Wonderer
(An analysis on three characters from The Canterbury Tale Prologue)
As the great J.R.R Tolkien once said, “Not all those who wonder, are lost.” In Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tale, there are many extraordinary people that go with him through this pilgrimage. Each character brings something different to the table. Just like any other group, it is good to have a diversity of personalities, and backgrounds. Chaucer knew that the spring was a time for rebirth, and a time for new life. This was his way of expressing the things that he needed to do to be freshened again. In Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tale,” there are many characters that go along with the narrator three of these characters are: the Knight, the Squire, and the Prioress.
First, The Knight is an extraordinary character because of his excess amount of chivalry. Chivalry is the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code. “And at a Knight I therefore will begin. There was a Knight, a most distinguished man, who from the day on which he first began, To ride abroad had followed chivalry, Truth, h...
Life during the Middle Ages was full of social change, division, and classism. This feudal society of Britain was divided into three estates. (social classes) Within the second estate was the the knight who was a soldier for the king who fought in many battles. Even though the knight is expected to have the strength and the skills to fight in battle, all knights during the Medieval period additionally had a chivalrous aspect to them. Chivalry was the honor code of a knight which included bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. Within the stories of the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “Le Morte d’Arthur”, the code of chivalry was broken by knights which show the corruption of England’s feudal society.
When Maurice Keen set out to write a book on the components and development of chivalry, he did not know it would be “the last word on a seductive subject,” as stated by one Washington Post reviewer. Instead, Keen was merely satisfying a curiosity that derived from a childhood fascination of stories filled with “knights in shining armour.” This juvenile captivation was then transformed into a serious scholarly interest by Keen’s teachers, the product of which is a work based upon literary, artifactual, and academic evidence. Keen’s Chivalry strives to prove that chivalry existed not as a fantastical distraction, as erroneously portrayed by romances, but instead as an integral and functional feature of medieval politics, religion, and society. The thirteen chapters use an exposition format to quietly champion Keen’s opinion of chivalry as being an element of an essentially secular code of “honour” derived from military practices.
In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of a what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples ofchivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve theworld in which he lived.
Richard Barber first published The Knight and Chivalry in 1970. At the time, not a whole lot had been written on the subject of chivalry. Thus, Barber can be viewed is sort of an original scholarly writer on this subject matter. His work is extensive. In this particular book he covers the following concepts: the transition of the Knight from mounted warrior, chivalry and literature, chivalry in the field, chivalry in religion, and finally, chivalry in the state. All five parts present pages of rich text. However, I will be dealing specifically on the concept of chivalry and literature. My reason is this: to the reading it was done in MDVL 145, heroes and villains, I am more inclined to look at the author’s own ideas in relation to other literature circa the 12th century, in a critical manner. Thus the purpose.
Closely associated to the romance tradition are two idealized standards of behavior, especially for knights: courage and chivalry. The protagonist within many medieval romances proved their worth by going on quests, as many a knights went in those times, thus returning with great tales of their travels and deeds. Many modern people think of chivalry as referring to a man's gallant treatment of women, and although that sense is derived from the medieval chivalric ideal, chivalry could be seen as more than that. Knights were expected to be brave, loyal, and honorable-sent to protect the weak, be noble to...
In his General Prologue, Geoffrey Chaucer introduces all of his characters to the reader. He writes that there was a group of people who met, and were all, coincidentally going to Canterbury. In the General Prologue, it is written, “Some nine and twenty in a company Of sundry folk happening then to fall In fellowship, and they were pilgrims all That towards Canterbury meant to ride.” The Canterbury Tales is a collection of the stories that each of these characters tells on the journey. There is a vast assortment of characters. There are men and women from the Church. There are upper-class people with wealth and power. There are blue collar working-class people. It is interesting that all different types of people are able to have a good time and tell each other their tales. Some of these characters just make me cringe. Some of them seem like someone I could get along with, or even remind me of myself. My three favorite characters from the General Prologue are the Monk, the Skipper, and the Miller.
Largesse The idea of chivalry encompasses the virtues of truth, honor, courage, kindness, loyalty, and valor. Combining this and many other benevolent traits make the ideal knight. Being a knight means something more than just armor, weaponry, and a good horse. It is about a code.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, (written c. 1387), is a richly varied compilation of fictional stories as told by a group of twenty-nine persons involved in a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury, England during the fourteenth century. This journey is to take those travelers who desire religious catharsis to the shrine of the holy martyr St. Thomas a Becket of Canterbury. The device of a springtime pilgrimage provided Chaucer with a diverse range of characters and experiences, with him being both a narrator and an observer. Written in Middle English, each tale depicts parables from each traveler.
The Canterbury Tales is Geoffrey Chaucer's greatest and most memorable work. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses "a fictitious pilgrimage [to Canterbury] as a framing device for a number of stories" (Norton 79). In "The General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes in detail the pilgrims he meets in the inn on their way to Canterbury. Chaucer is the author, but also a character and the narrator, and acts like a reporter to provide a detailed description of the pilgrims. Through his description, the reader is able to paint a picture of each of the characters. In "The General Prologue," he describes each character by giving a detailed description of the character's appearance, clothing, social status, beliefs, and other relevant details. However, Chaucer never condemns his characters: "What uniquely distinguishes Chaucer's prologue from conventional estates of satire, however, is the suppression in all but a few instances of overt moral judgement. . . . It is up to the reader to draw up the moral indictment from the evidence presented with such artlessness even while falling in with the easygoing mood of 'felaweship' that pervades Chaucer's prologue to the pilgrimage" (Norton 80-81). Chaucer is thus able to create a tension between the ideal and the real. He builds up the reader's expectations and then shatters them. Although The Canterbury Tales was probably written in the late fourteenth century, many of the pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales seem real and true to life even today. One of the most memorable pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales, as well as one of the most memorable women in literature, is the Wife of Bath. The "lusty and domineering"...
The character details that Geoffrey Chaucer’s narrator focuses on, in his descriptions of the pilgrims in “The Canterbury Tales”, provide an insight into the values and ideals that he held in esteem. The story is framed from the point of view of a narrator; who is not explicitly Chaucer but, presumably, shares many of his predilections and persuasions. The pilgrims are described in varying degrees of detail, less than ten lines for the Cook and more than forty for the Summoner, but nonetheless, the narrator ensures that his audience has a solid grasp on how he feels about each character. Without outwardly condemning or praising either character, the narrator describes both the Clerk and the Pardoner’s relationship with money to paint a favorable
An interesting aspect of the famous literary work, "The Canterbury Tales," is the contrast of realistic and exaggerated qualities that Chaucer entitles to each of his characters. When viewed more closely, one can determine whether each of the characters is convincing or questionable based on their personalities. This essay will analyze the characteristics and personalities of the Knight, Squire, Monk, Plowman, Miller, and Parson of Chaucer's tale.
Chivalry is the totality of the ideal values of being a knight. It is the continuous acts of loyalty, truth, courtesy and justice that has embodied the many values a man should possess throughout the course of their loves. However, many people believe that the chivalrous acts and ideals have become irrelevant in modern times. The idea of chivalrous beliefs and characteristics has been replaced by a more independent and selfish attitude. Chivalry should be considered dead because of the large number of people in today’s society who prefer to express independent characteristics instead of being more chivalrous, the fact that chivalry is outdated in the modern era, and that its ideas are only reinstated via old English literature.
Canterbury Tales the General Prologue, Chaucer introduces many characters that are quite different and some that somewhat normal. Chaucer uses these characters not only to tell a story but to show weakness in the society/ social classes that were present in the medieval times. Chaucer truly never wrote exactly about anyone in particular he used the characters in his stories to point out the wrongs of what in whole the social classes were doing wrong morally. In the beginning of the prologue we begin to start meeting some of the people who are on the pilgrimage, and we meet some well off people like a knight, squire, Nun, Monks, and a Doctor some people who aren't at the highest and some who are but who aren't hurting. They all were flashy had
A knight’s purpose is to live a life of honor with practices of chivalry, they force him to be loyal to their lord and their fellow knights no matter what. For that reason the knight as the narrator tells a story explaining the how two fellow soldiers that practice the code of chivalry break it for their own selfish reasons. Upon breaking this code the outcome good or bad, affect the soldiers and their honor. The breaking of this code is something the knight would never commit due to the various consequences that affect the warriors of his tale. Violating the code cause great misfortune to the individuals involved,
The character study of Canterbury Tales was approached in two levels. First, the interesting characters which joined the pilgrimage to Canterbury were described. Second, the interesting characters which were described in the tales of those who joined the pilgrimage were also discussed. This was done to present the comparison and contrast of the variety of characters in the tales and their representations in society.