"The Knight's Tale" (Middle English: The Knightes Tale) is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
The Knight is described by Chaucer in the "General Prologue" as the person of highest social standing amongst the pilgrims, though his manners and clothes are unpretentious. We are told that he has taken part in some fifteen crusades in many countries and also fought for one pagan leader against another. Though the list of campaigns is real, his characterization is idealized. Most readers have taken Chaucer's description of him as "a verray, parfit gentil knyght" to be sincere[1] but Terry Jones suggested that this description was ironic, and that Chaucer's readers would have deduced that the Knight was a mercenary.[2] He is accompanied on his pilgrimage by the Squire, his 20-year-old son.
The story introduces themes and arguments typically encountered in the literature of knighthood, including courtly love and ethical dilemmas.
- ^ Murphy, Michael (2000). Canterbury Quintet: the General Prologue and Four Tales. Conal and Gavin. p. 22. ISBN 9781893385023.
This portrait is generally thought to show a man of unsullied ideals.
- ^ Jones, Terry (1980). Chaucer's Knight: the Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 2. ISBN 9780297775669.