Chivalry in Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay -- essays papers

Chivalry in Chaucers Canterbury Tales In his Canterbury Tales, Chaucer fully explicates the cultural standard known as curteisye through satire. In the fourteenth century curteisye embodied sophistication and an education in French international culture. The legends of chilvalric knights, conversing in the language of courtly love, matured during this later medieval period. Chaucer himself matured in the King's Court, and he reveled in his cultural status, but he also retained an anecdotal humor about curteisye. One must only peruse his Tales to discern these sentiments. In the General Prologue, he meticulously describes the Prioress, satirically examining her impeccable table manners. In the Miller's Tale Chaucer juxtaposes courtly love with animalistic lust, and in various other instances he mentions curteisye, or at least alludes to it, with characteristic Chaucerian irony. These numerous references provide the reader with a remarkably rich image of the culture and class structure of late fourteenth century England. "Wel coude she carye a morsel, and wel keepe / That no drope ne fille upon hir brest. / In curteisye was set ful muchel hir lest."(General Prologue, 130-2) Here, in the description of the Prioress, Chaucer mocks her etiquette by so specifically describing it, and in doing so he also mocks her conception of sophistication. For Chaucer, sophistication represented more than table manners and "Frenssh†¦ of Stratford at the Bowe."(General Prologue, 124,5) Curteisye required an intimate, first hand knowledge and experience with French culture. This Prioress had learned her French in an English convent school, hardly the equivalent to Chaucer's travels in France. Chaucer creates the feeling that the narr... ...tion of courtly flirtation. Usually when a character speaks in courtly language, the author biases his word choice to French, since French was the formal language of the Court and people associated with the Court spoke French-derived English on a daily basis. Chaucer avoids that practice here and selects words based in Germanic-derived English, or Anglo-Saxon. Words like "ich," "wille," and "spille" and others persisted from Old English, and Chaucer's use of them through Nicholas gives the passage a decidedly rough tone, corresponding to Nicholas' sensual actions. Nicholas' language might have been courtly, but his intentions were definitely not as delicate as French. Chaucer utilized satire throughout the Canterbury Tales, and he illustrated as much about his culture, and especially curteisye, with his satire as he did with the stories and characters themselves.