Part I: The Knight’s Tale perfectly fits the Knight himself: That is, he chooses a story filled with knights, love, honor, chivalry, and adventure. The emphasis in the story is upon rules of honor and proper conduct. Theseus, like the Knight himself, is an embodiment of the ideal Human Justice — reason.
Theseus’ two recent wars — first with the Amazons, a band of fierce women warriors ruled by Hyppolyta, and then with Creon, an unyielding tyrant — focus attention on two different kinds of social disorder. Amazon society is basically good but needs the rule of male rationality. A female ruler, such as Hippolyta (characterized as “faire” and “hardy”), represents social disorder. Theseus (characterized by “wisdom” and “Chivalry”) rules over Athens, the center of learning and justice, and thus he must subdue Hippolyta. Creon’s tyranny, on the other hand, represents a worse form of social disorder: Creon’s base lower nature (filled with anger and iniquity) has usurped the place of his reason. The two wars are also significant in another way. They show the ideal knight’s relationship with women. Theseus first conquers and chastises and then marries and rules Hippolyta. Then later, in his battle with Creon, he lends his masculine strength to the women of Thebes who cannot help themselves.
