Social Class In Medieval Times

Within the general prologue the characters reflect the social classes of medieval society by just revealing their nature and their profession. They reveal just how the classes are laid out and how each of them are corrupt in their different but all to similar ways. Chaucer wanted to point out this corruption and make England great again. One character that shows the characteristics of their social class in medieval society was the squire. The squire would fall into the aristocratic class and it is well shown when you account for his clothing which he had on. He wore a short gown with long sleeves that were embroidered. This shows that he was quite wealthy and he could afford rather flashy apparel if he so wished. He had the flaw of being busy
trying to impress the ladies and that seemingly was more important to him. Another character that showed flaw as well as their social class was the sergeant at the law. He would have been in the upper class which is shown well when you see that he is even in a homely parti-colored coat and silken belt. He is very good at his job but his flaw is that he tries to act busy all the time. This would cause some to not know what to do when they need him and he refuses to help because he is to “busy”. Finally we have the franklin who would be in the upper class and shows it very much so. He was able to throw lavish parties and have very good wine. He had a had a white silk purse which showed that he could afford silk. His flaw was that he had no compassion and did not care if someone didn’t have much money he would make them pay their taxes in full no matter what. Chaucer wrote about these people and used his satire to shine the light on them so that everyone could see just how bad the people and together England was. He wanted to make England great again so that there would be peace and order.