcite does not seem to truly love her. Palomon is the more sensitive of the two and is more religious than Arcite. Palomon bases his life around religion, which has many morals and values for you to follow. Through the story, he sometimes ends up breaking these morals and values or enforcing them in order to win Emely.

When Palomon and Arcite first lay eyes on Emely, Arcite tells Palomon ” For Par Amour” (pg. 04 line 298), implying that Palomon is only in love with Emely because he believes she is a Goddess, and he compared her to one on line 226. By falling in love with Emely, he has broken his vows of knighthood, and also his values of family, since his cousin is also in love with her. Palomon disregards even more values and morals when he escapes from prison. This seems very out of character from Palomon, because he does come off as very moral and value oriented. Along with disregarding morals and values, he enforces many as well.

When Theseus confronts the duel between Arcite and Palomon in the woods over Emely, Palomon is the more truthful of the two. The quote, ” I make plainly my confession that I am thilike woeful Palamoun that hath thy prison broken wickedly (page 121, line 875)”, displays Palomons confession to Theseus that he is the man that Theseus has imprisoned. He also introduces Arcite and explains the situation in honest detail (lines 861-888). Also, before the great tournament, where Arcite and Palomon are set to battle of Emely’s love, Palomon prays to Venus, the Goddess of love.

This clearly shows that Palomon is in the battle for Emely’s love and not to just win her as a trophy, as it seems Arcite is. Arcite prays to the god of war, Mars, hoping he will win the battle, not the love of Emely. ” Alas, I ne have no langage to telle th’effect ne the torments of mine helle. Mine herte may mine harmes not biwraye; I am so confus that I can not saye but mercy, lady bright, that knowest welle my thought, and seest what harmes that I feele (pg. 135 lines 1369-1374)”. This is another example of how true Palomon’s love is for Emely.

He is saying how much it will hurt him if he does not win her heart, not how much it will hurt him if he doesn’t win the battle. The only reason Palomon disregards these morals and values are because of his deep love for Emely. He also enforces other morals and values in order to win Emelys heart. Chaucer does a great job of portraying Palomons love as true, and having Palomon win the girl in the end. Palomons character analysis is very diverse, and sometimes confusing, as to if he is seen as a good person, or a bad person, but by breaking it down, it is easy to see that his character is a very strong interpretation of both.