The Squire In The Canterbury Tales
Authors often time use their works as a way to express how they feel about their society’s way of life and the people in it. Geoffrey Chaucer is once such author, who wrote The Canterbury Tales to teach his audience morals and to satirize his society. All characters in the Canterbury Tales served a purpose. While Chaucer is fond of the Squire, who is full of life and love, he represented how the life of Knighthood in Medieval Europe was not as chivalrous as it should have been. This can be determined by how Chaucer described his skills, related the Squire to his father the Knight, detailed his clothing, and provided symbolism through his personality and physical description. The skills and talents the Squire have are uncommon for a Knight.
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Early on in the prologue, it becomes evident that the Squire’s relationship with his father is not conventional. That the Squire is respectful to his father, but in a way as if the Knight is only his boss. Due to that, it is assumed that the Squire will follow the Knight’s example, but instead he goes in a different direction (Bennett 2). The Squire is often considered a younger, immature version of his father, and is very different from him even though the Squire is pursuing that occupation (3). That while the Knight represents all of what Knights should be, the Squire represents how they really were. In the prologue, it is said that the Squire cuts the Knight’s dinner for him, which is him attending to his duties as a Squire (Lambdin 17). This, again, highlights how abnormal their relationship is, and how the Squire does everything on paper correctly, but is nothing like how a “proper” squire should be. There is a large contrast between the Squire and the Knight, as they represent two different sides. The Squire’s flamboyance and young whims are extraordinarily different from the Knight’s maturity, experience, and long record of success (23). While the Squire is supposed act as his father, noble and regal, he does not. The Squire is instead loud, immature, and
Early on in the prologue, it becomes evident that the Squire’s relationship with his father is not conventional. That the Squire is respectful to his father, but in a way as if the Knight is only his boss. Due to that, it is assumed that the Squire will follow the Knight’s example, but instead he goes in a different direction (Bennett 2). The Squire is often considered a younger, immature version of his father, and is very different from him even though the Squire is pursuing that occupation (3). That while the Knight represents all of what Knights should be, the Squire represents how they really were. In the prologue, it is said that the Squire cuts the Knight’s dinner for him, which is him attending to his duties as a Squire (Lambdin 17). This, again, highlights how abnormal their relationship is, and how the Squire does everything on paper correctly, but is nothing like how a “proper” squire should be. There is a large contrast between the Squire and the Knight, as they represent two different sides. The Squire’s flamboyance and young whims are extraordinarily different from the Knight’s maturity, experience, and long record of success (23). While the Squire is supposed act as his father, noble and regal, he does not. The Squire is instead loud, immature, and