Canterbury Tales: The Knight
In his prologue, Geoffrey Chaucer introduces all of the characters who are
involved in this fictional journey and who will tell the tales. One of the more
interesting of the characters included in this introductory section is the
Knight. Chaucer initially refers to the Knight as "a most distinguished man"
and, indeed, his sketch of the Knight is highly complimentary. In this essay, I
will contrast Chaucer's ideal Knight with its modern equivalent. The Knight,
Chaucer tells us, possessed good horses, "but he was not gaily dressed". Indeed,
the Knight is dressed in a common shirt "much stained" by where his armor had
left its mark. In other words, Chaucer is telling us that the Knight has just
arrived home from service and is in such a hurry to go on his pilgrimage that he
has not even paused before embarking on it to change his clothes.
Additionally, the Knight has led a very busy life as his fighting career
has taken him to a great many......
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Approximate Word Count: 672
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |