Reader Response to "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer

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, …

…However, I argue that it is unlikely that people such as Chacucer's Knight lived and breathed even during Chaucer's time. As he does with all of his characters, Chaucer is producing a stereotype in creating the persona of such an ideal man. Chaucer, in describing the Knight, is depicting a chivalric ideal when, in fact, the history books that speak of the Middle Ages demonstrate that this model was rarely ever manifested in actual conduct.