Part One

Long ago a duke by the name of Theseus was returning from a battle to a city called Athens. Here he sees four women approach him in tears explaining that their husbands had been killed in a battle at Thebes but the ruler would not allow them a proper burial.

Being the good ruler he was, Theseus rode to Thebes to conquer the city and helped the women. After the battle, Theseus finds to Thebes soldiers laying on the ground. Instead of killing them, he throws them in jail.

Here from their jail cell, the two men by the names of Palamon and Arcite spot a very beautiful women named Emily. Palamon was the first to spot her, instantly falling in love. As Arcite laid his eyes on her, he too falls in love and the two cousins begin to fight.

Many years pass for the two prisoners as they waste away in their cell, only spotting Emily from the small window. One day, a friend of both Theseus and Arcite asks for his freedom. The duke agrees and Arcite was allowed freedom but was never allowed to return to Athens.

Part Two

After a while, Mercury, a messenger for the god's, appears in his dream to tell him to return to Athens. By this time, Arcite looked completely different. He was frail and sickly due to love sickness.

Arcite soon returns and starts to work as a page near Emily, changing his name to Philostrate. This makes him much closer to Emily. One day, as he is hunting in the woods he comes across Palamon who had escaped from prison.

The two cousins begin to fight until they are spotted by Theseus. Palamon reveals who they are and explain to the duke that they are in love with Emily. The duke wants to kill them but the women who lived in the city pleaded otherwise. Theseus finally decides that the two will fight each other for Emily's hand. The tournament was scheduled for fifty weeks from that day.

Part Three