Chaucer - The Book of the Duchess/The Black Knight

[deAdeNdz]

I've studied this piece for the last 4 months and Chaucer was really amazing. The most difficult task was working through the original Middle English...I did not read the modernized versions. Middle English is a completely different language until you get used to it...it ain't easy. If you have ever wished for a language without any strict grammatical rules...then read some of Chaucer's original works. Basically ME is a language written as it sounds in speech. Anyways, here are my thoughts on The Book of the Duchess...my favorite, and one of his earliest works.



Chaucer’s works often contain characters and events saturated with purposes that are ambiguous, elusive, and buried deep within his creative and meticulously formatted passages. In his work, The Book of the Duchess, Chaucer effectively creates an intriguing and puzzling character in the Black Knight. A victim of love, the knight suffers from his loss and grieves vehemently as he realizes the death of Blanche, the wife of the powerful John of Gaunt. At first glance it appears that Chaucer has created the Black Knight to commemorate the life of Blanche, and to console John of Gaunt, the author’s respected benefactor. However, Chaucer utilizes a surreal environment and the Black Knight’s actions to embody a much deeper intention. In Chaucer’s The Book of the Duchess, the Black Knight is a representation of the grief, misfortune, and internal turmoil that can only be realized through the hardships of life and love.
The poem opens with Chaucer’s utilization of the dream motif format. Perhaps this is to avoid offending any of his readers through potential misinterpretations, and it is also likely he chose the form to take advantage of the disconnection from reality and societal expectations that the format offers. As the poem opens the narrator informs us that no person will be capable of interpreting the dream, which is highly significant in regards to attempting to fully understand Chaucer’s motives with the Black Knight. Immediately, this claim creates a magnetic effect drawing the reader’s attention and interest further into the work, thus relieving the individual characters from scrutiny as the reader attempts to find an absolute meaning to the work.
With such an interesting and beautifully constructed opening sequence in place, we then learn of the dreamer’s interaction with the Black Knight, which is also our first look into the troubled character. During this initial encounter, the Black Knight speaks of his misery, and his inability to sleep or gather his thoughts. “I have gret wonder, be this light, How that I lyve, for day ne nyght, I may not slepe wel nygh noght, I have so many an ydel thought,” (BD. 1-5) exclaims the tortured soul. For eight years the Knight claims he has suffered from this sickness, which has obviously had a tremendous impact on his mind and his life. The illness quite clearly revolves around the loss of a loved one, a sickness described to be just as devastating as the Black Death itself. “And with a dedly sorwful soun, He made of rym ten vers or twelve, Of a compleynte to himselve, The most pitee, the most rowthe, That ever I herde…,” (BD. 462) states the knight’s observer. As the dreamer listens to the Black Knight, he describes the Knight’s lamenting as truly disheartening and is deeply affected by it. Here we find a common ground between the knight and the dreamer – both appear to have suffered from devastating experiences.
In order to fully understand the significance of the Black Knight, it is essential to try and discern who he is, and who the narrator is. Zacharius P. Thundy, a well-known and highly respected scholar and fan of Chaucer, wrote an article entitled, “The Book of the Duchess: An Elegy or a Te Deum,” in which he analyzes the two. In this article Thundy states that, “The characterization of the Black Knight as an allegory of John of Gaunt in the context of courtly love is at best unrealistic.” (9) While many interpretations of the work suggest the opposite, there are solid arguments that support Thundy’s claim. One of the most outstanding arguments that suggests the Black Knight is not John of Gaunt has to do with the dreamer. In The Book of the Duchess, the dreamer is inappropriate in his actions and words. In fact, he refers to the knight as a beardless youth, and does not share the knight’s elegiac sentiment in regards to the situation at hand. If the knight were in fact meant to represent John of Gaunt, such a statement would be interpreted as an insult and would be a highly disrespectful action towards such a powerful member of royalty. This idea is especially true since it is widely believed that Chaucer was commissioned by Gaunt himself to write this work in tribute to his beloved Blanche.
Of further importance is the historical context in which the work was produced. Research and commentaries on the background of the poem reveal a large sum of debate and inconsistency pertaining to the historical properties of the poem. As Thundy notes in his article, “It could be argued that the poem was recited before 1372, the date of the remarriage of John of Gaunt, since it would be inappropriate to represent the Duke to be grieving for his first wife after his remarriage.” (11) However, it is quite possible that, “the poem could be considered…as a poetic monument to John of Gaunt’s grief.” (Z. Thundy 11) This seems to be the case with The Book of the Duchess, as a close reading reveals a lack of any specific occasion or blatantly stated reason. Once again, Chaucer leaves his audience somewhat confused as he seems to toy with numerous layers of historical relevance, meaning, purpose, and significance. Some interpretations reveal an alarming degree of political and personal views of powerful individuals such as Richard II, Henry IV, and Chaucer himself. Although these ideas are intriguing and can be supported by the text, the spectrum and goals of this essay render tackling such claims irrelevant. There are many ideas that hover in a somewhat “grey-area” of possibility, however, it is the intention of this essay to focus on Chaucer’s initial and foremost objectives with the Black Knight rather than to prepare an overall analysis of each character, each purpose, and any political or social agendas that may have found their way into the work.
In an article titled, “The Book of the Duchess: An Elegy for the Living,” by Christian Cotroneo, the author sheds some light on the relationship between the knight and the dreamer, as well as on the respectable characteristics of the knight’s attitude and struggles. Cotroneo explains that The Book of the Duchess is preoccupied with “loss and its ramifications upon the living.” (2) Obviously, the knight being deeply affected by his loss is in a state of immense grievance and hopelessness. However, it is through this loss that the Black Knight highlights his courtly qualities, and his consistency as a gentleman. Or is it?
Although the Black Knight may show virtue and a strict adherence to the ways of “courtly love” at first glance, there is a much more realistic and less stylized reason for his expressions than it first appears. In fact, the knight is grieving over the idea that a beautiful woman, as in the flesh rather than in mind and spirit, has been lost forever. The White Lady was “the greatest lady in England at the time of her death,” (21) according to D.W. Robertson, Jr. of Princeton University, and the Black Knight mourned her death for all of the wrong reasons. This idea stems from the fact that in the work, the Black Knight is upset with Fate and Fortune for stealing away Blanche, not at the mere fact that a great woman has been lost and her exemplary human nature will forever be missed. With this in mind, Robertson makes an undeniable point: “Anyone who has read The Consolation of Philosophy with any care, and not simply as a source for more or less meaningless labels, knows that subjection to Fortune was regarded as a kind of foolishness brought on by too much concern for mere externals.” (19) The observant Robertson also goes on to say in his article, “The Concept of Courtly Love as an Impediment to the Understanding of Medieval Texts,” that the Black Knight is foolish for blaming Fate and Fortune and that he is clearly suffering from sloth, “a vice regarded during the Middle Ages as stemming from a lack of fortitude.” (19) If this is the case, and it must be based on the textual evidence, there would have been little support by Chaucer’s audience that would claim the Black Knight possessed chivalric characteristics or intentions. Although John of Gaunt may have been temporarily overcome with an attitude resembling the Black Knight’s due to the loss of Blanche, he is certainly not the Black Knight. It would have been preposterous to impose such traits on the Duke in light of the situation in its full context.
With the mentioned preconceptions of the Black Knight as John of Gaunt dismissed, or at least highly unlikely given the textual evidence, it is necessary to answer the question – who is the dreamer? Once again, just as with the Black Knight, the identity of the dreamer or narrator remains elusive. We know that the poem opens with the dreamer disgruntled by the fact that he is unable to sleep. This correlates directly to the Black Knight’s situation as he is tortured by loss and insomnia as well. As the dreamer reads a story about gods who interfere with human affairs, he soon falls asleep. One peculiarity of the dreamer is that he mentions that his bed is highly conducive to sleep. “Of clothe of Reynes, to slepe softe—Hym thar not need to turnen ofte,” (BD 255-256) he states of his fine French bedding which helps him sleep soundly. Perhaps this is a method Chaucer embraces in order to allow his characters to deal with their troubles. “To cure their insomnia the characters must be able to subconsciously admit their loss,” (1) as Raphael Sydnor discusses in his work, “Dreamer in the Knight: A Psychoanalysis of Chaucer’s The Book of the Duchess.” It is very likely, as has been suggested by numerous scholars, that the piece is not focused on death, but on the living. This idea would support the claim that both the dreamer and the knight are merely releasing their pain through different outlets. The dreamer finds his release through his stories of Gods and human relations in his dreams, and the Black Knight through his verbal outpours of despair, which are not always meant to be heard. The dreamer is also able to garner responses from the Black Knight after he learns of the knight’s story of loss, which he quickly relates to. Through these inquiries directed towards the knight, the dreamer is able to slowly move the story forward and ultimately generate more depth to the central idea of grief and loss. In a sense, Chaucer is able to form a cohesive relationship between the Black Knight, the dreamer, and John of Gaunt, all of whom suffer from the same devastating and tragic story of love.
Lastly, the interaction between the dreamer and the knight regarding the tale of loss, along with the abrupt ending to the poem, are highly significant aspects of the story and the knight’s purpose. Given the context of the situation, with the dreamer suffering from insomnia and tremendous loss, the sudden exclamation “She ys dead!” by the Black Knight appears to be a rude awakening for the dreamer. This unanticipated comment represents a devastating realization for the dreamer, who will endure a painful healing process, but ultimately come to terms with his grief. Those three powerful words symbolize a return to consciousness for the dreamer and the rest of the world who is mourning over love. The Black Knight is an example of one who has suffered from grief for too long, and he is the subconscious carrier of a potentially life saving message.
It is evident that the Black Knight is a tribute and reminder to John of Gaunt that although he has suffered a great loss, there is much more to life than worldly worries and tribulations. Blanche’s death served as an introduction to grief and the harsh realities of existence, and while overwhelming, balance is restored through the ultimate realization that death is an inescapable and important aspect of the human condition.