Courtly Love and Sexual Desire Theme Analysis

Courtly love is the medieval concept of expressing admiration and love in a noble, chivalrous fashion. This type of love exists outside marriage: true courtly love exists on a spiritual, idealized plane, and does not need to be physically consummated. The Knight’s Tale centers on courtly love: the two knights compete for the hand of a fair maiden. In the General Prologue, the Host’s description of the Squire, a young knight, has all the trappings of a traditional courtly lover: he wears fancy clothes, takes care of his appearance, writes music, jousts, dances, and is so passionate in his love that he can barely sleep.

Courtly love is satirized in many of the tales that do not take place among the nobility. The Miller’s Tale turns ideals of courtly love into a rude fart joke. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, a beast fable about a rooster and a fox, puts courtly love in the henhouse: Chaunticleer the cock is devoted to Pertelote, his favorite hen. Just like a noble knight, Chaunticleer uses classical references and is inspired by dream visions, and Chaunticleer’s crazy misreading of the message that he gets in the dream is what lets him get tricked by the fox.

In contrast to idealized courtly love, sexual desire also plays a large role in The Canterbury Tales. Many of the tales are bawdy and focus on physical lust. The Miller’s Tale, among several others, centers on sexual rivalry. The Wife of Bath is very frank about her relations with her five husbands.

The opening to the General Prologue introduces both noble love and carnal lust: men long to go on pilgrimages, Chaucer says, both when they feel religious zeal and physical desire. The birds singing and flowers blossoming are emblematic of both poetic and sexual awakening. Misplaced or disproportionate sexual desire drives many of the tales. Cuckolding is a major theme in many of the more vulgar tales. Chaucer uses lots of double entendres and thinly veiled dirty jokes to portray lust.

Sexual desire and courtly love both feature prominently in the debate over what makes a good marriage, which is a question that many of the pilgrims ask themselves throughout their tales. Both male and female roles are considered in the question of what makes successful and sustained relationships. The knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale must answer the question, “What do women want?”