“Guys, today we will learn about four of the Roman Gods!”
The class seemed bored, though enthusiastic at the teacher’s blissful statement to start talking about these characters they’ve heard in the different excerpts of mythology. They had heard before, and they knew their names had something to do with some of the planets in our Solar System.
“So, who knows the name of the God of agriculture and harvest? Yes, Charlie…”
“Isn’t it Zeus?” asked Charlie, quite confused with this Roman Gods the teacher was asking for. Evidently, Charlie wasn’t the brightest man alive, and everybody in the class, and you my reader, knew that.
“Oh no Charlie, that’s a Greek God! But nice try though, anyone else? You have the word, Joseph,” the teacher gave the word to the student she knew would give her the right answer, because hearing Joseph answering a question was always a pleasure.
“Yes, Ms. Emelye, the God of agriculture and harvest in Roman Mythology is Saturn, who is, as well, father of Venus amongst other Gods.”
“You’re right Joseph! Very well explained! Yes, guys, as Joseph said, Saturn is the God of agriculture and harvest. Now, can anyone beside Joseph tell me who the God of love is?”
Now a girl, Sophie, had the answer in her mind. She was also smart, but, besides Joseph, she didn’t know that much about Medieval literature and Ancient Mythology.
“That should be Venus, Ms. E, she is the goddess of love I think.”
“Hooray! It seems to be that we are experts in Roman Mythology. Now can someone….” Before Ms. Emelye could continue with the next question Joseph interceded.
“She is wrong, Ms. Emelye, Venus cannot possibly be the Goddess of Love, as Sophie said because in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, her temple is described as ‘the broken sleeps, the cold sighs, the sacred tears, and the lamenting, the fiery strokes of the desiring that love’s servants endure in this life’ (Chaucer, 1920-23), I cannot possibly imagine the Goddess of Love being a symbol of emotional and spiritual foundations of agony. Or do you think its coherent Ms. Emelye?”
Joseph’s speech had left everybody in the classroom speechless. Ms. Emelye had realized that she had in her classroom’s desks a little whiz kid. She took a couple of second, taking a path through memory lane and remembering of The Canterbury Tales she had read in her High School years: “You are right, Joseph, Chaucer portrays Venus as the Goddess of the complete opposite of what should be called love. He portrays the impiety that love can cause, like lust, envy, or adultery. Very good point. Anything else you want to add?”
“Yes, Ms. Emelya, off course. Another God that Chaucer mentions in The Knight’s Tale, the part of the tournament between Palamon and Arcite, is Mars, the God of war. But here, he doesn’t portray him as one that withstands glory, courage, and pure nerve. Instead, his temple is one that represents ‘armed Discontent, Alarm, and fierce Violence (…) a thousand slain, and not killed by the plague, the tyrant, with his prey taken by force’ (Chaucer, 2012-15). Here, Mars is the God of murderer, hypocrisy, disaster, and treachery, not War. Chaucer portrays him as everything that causes violent dangers in humanity.”
The rest of the class was now an audience of the discussion between Ms. Emelya and Joseph. They were both in the same page, as she answered: “That’s very true, Joseph, the Knight in his tale wants to portray the Gods as the causes of misfortune in the human world. He entitles them as the responsible of misfortune, and that the Fortune shift in the world is constantly moving. As well as Diana, the Goddess of Chastity, instead of giving protection of her virginity to Emelya, she act like a force that won’t let things stay the same, therefore incentivizing change in a human’s fate. You could take that tale as a criticism to heavenly deities. Do you get me?”
“Yes, but then, what about Saturn? He is also present in this tale,” Joseph asked curiously.
The class seemed bored, though enthusiastic at the teacher’s blissful statement to start talking about these characters they’ve heard in the different excerpts of mythology. They had heard before, and they knew their names had something to do with some of the planets in our Solar System.
“So, who knows the name of the God of agriculture and harvest? Yes, Charlie…”
“Isn’t it Zeus?” asked Charlie, quite confused with this Roman Gods the teacher was asking for. Evidently, Charlie wasn’t the brightest man alive, and everybody in the class, and you my reader, knew that.
“Oh no Charlie, that’s a Greek God! But nice try though, anyone else? You have the word, Joseph,” the teacher gave the word to the student she knew would give her the right answer, because hearing Joseph answering a question was always a pleasure.
“Yes, Ms. Emelye, the God of agriculture and harvest in Roman Mythology is Saturn, who is, as well, father of Venus amongst other Gods.”
“You’re right Joseph! Very well explained! Yes, guys, as Joseph said, Saturn is the God of agriculture and harvest. Now, can anyone beside Joseph tell me who the God of love is?”
Now a girl, Sophie, had the answer in her mind. She was also smart, but, besides Joseph, she didn’t know that much about Medieval literature and Ancient Mythology.
“That should be Venus, Ms. E, she is the goddess of love I think.”
“Hooray! It seems to be that we are experts in Roman Mythology. Now can someone….” Before Ms. Emelye could continue with the next question Joseph interceded.
“She is wrong, Ms. Emelye, Venus cannot possibly be the Goddess of Love, as Sophie said because in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, her temple is described as ‘the broken sleeps, the cold sighs, the sacred tears, and the lamenting, the fiery strokes of the desiring that love’s servants endure in this life’ (Chaucer, 1920-23), I cannot possibly imagine the Goddess of Love being a symbol of emotional and spiritual foundations of agony. Or do you think its coherent Ms. Emelye?”
Joseph’s speech had left everybody in the classroom speechless. Ms. Emelye had realized that she had in her classroom’s desks a little whiz kid. She took a couple of second, taking a path through memory lane and remembering of The Canterbury Tales she had read in her High School years: “You are right, Joseph, Chaucer portrays Venus as the Goddess of the complete opposite of what should be called love. He portrays the impiety that love can cause, like lust, envy, or adultery. Very good point. Anything else you want to add?”
“Yes, Ms. Emelya, off course. Another God that Chaucer mentions in The Knight’s Tale, the part of the tournament between Palamon and Arcite, is Mars, the God of war. But here, he doesn’t portray him as one that withstands glory, courage, and pure nerve. Instead, his temple is one that represents ‘armed Discontent, Alarm, and fierce Violence (…) a thousand slain, and not killed by the plague, the tyrant, with his prey taken by force’ (Chaucer, 2012-15). Here, Mars is the God of murderer, hypocrisy, disaster, and treachery, not War. Chaucer portrays him as everything that causes violent dangers in humanity.”
The rest of the class was now an audience of the discussion between Ms. Emelya and Joseph. They were both in the same page, as she answered: “That’s very true, Joseph, the Knight in his tale wants to portray the Gods as the causes of misfortune in the human world. He entitles them as the responsible of misfortune, and that the Fortune shift in the world is constantly moving. As well as Diana, the Goddess of Chastity, instead of giving protection of her virginity to Emelya, she act like a force that won’t let things stay the same, therefore incentivizing change in a human’s fate. You could take that tale as a criticism to heavenly deities. Do you get me?”
“Yes, but then, what about Saturn? He is also present in this tale,” Joseph asked curiously.
“Well, he is there to balance things out, all this Fortune changes. He is overturning the fortune of everybody through his actions. For example, he makes the Earth shake so that everybody’s wishes become true.”
Joseph tried to say something, but he stayed quiet. He kept thinking about what the teacher had told him about the criticism to the Gods. He didn’t interpret it that way. Instead, he thinks that the tale means that men cannot life or govern themselves peacefully, and they need of an outer force to settle everything up. Hence, to Chaucer, or the Knight in this case, humanity is wicked and needs of somebody to guide them through “the path that does not stray” (Dante’s Inferno).
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