The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale Part 3, Lines 1023-1230 Summary

  • While Palamon and Arcite are off raising armies, Theseus is prepping for the tournament.
  • He has a new stadium built that is the biggest and best in the world. (Sounds like he's about to host the World Cup or the Olympics or something.) He spares no expenses, hiring the best artists and mathematicians to design it.
  • Above the eastern gate of the amphitheater, he builds a temple to Venus, the goddess of love. Above the western gate is a temple to Mars, the god of war. And above the northern turret is a temple to Diana, the goddess of chastity.
  • The narrator moves on to provide lots and lots of details on the carvings, statues, and decorations in each of the temples. Each is decked out with images from Greek and Roman mythology. Check out your book if you want the lowdown. Basically, the narrator wants us to know that Theseus was really thorough in his preparation for the tournament, and everything is done up to perfection.