The Canterbury Tales: The Knight’s Tale, Book Review Example

“The Knight’s Tale” is an opening tale of Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”. The story brings in many distinctive features of knighthood such as courtly love and moral dilemmas. “Knight’s Tale” is a medieval chivalric romance, yet not a pure one, – it has elements of epic and satire. A Knight, the teller of the actual tale who attracted the most considerable interest of mine, is introduced in the general prologue as someone who “from the moment that he first began to ride  about the world, loved chivalry, truth, honour, freedom and all courtesy.” (Chaucer). Knight’s voice praises noble ideals. Chaucer tells us how he has been a victorious fighter and served with distinction in numerous crusades. He is intelligent, humble, and courteous to everyone. He tells the story of Arcite and Palamon with much grace. However, Knight as a personality remains a mystery to me. What the author believes to be praiseworthy, meaning Knight’s participation in various military campaigns, appears a questionable subject of admiration to me. While Chaucer praises Knight’s bold chivalry as a brilliant motivation for creating a nice military career, I observe author’s being biased and narrow-minded in believing that religious wars are beneficial and thus essential.

The topic unintentionally brought up by Chaucer is the one of whether fighting battles thus killing on the basis of religious dissimilarities among peoples is fine. “Full worthy was he in his liege-lord’s war, and therein had he ridden (none more far) As well in Christendom as heathenesse” the author mentions when portraying the Knight, and then goes on listing all those campaigns his hero participated in: “In Latvia raided he, and Russia, no christened man so oft of his degree. In far Granada at the siege was he of Algeciras, and in Belmarie. At Ayas was he and at Satalye.”(Chaucer).What stands out to me as a glaring contradiction is the fact that Chaucer narrates about all those war affairs with praise and approval. Is he the one to tell for his character? Or is he simply putting into his character’s mouth the words he himself doesn’t believe to be true?

The prologue to the Knight’s Tale is a classic depiction of a combination of chivalric romance, love, war and adventure all with a specific interest on honor and proper conduct through ritualistic code of behavior. In the prologue, there appears to be much debate in social norms concerning the role of Gods in human existence. The Prologue as well as the whole book was given birth to during a time when Catholicism was a primary religion while Chaucer chose to write about the place of Greek gods and goddesses in everyday life with no proper mention of a traditional God. The two knights pray regularly to the Greek gods and goddesses to lead them in their battles. The community as well as the Knights believed that Gods could help to determine how situations will actually unfold in life. By mentioning how people worshipped Gods and Goddesses in the story the author illustrates how the society was generally practicing its religious believes. It is clear though that the author stood strongly for Christianity. “He was a truly perfect, gentle knight,” Chaucer mentions feeling perfectly fine about Knight’s killing hundreds of people because of their not accepting Catholicism.

The author clarifies that in a society where Mars is worshipped, as he is by Theseus, there will not be much support of resourceful human love, let alone a “faire chain of love” binding all elements and events (Chaucer).According to the author the culture described in “Knight’s tale” having such distinctive characteristics as various modes of practicing violence is a result of an extremely biased official ideology subsidized by militaristic defeaters and their supporters. Moreover, if taking a more precise look on Chaucer’s poetry, it actually seems to challenge the depicted way of existence in society.

Theseus, who can overcome the Amazons and Thebans, can’t overpower Fortune.  Palamon and Arcite, who struggle for love and neglect the bonds of friendship, ruin their confiding relationship and eventually one of them dies. Emelye, the timid inexperienced young girl, prays for chastity but finishes up marrying the winner.  The gods work things out in the end, so what do the poor humans have to do but to submit? No wonder that Knight, who only fights for the glory of Christian God is depicted in book as the voice of rationality, common morality, and common sense, and is considered by the rest of the pilgrims to be their moral authority.

Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. Ed. J.U. Nicolson. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing, 1934.