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Physical Appearance In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

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Physical Appearance In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
Over the course of the Canterbury Tales Prologue, Chaucer describes a pilgrimage of 29 characters on a journey to Canterbury. All 29 characters are on a ship where each agree to past their time by sharing their past and present experiences. Using their physical appearance to reveal their inner natures, Chaucer outlines each pilgrim to portray their personal view towards life. The vocabulary he utilizes allows the readers to vividly piece together the identity of the pilgrims. Chaucer uses his master skills to reveal the knight, nun, and monk’s inner natures by describing their physical appearance.

By describing the knight’s physical attributes and what he has been through, Chaucer reveals that he is a honorable, upstanding man. The knight is manifestly the most prestigious person on the pilgrimage. Up to his honor, he serves his king nobly and fights may battles. All of which dealt with religion in some nature meaning that every battle had a meaning behind it …show more content…
The necklace she wears reads “Love Conquers All”, when typically a nun is seen wearing rosary beads with a crucifix. This could be an indication of the love she longs for that she reads about in book, not a love stereotypical nun’s experience from God. By the way she allows everyone to see her act, she is trying to be perceived as someone she is not. The nun tries to act in a way the damsel in the court would. Many funny habits are expressed in hopes to enhance her image of trying to be a damsel in the court. In lines 122-123 of the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer says “Full well she sang the services divine, Intoning through her nose, becomingly;”, meaning that she sings through her nose. She also speaks incorrect french, fake sobs over a mouse in a trap but feeds flesh to her hounds, and eats her food slowly to ensure she will not spill anything. All showing evident that she undoubtedly wants to be
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