ipl-logo

Honesty In The Canterbury Tales

521 Words3 Pages

What does it mean to be honest? The Canterbury Tales features characters from all walks of life, with reputations to match. A key part in determining their admirability is how truthful they are. People who are honest, such as the Knight and the Parson, are worthy of praise, and those who are not, such as the Nun and the Monk, are worthy of scorn. Honesty is more than telling the truth, it means having integrity. The pilgrim who shows these traits the most is the Knight. The Knight "followed chivalry/Truth, honor, generousness, and courtesy"(Lines 45-46). True to his title, the Knight is a soldier and has fought in many battles. He does great things for his kingdom and the people in it. He even remains humble in spite of those achievements. Such virtue is symbolized in his clothing choices. Under his armor he wears a simple stained tunic. Indeed, the Knight is a shining example of honesty. Similarly to the Knight, the …show more content…

Even though he is a man of the cloth he parades around wearing furs and golden jewelry. One piece is "a wrought-gold, cunningly fashioned pin/Into a lover's knot"(Lines 200-201). The reader can assume this is a sign that he has broken his vow of celibacy. To make matters worse, his favorite hobby is hunting, an act that is forbidden to holy men. It seems that his every action opposes his title. The Nun, much like the Monk, is a dishonest person. She does her best "To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace"(Line 143). She calculates her every action to make herself seem as elegant as possible. For example, the Nun eats with the greatest care, never spilling a single drop. Furthermore, she burst into tears upon seeing a dead mouse to seem like a damsel. Like others in the first estate, any work she does is for a handful of rich people. The Nun sets her clergy duties aside in favor of luxuries and appearances.You have to question if she does anything a nun

Show More
Related
480 Words | 2 Pages

According to the hero’s journey there must be a theme, a message the author is trying to get across through the hero’s trials and experiences. The characters in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight play the largest role in getting this theme across to the reader and to Gawain. The idea that being honest and chivalrous is the best way to lead

Read More
1043 Words | 5 Pages

About twelve years and roughly eleven million deaths. The Holocaust. There are no words to describe it. It was full of death, brutality, pain, and torture. No one made it out unscarred.

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

[attention getter]. Geoffrey Chaucer, in his novel The Canterbury Tales, deals with many tales of medieval life and morals. The writing follows a large group of pilgrims who have all been challenged to tell their best tale, one that teaches a valuable lesson, on the journey to Canterbury. Two of the stories told, “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, make their points in very notable ways. The Pardoner tells a story of three men who come to pay for indulging in the sin of greed, while the Wife of Bath recounts a story of questionable morality involving a knight struggling for redemption after breaking his code of honor.

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

During the Medieval times chivalry was one of the most important characteristics a knight could display. Chivalry was viewed as a moral obligation that involved bravery, honor, respect, and gallantry. Knights were expected to uphold this code or face social consequences for any infractions, with punishments ranging from humiliation to termination of their knighthood. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” presents the struggles knights faced with honoring the chivalrous code at all times. Sir Gawain, while imperfect, exhibits qualities expected of knights and embodies the internal struggle between honoring the chivalrous code and giving into selfish desires.

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

Chivalry has many features that shape a knight, however the virtues that Sir Gawain presents the most are courage and honesty. One time when Gawain showed honesty and courage is when he went to fulfill his deal with the Green Knight. The guide leading Gawain to the Green Chapel told Gawain that he should run and that no one would know about his Failure to keep his promise. But Gawain said he must fulfill his deal: “But however heedfully thou hid it, if I here departed,/ faith in fear now to flee, in fashion thou speakest,/ I should a knight coward be, I Could not be excused./ Noy, I’ll fare to the chapel, whatever chance may befall” (85.13-16).

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

“A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make himself look bad to if he can” by William Hazlitt. One of the main ideas from the Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer hypocrites. There Are Said so that way because they do not practice what they preach or they lie to people and tell them the contrary of what the bible (in the Christian religion says to do). Some synonyms for the word hypocrite are pretender, deceiver, liar, fraud and phony.

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

The pentangle on Gawain's shield is represented between five virtues. These virtues are friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety. Each virtue displays the characteristics of a knight

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

Chaucer wrote the book: The Canterbury Tales, in which a group of men going on a journey all tell a tale. Within each tale is a moral lesson as well as each tale consists of a corrupt action committed within the church and is conveyed by those kind of characters within the story. One of the tales that Chaucer tells in his book is called: The pardoner 's tale. Within this tale the pardoner (who is telling the tale) is a preacher who often gives sermons but admits that he does is solely for money and not to condemn people of their sins. (Greed)

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

The lines 1550-1553 from the Pearl poets epic Sir Gawain and the Green Knight epitomizes two of the most important virtues of a noble knight, and Sir Gawain, the man the story follows, defines what is a true knight. He holds a place next to King Arthur and the queen as well as exemplifying two of a knights most important virtues. The first being chastity and the second being courteousness, both however, are very much entwined in this tale. Throughout this epic and many other Arthurian legends praised these traits in the knight and as we shall see, Sir Gawain although still very much human, is a master of both. The virtue of chastity is extremely important in Arthurian legend and we can see this from examining Gawain’s shield.

Read More
1105 Words | 5 Pages

Courage in her opinion is “A Virtue central to Knighthood” (ALLEN). In the 14th Century, there was a huge public recognition of courage, people wanted to be recognised as possessing it. The Character who possesses the most courage in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is most definitely Sir Gawain

Read More
650 Words | 3 Pages

She knew that she had to do something to help those in need, especially during Christmas. The plight of those she witnessed within the community continued to trouble her heart and her conscience. She believed the Holy Spirit was saying to her, “ That’s who you should be serving.” Being a woman of great faith and conviction, she knew something had to be done and it had to start with her. She walked out on faith, took action, and with the support of the parish, in 1980 she served her first Christmas dinner to the less fortunate in the community, sacrificing time with her own

Read More
2469 Words | 10 Pages

In The Canterbury Tales, readers met so many religious figures who amount to a pure source of hypocrisy and contradiction such as the Friar, the Pardoner, the Nun, and more. Geoffrey Chaucer, the author, brought a delightful dose of sarcasm in various descriptions of the religious characters

Read More
545 Words | 3 Pages

Despite the human flaws that each knight bears, all three knights represent knighthood and the chivalric code because of its importance in medieval society.                                                                          The author of  “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” describes Sir Gawain as the “most courteous knight” (215) in Arthur’s court  because he models chivalry ideally. Gawain’s chivalric traits

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed

Read More
588 Words | 3 Pages

Perks of Sarcasm (Chaucer 's Use of Satire to Reach Intended Audience) Geoffrey Chaucer, also known as, “The Father of English Literature,” uses satire in his stories to influence his intended audience. Satire is the use of humor or irony to reveal a person 's stupidity. Considering Chaucer 's stories are legendary, he never fails to through some satire into his writing. With that being said, using it while writing a story is one of the most effective ways of writing.

Read More

More about Honesty In The Canterbury Tales

Related Topics

Open Document