“THE BESTE GAME OF ALLE”: PLAYING CHESS WITH FORTUNE ...

Gerry Wolfson-Grande 5
subjected to Fortune’s regard, and the case could be made that it is the true target of Fortune’s
actions. The Knight’s Tale contains a distinct progression of actions and events, much as the
progression of a chess game: move, encounter/attack, immediate result, and ramifications
reaching beyond the initial battle to affect the stability and fortunes of both sides. The element of
chance represented by wagering in the medieval game, including dice play that frequently
involved variations to moves dictated by the roll of the dice, 27 equates to the role of Fortune in
the tale. Even when a particular encounter appears to be moving toward a specific and perhaps
obvious conclusion, Fortune’s hand tosses the dice and introduces an unexpected element to
change the direction of the game.
Merle Fifield has analyzed the patterns of specific incidents within the Knight’s Tale,
contending that they “follow a simple cause-to-result climactic order resolved by the intervention
of Fortune or her agent,” with the additional element of celestial disorder “resolved by the
intervention of Fortune in the character of Saturn” during the theater section:
The opening section demonstrates the irresistible force of Fortune; the duel
illustrates the failure of individual action; the description of the theater proves the
failure of all earthly order; the tournament illustrates the failure of corporate
action; and the sermon offers the only solution to survival in a world governed by
eternal change against which both man and society are powerless. 28
This pattern is not dissimilar to a chess match: opening exploratory moves; interaction between
questing lesser pieces aimed at winnowing down the opponent’s forces; extended battling by
lesser and key pieces; and eventual mate or resignation acknowledging inescapable helplessness.
Even though, like Arcite, the player may attempt to anticipate his opponent’s actions, accepting
their likelihood and that of his own contribution to the direction of play, the element of the
unknown, or chance, can deliver the unexpected at any time and send the game careening in a
different direction. Fifield points out that the “consistent original impetus of all action is force—