Knightly View

2 Pages 567 Words

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s medieval poem, The Canterbury Tales, the knight is the first pilgrim described in the General Prologue and the first to proclaim his tale. The Knight’s Tale exquisitely contains enriching language, beautiful imagery, and a “wealth of description of characterization (Fowler14).” Chaucer’s opinion of the knight is positively supported by the outstandingly worthy and favored qualities that the knight posses. Through the selection of his story, the Knight displays a chivralic and romantic role in the medieval world. Chaucer is also known as the “father of English poetry”, for who so passionately loved his literature, made his love his work, and his work his last breath.
Chaucer’s knight features the finest traits of honesty, loyalty, and generosity. The knight is shown as being handsomely designed and socially prominent, that may hint to Chaucer’s favor of the knight. Every pilgrim was honored to be in the presence of the knight, for they valued so much his humble and wise example. Chaucer’s positive opinion is widely shared and held by many other authors, literary critics, and mostly by the common reader. Even being the highest-ranking layman in the group, and maybe even the farthest traveled, the knight always was polite and mild fashion. The knight’s “rustic tunic of fustian and his plentiful attired horse (Rossignol198)” symbolized his active role in battle, solely against the heathens, which proves his dedication in fighting for God. When the Knight ends his tale with “God save al this faire campaignye(Chucer3108)”, that may emphasize Chaucer’s deliberate choice of words that express yet another refined deed of his knight; by this he recognized the groups’ unity even though they were among different social classes and addresses everyone in his farewell. The knight never boasted about himself nor his battles “in far Granada at the siege [was he] of Algercias, and in Belmarie. ...