In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, he uses satire to poke fun in order to
show flaws and encourage change. The Squire, a military fool, the Friar, a church shame,
and the Merchant, the town idiot, are all being satarized in his work. In society there are
models in which we all want to be like, from long ago even in our modern societies.
The Squire, the son of a knight, does not possess the traits of a knight. He does
not uphold the code of chivarly, nor the courtly love. He was "a lover and cadet, lad of
fire, with locks as curly as if the had been pressed" (chaucer 82 & 83). He does not live to
serve his king or his country, he lives for himself and the ladies. He is always more
worried about his appearance than fighting on the battle field although he does respect his
father he is not at all a good squire. The knight, our model, however "to ride abroad had
followed chivalry, truth, honor, generousness and courtesy," is the example that Chaucer
set of what the military class should be. The squire's model shows that some people join
the military only to show off not to truthfully fight for their country. That is also still true
today.
The Friar of their church is "a wanton one and merry,"(Chaucer 212) he is very
extravagant and unrestrained. He was a professional beggar you could say."But anywhere
a profit might accrue courteous he was and lowly of service too,"(Chaucer 253-254) He
was all about money and making himself a living, he would rather help the rich over the
poor. The more money you had the sorrier you were. He also had a lisp in which he
thought made his words sweet. The parson was the man to be. He knew his gospel and
preached it to everyone he knew. He did not care of money as long as everyone had what
they needed.
“There was a Merchant with a forked beard and girt,” (Chaucer 270), the
merchant was the worst one out of all of Chaucer’s examples. His forked beard could say
that he was a snake, with a forked tongue. He is supposed to be the one supplying to his
community. Although he is supplying to them he is charging them outrageous prices and
makes it hard for them to just simply get by. He also lends out money and expects a lot
more back than what was borrowed. Through all this money he is charging it would be
the best bet to say he was a wealthy man, “Upon his head a Flemish beaver hat, his boots
were fastened neatly and elegantly,” (Chaucer 274-275). However in all reality he is just
as much in debt as the next one. The plowman now that is our chief example of what
Chaucer thinks the laity, or middle class, should be. He knows his place in society, he
never tries to cheat anyone in fact “a true worker was he, living in peace and perfect
charity.”(Chaucer 534-535)
In conclusion, satires are a good way of showing someone what they ought to
be no matter what consequences you are under. Chaucer did a good job at his satires,
and it is easy to understand what he is satirizing in his works. He sets up one example
of a prime person and then tells us the bad.