A Comparison Of The Knight And The Squire In Chaucers The Canterbury

In the time period between 1066 and 1485, better known as the medieval age, a set of standards and how people are placed into order of importance in society is known as feudalism. In this caste system there are four groups; Kings, Barons, Vassals, and Serfs. The main individual of focus comes from the vassals, better known as the knight. Knights from this time period start out around 7 years old and are taught a code of chivalry (code of conduct) and the basics of knight hood. The knight in the Wife of Bath’s tale forcibly violates a young madden and punished with execution by decapitation. He is saved by the queen but is sent on a twelve month and a day quest. The knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale doesn’t display chivalry by his actions

Chaucer satirizes knights and chivalry in two different ways: in the prologue and in the Knight's Tale. The first way in the prologue is with the pilgrim Knight's character. Chaucer wanted to present a realistic knight, but he also wanted to give the Knight some very

Adapting to someone’s piece of art like this is like taking a craft, and altering it or to build off it to produce a new piece of art. Sometimes adaptation mimics the original piece. Other times the resemblance is so slight that it can be considered completely stray from the plot and theme.

The Knight and the Nun are two significant pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous poem The Canterbury Tales. The Knight is respected by many and his main job was to defeat enemies successfully. The Nun had a lower social position than the Knight and her overall job was to praise the Lord and serve others. While the Knight appears to be a more respected pilgrim in comparison to the Nun, Chaucer uses both of the characters to contribute to the overall theme of humankind’s tendency to strive to be accepted and respected by their peers.

Knights are one of the most mistaken figures of the medieval era due to fairytales and over exaggerated fiction novels. When medieval knights roamed the earth, it was known that they were only human and, like humans, had faults. These knights did not always live up to the standards designated by society. However, in The Canterbury Tales, the knight is revealed as a character that would now be considered a knight in shining armor, a perfect role model in how he acts and what he does. Modern day people see them as chivalrous figures instead of their actual role as mounted cavalry soldiers. As time passes, the idea of what a knight is changes from a simple cavalry soldier to a specific type of behavior.

In comparison, the literary elements describing idealize the Knight to show his nobility despite his position of power while the Pardoner clearly exemplifies power leading to corruption through satire and sarcasm. The narrator portrays the Knight as “a most distinguished man” who is as “modest as a maid” (Chaucer 43, 71). By using an epithet with such a positive connotation, the Knight is idealized to be the perfect knight in shining armor, and by furthering his persona to be exceedingly humble, especially in likeness of a low class servant, the Knight illustrates an extraordinary

This is a prime example of satire directed at chivalry today. People seem to think that chivalry is rooted so far in the past that it’s gone. I can say that it may be gone from some minds, but definitely not all. To be a good and true knight, a man had to follow certain ideals, ideals of chivalry and courtly love. That consisted of, being

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, the author encapsulates chivalrous characteristics in his telling of a battle for love. In its fundamental form, chivalry idealizes a knight’s conduct, both on and off the battlefield (Gregory-Abbott). Chaucer employs this “heroic code [of] bravery, loyalty, and service to one's lord” to illustrate the idillic knight throughout the narrative (Rossignol). Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, exhibits the ideals of chivalry in the form of two knights, desperately in love with the same woman, and a wise Duke who embodies the voice of reason. Each knight upholds honor through compassion, troths, and heroism on the battlefield, despite their afflictions with each other.

The Canterbury Tales is a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1392. In this poem each character tells four stories, two on the way there and two on the way home, to provide entertainment for the people on the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. One part of Chaucer’s tales that truly stands out is the character prologue where he introduces all of the characters on the pilgrimage and conveys the narrator’s opinions of them using satire and other literary devices. Of characters that Chaucer’s narrator describes, two are the Parson and the Friar. Both of the characters share similarities in their social status and job position however greatly contrast in morals and character. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses contrasting characteristics to convey an idea that teaches that power does not always lead to corruption.

Even though the narrator does not say much about the Knights physical appearance, we can assume that the Knight and the Wife of Bath were not identical. The Wife of Bath was a bold face woman with a red hue complexion, "Boold was hire face, and fair, and reed of hewe"(line 458). She was also gapped tooth, "Gat-tothed was she, smoothly for to seye"(line 468) with large hips, "A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large", (line472).

It was not easy to become a knight. They started off by becoming a page. A noble's son could start training to be a knight when he was seven years old. Nobles' sons had to train with weapons of course, but they also had to learn how to ride a horse, how to behave towards their liege lords and ladies, and even about music and the other arts. It was just like going to school, only their teachers were the squires. Once they reached a certain point in their training, they would be appointed as a squire. A squire, who was generally a teenager, had a different set of duties. They had to teach the pages of course, but they also had to wait on the knights. They continued their training in battle, but also were assigned to a specific knight who completed their training. As a squire you went into battle with the knight and fought at his side. This

being, he begins to poke fun at him. He insists that the Knight was “a

First, the knight is a very humble and hardworking man. We see this when Chaucer says, “Speaking of his equipment, he possessed/ Fine horses, but he was not gaily dressed” (75-76). Chaucer mentions the Knight’s fine horses to show that he has enough money to buy anything he wants. Then, he mentions that the Knight is not dressed fancy. Why would he not by the best clothes that money can buy in he was able to do so? The Knight does not want to show off that he has lots of money because he is a humble man. Also, Chaucer shows us that the Knight is a hardworking

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer tells “The Knight’s Tale”, a story of the two knights Palamon and Arcite who fall deeply in love with Princess Emily, a member of Theseus’ kingdom. Even though both knights are imprisoned within a tower, each finds a way to escape jail and try to win Emily. Ultimately, this leads to a duel between the two knights for which the prize is the hand of Emily. Chaucer uses the knights to reflect the very male-oriented time period through the strong chivalry and courtly love displayed towards Emily, when in reality, he was trying to expose the flaws of the chivalric code, which led to the deadly feud between two fellow knights. Essentially, Chaucer is holding up a magnifying glass to what people of the

Allowing their feelings to cloud their judgment and control their actions, the men lose all sense of reason and decorum as they resort to antagonistic behavior and name-calling; contrary to the standards of the pledge they have avowed to honor. Rossignol asserts Chaucer’s characters “undercut the very ethos [of chivalry] . . . the knights themselves display ambivalence toward their own motives and behavior” (Rossignol). Palamon and Arcite, oblivious to any personal responsibility or wrongdoing in the dispute over Emily, expect the other to uphold the chivalric code without doing so himself. Most certainly, if one or both of the men heeded the high expectations of conduct, they would spare their brotherhood and avoid the perils of their battle, but neither man finds it within his conscience to do so.