Happily Ever After

When I finished reading Parts III and IV of "The Knight's Tale," I realized how that story is so romanticized. The story is just like a fairytale were an honorable knight fights for a princess who's the love of his life and he always ends up with her. Even though the style of "The Knight's Tale" is different from usual fairytales, the plot line is pretty the much the same. There's irony and sarcasm in the story, but the characters end up being just like the ones in fairytale.

For example, as I read I started to make comparisons between "The Knight's Tales" characters and characters from usual fairytales. Palomon would be the handsome wonderful knight who would do anything to be with the princess he loves. Emelye would be that princess who waits for the perfect man to be with her. Arcite is the villain who wants to keep the princess away from the honorable knight. And Thesus would be the king who makes the decision of who should stay with the princess. And at the end, the knight would fight with the villain and the honorable knight would win the princesses heart. Just like in "The Kinghts's Tale:" "For now is Palomon in complete happiness/ Living in bliss, in riches and in health/ And Emelye loves him so tenderly" (3101-3103).

Because of course, a fairy tale can't end without the perfect ending..."and they lived happily ever after."

Destructive Love

The power of love is so strong that it can even break the closest family bonds. This is the case in "The Knight's Tale." Arcite and Palomon are two cousins who have known each other their entire lives and have a very close relationship. Their loyalty belongs to each other and they stand together in any situation. When they are captured and imprisoned by Duke Thesus, they show their strong bond and true loyalty when Palomon says to Arcite: "To me, who am they cousin and thy brother/

Sworn very sincerely, and each of us to the other/

That never, though we had to die by torture/

Until death shall part us two/

Neither of us in love (is) to hinder the other" (1131-1135). This oath taken by both cousins depicts the closeness of their relationship, which seemed so strong that nothing could ever come between it.

In prison, Palomon and Arcite both watched the beautiful Emelye in the garden. Since the moment they each saw her, they both fell in love with her. The two of them truly desired her, in such a strong way that later, after Arcite was freed from prison and Palomon escaped, they both were wiling to die for her. After several years, the two cousins met and they both declared their love for Emelye. The relationship which seemed so strong between them immediately broke apart. The two cousins who once took an oath of loyalty were now desiring to kill each other. The end of their brother- like bond ended when one of them exclaimed: "Here comes my mortal enemy/ Without fail, he must be dead, or I/ For either I must slay him at the gap/ Or he must slay me, if I suffer misfortune" (1643-1646). The fact that one of them called the other "my mortal enemy" portrays the change their relationship went under. They used to call each other "brother," but love destroyed their close bond.

It is incredible how two people such as Palomon and Arcite who were once so close and so fond end up wanting to kill each other for love. Love is a powerful feeling, but is love worth the destruction of a brother-like bond?

The Journey of Literature

The poem "Migrations" by Dorian Merina talks about the ancient Manilla Galleon trade in the 16th and 17th centuries. Throughout his poem he portrays the inter-racial unions and the coming together of different cultures. When I listened to the poem all I could think about was they way Dorian Merina uses literature to describe a journey. Migration means moving from one place to another, but in his poem Merina gives it a much deeper meaning. The author uses his poem to describe the journey of the merging between cultures. For example, when he narrates the union of different people: "Blanco y India = Mestizo/Mestizo y Mestiza = Mulato..." (85-86), he succintly shows the evolution of different cultures and how they become one.

Another interesting aspect of Merina's poem is the way he manages to connect literature with movement. The words and the images of the poem help the reader visualize and feel the experience of migrations. In lines 16-18, the author says: "On the boats come the goods that cross the waters/ like veins and blood rushing/ the goods cross the waters." The choice of words of this section enables the reader to sense and illustrate the movement of the poem. As well, Merina's vivid description of the exchange goods allows the reader to understand better the motion of migrations.
Through his diction and images, the author manages to portray the journey and interactions of different cultures.