이동춘,  ｢기사의 이야기｣: 형식(Forms), 부조화(Incongruities) 및 초서의 의도
Dongchoon Lee, The Knight’s Tale: Forms, Incongruities, and Chaucer’s intention

Abstract 

The Knight’s Tale has often been cited as a representative example of conventional or formal style. This formalism is characterized not only by the use of rhetoric and a high style of writing but also by the use of a classical setting and the patterns and correspondences found in the Latin works. In addition, the idea of correspondence between gods and men is properly developed in the tale, and this yields an ordered, symmetrical set of characters. Considering the ordering of forms and patterns along with the prominent presentation in Theseus’ sermon of the order of Nature, it is not exaggerating to assume that the Knight’s Tale is in some way about order.

However, when more closely examined, the Knight’s Tale seems to be more about disorder than order. It is through his careful manipulation of artistic patterns or forms that the narrator attempts to show the vision of order and harmony in the ideal world of chivalry. However, the poet-Chaucer tries to strip the artificiality of the Knight’s unearthly idealism and to reveal the impossibility of keeping order in real life. By adding his realistic perspective against the Knight’s idealism, Chaucer in the tale leads us to doubt the Knight’s optimistic belief in the orderly working of universe. Chaucer places the incongruent elements within the Knight’s Tale, which, disturbing the narrative flow, lead the reader to be suspicious of both the narrator and his narrative. Furthermore, it is through the narrative techniques of variety that Chaucer is at great pains to separate the Knight’s voice from his own. For example, not only in content, but in stylistics, do the loopholes in the Knight’s Tale reflect Theseus’ or the Knight’s failure in controlling more complex, harsher reality with their outmoded vision of the world grounded on the aristocratic chivalry, and their misconception of the working of divine justice. In addition, Chaucer’s voice in the Knight’s narrative is satirizing the limitations of the Knight’s chivalric mentality that a social order grounded on violence can prevail in reality.

Key Words: Geoffrey Chaucer, Knight's Tale, Narrative Techniques, Narrative Structure, Incongruities