My Realization of Our Uncivilized Society

            My biggest problem with the General Prologue in The Canterbury Tales is the fact that I can’t discern which characters are good, and which are painted in a bad light.  During last week’s discussion, my group found the interpretations between the knight and his son to be much different than some of the others in the class. (Whether that’s because it’s up to interpretation or I’m simply getting it wrong, I don’t know.) The general consensus was that the son’s excerpt was very satirical.  But how am I supposed to know that? Even when translated into Modern English, the tone is hard to understand.  I’m really starting to hold Chaucer in contempt for showing off his fancy schmancy writing skills, and not focusing on understanding what the heck he’s saying.  I like poetic things, but this seems a bit excessive. 

            What I’m confused about is the contrasting things we discussed in class.  One day, I think we discussed that a clean-cut, nice looking dude with shiny armor and nice-looking hair was considered a good thing—the guy could be recognized as a hero.  Then another day, a guy with a nicely groomed, forked beard, or a squire with nice hair and the ability to write songs is bad.  This is extremely confusing! Then I remembered that these two discussions occurred while we were discussing two different stories.  So maybe this presents the evolution from Old English times and Middle English times—which again brings me to the topic of heroism. 

            In Beowulf, the hero is dressed in shiny, extravagant armor, and he is loved by the people.  Of course, his accomplishments and reputations are also considered in his heroism, but a lot of emphasis is placed on his outer appearance—which is quite impressive.  This idea isn’t unlike today’s society, where we place emphasis on looks in, not heroes, but celebrities.  We see the opposite in The Canterbury Tales, though.  Their hero (in this case the knight) is humbly dressed, and shows that looks are not at the forefront of their judgments.  Like Beowulf, this knight has many proud accomplishments to display—yet, they look entirely different.  What’s funny to me is the fact that we think of these times as uncivilized now—but really, Chaucer and his counterparts had the right way of thinking.  So who’s really uncivilized? Beowulf  is one of the earliest works we have on record, while Chaucer wrote this a hundreds of years later.  So really, we’ve come full circle.