Palamon

Play

The Two Noble Kinsmen

Summary

One of the two Theban kinsmen and the more ardent and impulsive of the rivals for Emilia. He first sees and claims Emilia from the prison window, setting the competition with his cousin Arcite. Though Arcite wins the tournament and so should win Emilia, the gods contrive that Arcite's horse falls on him, and his dying gift of Emilia to Palamon gives the play its tragicomic resolution. Palamon is victor by divine intervention rather than his own superiority, which the play views with characteristically ambivalent resignation.

Notable Quotations

"Is not this better than a free man? 'Tis not imprisonment, / But a more noble thrall, if I could see / The daily beauty of her that first won me." *(II.ii)*

Cross-references

• The Two Noble Kinsmen — the play
• Romances (Late Plays)
• character_arcite — his cousin and rival
• character_emilia_2nk — the woman both love
• character_theseus_2nk — who judges the contest
• character_the_jailers_daughter — who frees him out of love