What Does Chaucer Really Think?

            As I’ve continued reading the Prologue of “The Canterbury Tales,” I’ve realized that one of the hardest things to detect is Chaucer’s language, not in the terms of it being written in Middle English but in regards to his opinion of certain characters. It would be easy to say that Chaucer is sincere when talking about each character, but that simply is not true. Last week in class we broke into small groups and discussed whether or not we thought Chaucer liked the Squire and the Knight. As we went around the room my group members and I became aware that every other group had developed completely opposite opinions then we had. When we read about the Knight we thought Chaucer was speaking rather sarcastically and was not really a fan of the Knight but greatly respected the Squire. During that time period, people believed that your outwardly appearance reflected who you were as a person. This being said, we thought that although the Knight seemed to be a kind and worthy man, his messy appearance reflected that his life was rather unorganized and he did not take his job as seriously as he should. Also, when talking about the Squire, we saw his curly locks and very fashionable attire to correspond with his well-respected persona. This being said, we thought Chaucer was a fan of the Squire. After our class discussion last week with every group disagreeing with my group’s opinions, it is even harder to distinguish Chaucer’s sincerity or lack there of, when speaking of certain characters. How important is the outward appearance? Could Chaucer perhaps be mocking the Squire’s attire rather than complementing it? With these questions in mind, as I continue to read the book, are there any specific uses of language or signifiers that will help me to decide one way or another (whether Chaucer is sincere or sarcastic) or are there many possibilities for each character in regards to Chaucer’s opinion of him or her? After reading the prologue section about the Summoner, it is quite obvious that his appearance is strikingly different, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Chaucer can’t help but to dwell on his red fiery skin disease, but how important is that to the Summoner’s identity? I suppose it is up to my interpretation to determine this, but what if my opinion again is drastically different from those opinions of my classmates; is there a right answer?