Introduction:
Chaucer’s The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is a vivid picture of fourteenth-century English society, presented through a diverse group of pilgrims travelling to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Among these pilgrims, the Knight, the Friar, and the Wife of Bath are three of the most memorable and representative characters.
Through their appearance, manners, occupations, and personal qualities, Chaucer reveals not only their individual traits but also the virtues and shortcomings of the social classes they represent. The Knight stands as the ideal of chivalry, honour, and nobility; the Friar exemplifies the corruption and worldliness that had crept into the medieval Church; and the Wife of Bath emerges as a strong, experienced, and independent woman who challenges conventional social norms. With keen observation, humour, and realism, Chaucer makes these characters lifelike and unforgettable, turning them into enduring representatives of human nature.
The Knight:
A thing to be marked is that everywhere Chaucer gives the highest importance to the Knight. While telling about the pilgrims he begins with the Knight. He presents the Knight as an ideal character and praises him for his great worthiness. He is not only brave but modest also. He does not care for outward things and devotes his life to his religion. When it comes the question of telling tales once again the importance is given to the Knight. According to critics there are two strong causes for this:
(i) It was an age of chivalry in which knighthood was of supreme importance it was therefore the Knight took pride in making his son a squire who is infact a knight undertraining.
(ii) Chaucer was not only a poet but a soldier as well. In 1359-1360, as a soldier he served in France during the Hundred Year’s War.
In the age of chivalry, a knight held the prime place. Chaucer tells about his qualities to prove that he was a perfect knight. He was an ideal who could inspire others to be worthy. The Knight was worthy for he believed in chivalry, truth, honour, freedom and politeness since the beginning of his Knighthood. He proved his worthiness in religious wars. He had visited distant fields to take part in battles in Christian as well as non-Christian countries. Everywhere he was honoured for his worthiness. He took part almost in all the famous battles. He was the chief guest in Prussia when all the Christian countries had honoured Christian Knights for winning in Alexandra, Lithuania and Russia. He fought in Grenada, Algeciras, Benmarin, Ayas and Adalia. He took part in battles near the great sea. The worthy Knight had taken part in fifteen deadly battles.
At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene,
And foughten for oure feith at Tramyssene
In lystes thries, and ay slayn his foo.
He had fought for Christian faith and won three times in tournaments at Tlemcen. In all of them he had killed his rivals. He had been for some time with the lord of Palatia to fight against another non-Christian in Turkey. It brought him noble reputation. He was not only brave but wise and polite also. He had never abused anybody in his life. In short, he was a perfect gentle knight. Now the poet tells about the Knight’s dress. His horse was strong but without decoration. His short coat was made of rough cloth and the overcoat was soiled. He had returned from voyage and had come to pilgrimage without changing garments. What makes him better than others is the rare combination of bravery, wisdom and politeness.
And though that he were worthy, he was wys,
And of his port as meeke as is a mayde.
He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde
In al his lyf unto no maner wight,
He was a verray, parfit, gentil knyght.
Chaucer presents the Knight as an ideal character who is devoted to his duty.
The Friar:
Chaucer was against growing corruption in the religios institution of that time. To expose that, he presents characters like the Monk and the Fríar. The Friar represents corruption in church. How the holy institution of religion was sunk deep in corruption is well exposed by the poet. He shows like the Monk the Friar too was corrupt. The Friar was gay and merry by nature. His area of begging was limited. He surpassed all in gossip and sweet talking. He was an important man who got many young girls married at his own cost. He was a worthy officer in his church. All the landlords and rich people loved him. He knew all the worthy i.e. corrupt women of the town. He had power to hearing confession of sin and granting pardon to the sinner. He took interest in listening to the tale of sin. He claimed that he was more than a priest. He was a licence-holder. His way of pardoning the sinner after confession was easy. He was very liberal in granting pardon if he knew he would get good gift or food. If a man gave gift or food, it proved that he was confessed and free from sin. He knew the person was sorry for his sin. Some men had such hard hearts they would not weep in spite of great grief. Therefore, in place of weeping they should give silver to the poor friar. His top was full of pins and knives to be gifted to the young and beautiful girls. Certainly, his voice was musical. He knew how to play on a musical instrument. He sang well enough to be awarded. His neck was white like a flower of lily. He was strong like a champion. He knew all the innkeepers and bar-maids. But he knew nothing about lepers or beggars. It was below standard to be acquainted with them. They can’t prove profitable. He dealt only with sellers of food and dry fruits.
The Friar is so selfish and greedy that he misses no opportunity of making money. He knows how to touch someone’s sentiments to make him donate money. On seeing opportunity of earning money, he used to change his attitude and became very polite with a wish to serve the person. He was the best beggar of his church and none was more wicked than him. If a widow was very poor, he saluted her in such a way that she felt inclined to give him a big coin. His collection was always more than his income. When he was angry, he cried like a puppy. In days of litigation, he was very helpful. He never lived like a beggar in ordinary clothes. He looked like an officer or the Pope. His short gown was made of double worsted cloth. It was shaped like a bell. To impress others sometimes he would lisp. When he played on a harp his eyes glittered like stars in a foggy night. He was called Hubert. It shows Chaucer paid great attention to the Friar’s typical personality. The description is lively and humorous.
The Wife of Bath:
To give a comprehensive picture of society, Chaucer introduces the Wife of Bath. Here the word ‘wife’ stands for a lady. There was a good lady from the locality of Bath. It was a matter of great pity that she was a bit hard of hearing. She was so perfect in the art of cloth-making that she had left behind the industry of Ypres and Ghent formerly known for readymade garments.
A good Wif was ther of biside Bathe,
But she was somdel deef, and that was scathe.
Of clooth-makyng she hadde swich an haunt,
She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt.
Being a self-earning woman, she suffered from a sense of superiority. Besides, she could donate more money than an ordinary house-wife. Therefore, in the whole parish, there was no other woman who could enter the church to donate before her. If any woman dared, the wife of Bath grew angry and it was her great sense of charity. Her head cloth was finely woven. It weighed almost ten pounds on Sunday. Her hoses or skirts were of bright red colour. They were tightly tied. Her shoes were soft and new. Her face was bold. It was fair and red. She had been a worthy that means a corrupt woman in reality throughout her life. She enjoyed the company of men so greatly that she was married five times. Here her companions of youthful days are not mentioned for there is no need to tell about them. Before this pilgrimage she had visited the holy place of Jerusalem three times. She had experience of crossing many strange rivers. She had visited Rome, Boulogne, St. James’ shrine in Galicia and Cologne. She had good experience of travelling. It is true that she was gap-toothed. She sat comfortably upon a slow-moving horse. She wore a fair wimple or veil and a wide hat shaped like a shield. Her outer skirt covered her large hips. She wore a pair of light shoes. In company she talked freely and cut jokes. She knew all the remedies of love for she had gone through that game so often. Chaucer holds the opinion that self- earning women grow corrupt and fashionable. In an effort of looking modern so often they adopt ridiculously designed garments. She may be taken as a foil to the Nun Prioress who also leads a worldly life in spite of being a nun.
