Clothes In The Canterbury Tales

Hodges, featured in April 1995 edition of The Chaucer Review, Hodges examines the reasons behind Chaucer's decisions on the clothing of his Knight. After examining the introduction of the Knight's character in the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, Ms. Hodges said that Chaucer intended his Knight to be the one true to life portrait of a knight of the 14th century-an every knight of sorts. She also concluded that Chaucer wanted to go against the normal chivalric ideal of a knight by presenting a knight as he really might have been: a basically good person, but with imperfections. I disagree with Hodges about Chaucer's intentions when characterizing the knight. I don't think the knight was meant to be a true to life portrait of "the every knight".

In The Canterbury Tales, the knight is a modern type of knight. Although the description of this character’s personality is vague, it is not hard for modern day people to visualize him. In the prologue, it mentions that the knight follows the five basic ideals that a good knight should possess: “chivalry, Truth, honour, generousness, and courtesy” (Chaucer 4). The knight fought in the Crusades, wars in which Europeans traveled by sea to non-Christian places and tried to convert people’s culture by brute force, which was considered noble and brave hearted. From his love of the five basics ideals previously mentioned to his impressive military career, the knight is a perfect example of how a knight should be represented. Indirectly, the tale is discussing both the knight and the idea of how a knight should be. The tale does not describe much about the knight as in physical appearances and characteristics of this knight but as the tale comes to an end, the book starts to unfold how this story connects with this character. The tale itself is not important yet it’s what the tale represents that is important, such as pursuing courtly love, risking death, and respecting women. All of the previously mentioned attributes are ones that knights should possess to achieve expected standards.

Upon entering his description of the Knight, Chaucer wastes no time to praise this pilgrim in every way. Not only does he note the strength and bravery that the Knight shows in his battles but also his “softer side”, where he speaks about how he “never had foul-spoken in his life”, and wears chainmail “begrimed with rust” (Chaucer 4-5). Compared to the descriptions of many of the other pilgrims, Chaucer only states positive things about this character, using no time to speak negatively about his life. Even when speaking about his “dated” clothing, he spins it around to make it sound like a positive by showing off his selflessness. Along with this, the Knights section

In the Canterbury Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer highlights many details and one of them was the clothing of the travelers and the appeals of their stories. The author used clothing to point out the social states between the different classes of the characters. Back in the middle ages, there was a law called the sumptuary laws that attempted to regulate people’s life from food, clothing, furniture, to the way of living. Chaucer included that law in his book and made a good description of people’s life under that law. The author illuminates the type of clothes that each class of the characters can wear. Also, throughout the tale, clothes showed the different classes of people and their futures. For example, the honorable knights’ clothes cannot

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

Chaucer provides multiple characters within the journey. He showed a lot of different individuals that are quite useful to the group. People, such as the nuns, who would help on the religious journey. The doctor who would help with anybody who is sick. People with handy man or somewhat related skills such as the carpenter, and a merchant.

The Knight’s true character is portrayed through his modest apparel. His character is displayed by the way he chooses to show himself in public, which is a noble knight, that is why he wears dirty clothes and chooses to come on the pilgrimage straight from battle. “A Knight there was and that a worthy man, that from time that he first began. To riden out, he loved chivalry. Truth and honour, freedom and courtesy,”

In The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the value of righteousness to clearly distinguish between the pilgrims - the exceptional, the decent and the terrible. The goodness of the pilgrims is determined, by Chaucer, based on his or her ability to adhere to their own superior moral standards. Some pilgrims, like the Parson and the Plowman, are highly praised by Chaucer for their righteous qualities. Some--on the other hand--like the Summoner and Pardoner, are chastised for their dishonorable ways of living. Chaucer is sometimes discreet in giving praise and sometimes gives the praise outright. His knack for sarcasm gives the reader a good idea of what he clearly finds unadmirable as he pokes at the “good” qualities

In this medieval time we read about these pilgrims going on a pilgrimage and what are all their characteristics and tales that they are telling on the way to Canterbury and on the way back. In the social classes you are what you make yourself out to be. If you are considered lower class then that’s what you are recognized

The narrator insists: "He was a verray, parfit, gentil knight," but some modern readers, ill at ease with idealized warriors, and doubtful about the value of the narrator's enthusiasms, have questioned this evaluation. His son, the Squire, is by contrast an elegant young man about court, with fashionable clothes and romantic skills of singing and dancing. Their Yeoman is a skilled servant in charge of the knight's land, his dress is described in detail, but not his character.

      In the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes the men and women of the Church in extreme forms; most of these holy pilgrims, such as the Monk, the Friar, and Pardoner, are caricatures of objectionable parts of Catholic society.  At a time when the power-hungry Catholic Church used the misery of peasants in order to obtain wealth, it is no wonder that one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages used his works to comment on the religious politics of the day.

       The characters introduced in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales each represent a stereotype of a kind of person that Chaucer would have been familiar with in 14th Century England. Each character is unique, yet embodies many physical and behavioral traits that would have been common for someone in their profession. In preparing the reader for the tales, Chaucer first sets the mood by providing an overall idea of the type of character who is telling the tale, then allows that character to introduce themselves through a personal prologue and finally, the pilgrim tells their tale. Through providing the reader with insight about the physical and personal traits of

In Chaucer’s famous novel: The Canterbury Tales, he describes many characters in a satirical way, while others he describes with complete admiration. The narrator (a constructed version of Chaucer himself) is staying at the Tabard Inn in London, when a large group of about twenty-nine people enter the inn, preparing to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. After the narrator talks to them, he agrees to join them on their pilgrimage. Although, before the narrator progresses any further in the tale, he describes the circumstances and the social rank of each pilgrim. There are two characters in these tales of the same social class, but Chaucer’s opinion on them vary greatly. These two characters are the beloved Parson, and the loathed Pardoner.

In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives a detailed description of what life was like in Medieval times . In the “Prologue”, the reader comes to better understand the people of the time period through the characters words and actions. Chaucer uses a variety of groups of society to give the reader a deeper insight into the fourteenth century Pilgrims customs and values. Through the Court, Common people and the Church, Gregory Chaucer gives a detailed description of ordinary life in the medieval times.

Beginning with personal appearance, Chaucer uses descriptive imagery to reveal his dismissive feelings towards the Miller. The passage opens with describing Chaucer as a brute and “chap of sixteen stone” (561), which is equivalent to 224 pounds. To further the description of the Miller’s size, Chaucer then describes him as “a great stout fellow big in brawn and bone” (562). Both the weight and size descriptions merge to indicate that Chaucer views this man as large and muscular. However, an illustration of a “broad, knotty, and short-shouldered” (565) man alone would not epitomize Chaucer’s feelings towards the Miller. When combined with the Miller’s actions as a dominant man, it becomes evident that Chaucer is not fond of the brute. Specifically, Chaucer elaborates on the Miller’s strong stature by saying he can win