Ok, so, let me start off by saying reading this thing in Middle English was a first for me, as well as many of you, and that's just fantastic! Was it just me or did anyone else feel like they were in Skyrim or something while they were speaking? It's awesome, right? Also, might I add, there is actually a place in Skyrim called "High Hrothgar". Tell me that's not a blatant shout out to Beowulf right there?!
Back to the matter at hand, let me just say that this is one of the first stories to actually ever be written down in the history of the English language. Personally, I take this as a sign that one shouldn't really be looking too hard to find anything super crazy in there. This is not to say that the Knight probably hasn't ripped the tag of his mattress or something, but I mean, come on....Chaucer had an unusually large amount of character's to work with here. Do you really think he was huddled over his writing desk and twirling his evil mustache saying "Oh and I'll totally write him as this cool dude, but then I'll make it so he killed his granny with a hammer. MWAHAHAHA!"? Probably not. Some of his characters are drunken assholes, like the Miller, some are gold digging whores turned old ladies with money, Wife of Bath, and some are just Mary Sues like the Knight.
But, hey, I haven't read this since high school so the details are kinda fuzzy. For all I know, my beloved Knight could've ripped the tag off his matress AND murdered his granny with a hammer!
All I'm saying is why would Chaucer write "he was worthy this" and "worthy that" and "never has there been a man who was more worthy than this" (I'm paraphrasing, of course) if he was just gonna make him a dick in the end?
I still believe there are some people who seem to good to be true and I will be the first to admit that the Knight seems to be one of those people. And, I mean, he's fictional. He's allowed to be too good.
I agree, Rachel. It seemed like some people in class thought the knight was a pretentious dick, but I saw him as a well-traveled, badass, yet humble do-gooder. I also like the connection you make to Beowulf and Skyrim; the two of those share a lot of similarities, both in the world and the people.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me, especially after reading about the parson, that Chaucer wanted to put a few paragons of virtue in his stories to balance out the less "worthy" members of his group. It's true that in a short introduction we can't get enough information about someone to know them intimately, but I share your feeling that he is just a good guy. Of course, it's possible that by putting him in an impractical number of battles was intended to give us an "over the top" impression of how good he is, but I don't feel like he's holding any dark secrets. (This is my first read through these tales, so I guess I'll find out, right?)
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