A Revaluation of Adaptations, An Analysis of an Early Adaptation and a Modern Appropriation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale

Abstract

This thesis presents a philological analysis of an early adaptation and a modern appropriation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, respectively John Fletcher and William Shakespeare’s play The Two Noble Kinsmen and Tony Marchant’s TV drama “The Knight’s Tale.” The form and genre of these adaptations are analysed in their socio-historical context with a comparative research method. This study first provides background information for the analysis of the adaptations in light of the concept of intertextuality. After this contextual framework is laid down, the form and genre of the original story, namely Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, is determined as a medieval English romantic verse. Taking Chaucer’s form and genre as starting point, the analyses of the individual adaptations characterises Fletcher and Shakespeare’s adaptation as a ‘tragicomical’ play and Marchant’s appropriation as a TV drama series. Subsequently, this thesis connects the adaptations to their socio-historical contexts while trying to explain the origin and effect of these transformations. Findings finally show that both the adaptation and the appropriation have maintained some of the romantic features as portrayed in Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, but have generally been transformed congruently within the changed societies in which they have been written.