Chivalry In The Canterbury Tale And The Miller's Tale

Superior Essays
In 1516, Thomas More published his famous work, Utopia, a novel that described a society that were perfect in every aspects, and the idea became the definition of the word “utopia.” However, More himself admitted that such perfect society was impossible. In fact, he used the word “utopia” because it both meant “good place” and “no place.” Interestingly, this idea was not new. About a decade ago, it was the central theme in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tale. During the period of the story, an ideal knight is the one that follows all the codes of chivalry. However, from the author’s perspective, no knights could satisfy these utopian standards without making flaws. By telling two satirical stories of how men trying to achieve their own honor …show more content…
At first, the story has same elements as the Knight’s tale: two seemingly good men tried to win over a beautiful woman who was related to a devoted carpenter. However, the reality is not nearly the same. Nicholas, who was supposed to be an educated scholar, attempted to steal his lord’s wife. Even so, he “made such a plea” (“The Miller’s Tale” 3288) consistently to Alison like a child to a point that the young wife “agreed at last” (3290). Then, to sleep with the wife, Nicholas masterfully built a lie using the carpenter’s devoted Christian belief. Similarly to his opponent, Absalon showed himself to be clingy due to his persistent serenades despite Alison making him “an ape” (3389) and his songs “a jape” (3390). Based on their actions alone, the two young men show themselves to be cowards who only use cheap way to get what they want, opposite to the knights who fought with glory. The characters in the Miller’s Tale represent everything that is against the codes of chivalry as they are filled with corruptions and …show more content…
When they both saw Emily, her shocking beauty “hurt” (“The Knight’s Tale” 1114) their hearts and caused all of their “crying” and “woe” (1100). Then, during the argument, Arcite said that “It’s each man for himself and not another” (1182). It seemed that the beauty of a woman did not just hurt the knights, but also broke the brotherhood between them. The cousins let their emotions affect their minds too easily that in a moment of excitation, they forgot that they were related and willing to kill each other to win over Emily. Then, king Theseus had to arrange a battle to settle the winner. In the battle, the “jealous strokes into their helmets bite,” (2634) pushing two knights to “slay [and] to spill blood of its foe” (2632). Despite being chivalrous in combat, the young Theban knights were emotional and could betray one

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