Chivalry in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

In his Canterbury Tales, Chaucer fully explicates the cultural standard known as curteisye through satire. In the fourteenth century curteisye embodied sophistication and an education in French international culture. The legends of chilvalric knights, conversing in the language of courtly love, matured during this later medieval period. Chaucer himself matured in the King's Court, and he reveled in his cultural status, but he also retained an anecdotal humor about curteisye. One must only peruse his …showed first 75 words of 787 total…

…showed last 75 words of 787 total…h," "wille," and "spille" and others persisted from Old English, and Chaucer's use of them through Nicholas gives the passage a decidedly rough tone, corresponding to Nicholas' sensual actions. Nicholas' language might have been courtly, but his intentions were definitely not as delicate as French. Chaucer utilized satire throughout the Canterbury Tales, and he illustrated as much about his culture, and especially curteisye, with his satire as he did with the stories and characters themselves.