Canterbury Tales Death and Mortality Quotes

He was war, as he caste his eye aside,
Where that ther kneled in the heighe weye
A compaignye of ladyes, tweye and tweye,
Ech after oother clad in clothes blake;
But swich a cry and swich a wo they make
That in this world nys creature lyvynge
That herde swich another waymentynge

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. A group of weeping widows dressed in black clothes is kneeling on the road in front of Duke Theseus’s cavalcade as he returns to Athens. No living creature in the world is said to have heard such lamentation as from them.

And swoor his ooth, as he was trewe knyght,
He wolde doon so ferforthly his myght
Upon the tiraunt Creon hem to wreke
That al the peple of Grece sholde speke
How Creon was of Theseus yserved
As he that hadde his deeth ful wel deserved.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. When Duke Theseus rides victoriously into Athens after his great military successes, he is greeted at the gates by four weeping widows. They beg for his help to retrieve the bodies of their husbands, whom King Creon has refused to allow them bury. Theseus swears to avenge the ladies’ husbands by slaying Creon.

But shortly for to speken of this thyng,
With Creon, which that was of Thebes kyng,
He faught, and slough hym manly as a knyght
In pleyn bataille, and putte the folk to flyght;
And by assaut he wan the citee after,
And rente adoun bothe wall and sparre and rafter.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. As good as his word, Theseus fulfils his promise to the widows of the men killed by the Theban king Creon. He slays the king in battle, puts his army to flight, tears down the walls of Thebes and wins the city.

O crueel goddes that governe
This world with byndyng of youre word eterne,
And writen in the table of atthamaunt
Youre parlement and youre eterne graunt,
What is mankynde moore unto you holde
Than is the sheep that rouketh in the folde?
For slayn is man right as another beest…
And whan a beest is deed he hath no peyne;
But man after his deeth moot wepe and pleyne,
Though in this world he have care and wo.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Palamon complains bitterly about the cruel gods treating men worse than the beasts. Men and animals die, but animals have no pain after death whereas man must weep and lament after his even though in this world he has cares and woe.

Hym thoughte how that the wynged god Mercurie
Biforn hym stood and bad hym to be murie.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Arcite is asleep one night when it seems that the god Mercury stands in front of him, bidding him to be merry and happier. Mercury is a messenger of the Roman gods who sometimes appears in dreams to sleepers. But he is also the god of thieves, responsible for conveying souls to the underworld. His appearance forshadows the death of Arcite on his return to Athens.

Arrayed was this god, as he took keep,
As he was whan that Argus took his sleep;
And seyde hym thus: "To Atthenes shaltou wende,
Ther is thee shapen of thy wo an ende.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Arcite notices that the Roman god Mercury who appears to him in a dream is dressed as the Greek god Hermes. Hermes was sent by Zeus to kill the hundred-eyed giant Argus, making the giant go to sleep and then crushing him with a rock. The god commands Arcite to go to Athens, where he says his woes will end. This is foreshadowing that Arcite will die when he returns to Athens.

Depeynted was the slaughtre of Julius,
Of grete Nero, and of Antonius;
Al be that thilke tyme they were unborn,
Yet was hir deth depeynted ther-biforn.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Depicted at the temple to the god of war Mars are the slaughter of great men in history like Caesar, Nero and Marc Antony. Their deaths were preordained even before they were born by this powerful god. This forewarns of a death among the knights Arcite and Palamon, in the tournament they will engage in in the stadium housing the temple.

Swelleth the brest of Arcite, and the soore
Encreesseth at his herte moore and moore.
The clothered blood, for any lechecraft,
Corrupteth, and is in his bouk ylaft…
The pipes of his longes gonne to swelle,
And every lacerte in his brest adoun
Is shent with venym and corrupcioun.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. After Arcite defeats Palamon he is thrown from his horse while taking a victory lap, when the earth is shaken by a Fury from the underworld sent by Saturn. He is mortally wounded, his chest crushed. Physicians unsuccessfully try to remove the clotted blood from around his heart with leeches.

And with that word his speche faille gan,
For from his feet up to his brest was come
The coold of deeth, that hadde hym overcome,
And yet mooreover, for in his armes two
The vital strengthe is lost and al ago.
Oonly the intellect, withouten moore,
That dwelled in his herte syk and soore,
Gan faillen whan the herte felte deeth.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. The description of the slow-motion death of Arcite, as it moves over the knight’s body. It starts at his feet, then moves up to his breast, into his two arms and finally to his heart, the dwelling-place of the intellect, says the narrator.

His spirit chaunged hous and wente ther,
As I cam nevere, I kan nat tellen wher.
Therfore I stynte; I nam no divinistre;
Of soules fynde I nat in this registre,
Ne me ne list thilke opinions to telle
Of hem, though that they writen wher they dwelle.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. The speechless Knight halts his tale after the death of Arcite. His soul has departed the body, he says, but where it has gone he has no knowledge, for he is no theologian. He knows nothing of what happens the spirit after death.

Shrighte Emelye, and howleth Palamon,
And Theseus his suster took anon
Swownynge, and baar hire fro the corps away.
What helpeth it to tarien forth the day
To tellen how she weep bothe eve and morwe?
For in swich cas wommen have swich sorwe,
Whan that hir housbondes ben from hem ago,
That for the moore part they sorwen so,
Or ellis fallen in swich maladye
That at the laste certeinly they dye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Emily shrieks and Palamon howls at the death of Arcite. But Emily has to be carried away from the corpse by Theseus and she continues to weep both evening and morning. The narrator says how some grieving women can become so ill when their husbands are gone from them that they die.

"Right as ther dyed nevere man," quod he,
"That he ne lyvede in erthe in some degree,
Right so ther lyvede never man," he seyde,
"In al this world, that som tyme he ne deyde.
This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro.
Deeth is an ende of every worldly soore."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Comforting words the wise and elderly Egeus to his son Theseus, who is momentarily helpless after Arcite’s death. He explains to his son that no man ever died that did not live on this earth to some extent, and no man ever lived that did not die. This world is a highway of woe and we are pilgrims passing to and fro with death the end of all worldly pain.

Thanne may men by this ordre wel discerne
That thilke Moevere stable is and eterne.
Wel may men knowe, but it be a fool,
That every part dirryveth from his hool,
For nature hath nat taken his bigynnyng
Of no partie or cantel of a thyng,
But of a thyng that parfit is and stable,
Descendynge so til it be corrumpable.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Theseus says that because of the order in creation and the universe, we can discern that the First Mover or God is an unchanging and eternal being. All things take their existence from God, who is perfect and stable. Natural things descend from the First Mover and become "corrumpable" (corruptible), or open to decay and death.

And therfore, of his wise purveiaunce,
He hath so wel biset his
That speces of thynges and progressiouns
Shullen enduren by successiouns,
And nat eterne, withouten any lye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. By wise forethought God has so well established his plan for the world that he has set up a system of generation, Theseus says. Things endure by successions, and not eternally. So in order for society to continue, people have to reproduce. Theseus is showing that death is a part of God’s order and plan for the universe.

Of man and womman seen we wel also
That nedes, in oon of thise termes two –
This is to seyn, in youthe or elles age –
He moot be deed, the kyng as shal a page;
Som in his bed, som in the depe see,
Som in the large feeld, as men may see;
Ther helpeth noght; al goth that ilke weye.
Thanne may I seyn that al this thyng moot deye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Theseus says that the one thing which all human beings share is that they must die, be they a king or a servant boy.

What maketh this but Juppiter, the kyng,
That is prince and cause of alle thyng
Convertynge al unto his propre welle
From which it is deryved, sooth to telle,
And heer-agayns no creature on lyve
Of no degree availleth for to strive.
Thanne is it wysdom, as it thynketh me,
To maken vertu of necessity,
And take it weel, that we may nat eschue;
And namely, that to us alle is due.
And whoso gruccheth ought, he dooth folye,
And rebel is to hym that al may gye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Theseus turns inspirational speaker here on the question of death. He says it is outside of man’s control and in the hands of the god Jupiter, who causes all things to return to their own origin from which they are derived. He advises to make a virtue of necessity, saying anyone who complains or rebels against their fate is foolish.

And certeinly a man hath moost honour
To dyen in his excellence and flour,
Whan he is siker of his goode name;
Thanne hath he doon his freend, ne hym, no shame.
And gladder oghte his freend been of his deeth,
Whan with honour up yolden is his breeth,
Than whan his name apalled is for age,
For al forgeten is his vassellage.
Thanne is it best, as for a worthy fame,
To dyen whan that he is best of name.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Theseus gets philosophical here over Arcite’s death. He says a man has more honor when he dies in the flush of youth, at the height of his fame and reputation. Palamon ought to more pleased with Arcite’s death when he died with honor, having brought no shame to his friend or himself, rather than if he died when his name and deeds were faded with age.

Paraventure in thilke large book
Which that men clepe the hevene ywriten was
With sterres, whan that he his birthe took,
That he for love sholde han his deeth, allas!
For in the sterres, clerer than is glas,
Is writen, God woot, whoso koude it rede,
The deeth of every man, withouten drede.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. This foreshadows that the Sultan’s love for Constance will end in his death – "That he for love sholde han his deeth." The Man of Law suggests that when a person is born, their fate and death is written in a metaphorical book in heaven by God.

In sterres, many a wynter therbiforn,
Was writen the deeth of Ector, Achilles,
Of Pompei, Julius, er they were born;
The strif of Thebes; and of Ercules,
Of Sampson, Turnus, and of Socrates
The deeth; but mennes wittes ben so dulle
That no wight kan wel rede it atte fulle.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. When anticipating the death of the Sultan, the Man of Law says that the death of all human beings is written in a book in heaven by God, before they are born. That includes all the great men like Hector, Achilles, Pompei, Caesar, Sampson and Socrates. But mortals are too dull-witted to read and interpret the divine book of fate.

Yeres and dayes fleet this creature
Thurghout the See of Grece unto the Strayte
Of Marrok, as it was hire aventure.
On many a sory meel now may she bayte;
After hir deeth ful often may she wayte,
Er that the wilde wawes wol hire dryve
Unto the place ther she shal arryve.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. For years Constance’s ship drifts through the seas of Greece and to the strait of Gibraltar. Her situation is dire and she has to survive on many a poor meal and often expects that she will die, before the wild waves will drive her ship to the place she finally lands. She will survive her ordeal, eventually being shipwrecked on the shores of the pagan land of Northumberland.

Who saved Danyel in the horrible cave
Ther every wight save he, maister and knave,
Was with the leon frete er he asterte?
No wight but God that he bar in his herte.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. The Man of Law interrupts his storytelling to explain why Constance survived the massacre at the wedding feast. Just like when Daniel was the only one in the cave who escaped being devoured by the lion, the devoutly Christian Constance was saved by having God in her heart.

God liste to shewe his wonderful myracle
In hire, for we sholde seen his myghty werkis;
Crist, which that is to every harm triacle,
By certeine meenes ofte, as knowen clerkis,
Dooth thyng for certein ende that ful derk is
To mannes wit, that for oure ignorance
Ne konne noght knowe his prudent purveiance.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. The Man of Law says that Constance escaped being slain at the wedding feast because God wanted to show his wonderful miracle and mighty works in the person of this viruous Christian woman. Christ does things for a certain reason that is beyond the range of human understanding.

Now sith she was nat at the feeste yslawe,
Who kepte hire fro the drenchyng in the see?
Who kepte Jonas in the fisshes mawe
Til he was spouted up at Nynyvee?
Wel may men knowe it was no wight but he
That kepte peple Ebrayk from hir drenchynge,
With drye feet thurghout the see passynge.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. God used his power over the oceans and seas to keep Constance from drowning during her ordeal at sea, the Man of Law says. Just like he delivered Jonah after spending three days and nights in the belly of a whale, and kept the Hebrew people from drowning in their passage through the Red Sea.

Under an hethen castel, atte laste,
Of which the name in my text noght I fynde,
Custance, and eek hir child, the see up caste.
Almyghty God, that saveth al mankynde,
Have on Custance and on hir child som mynde,
That fallen is in hethen hand eft soone,
In point to spille, as I shal telle yow soone.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. Constance’s ship washed up alongside a heathen castle. The Man of Laws asks the God that saves all mankind to have a thought for Constance and her child in this heathen land, where they are about to come into mortal danger.
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