ic code: he is devout and courteous off the battlefield and is boldand fearless on it.In twentieth century America, we would like to think that we have many people in oursociety who are like Chaucer's knight. During this nation's altercation with Iraq in 1991, theconcept of the modest but effective soldier captured the imagination of the country. Indeed, thenation's journalists in many ways attempted to make General H. Norman Schwarzkof a latter dayknight. The general was made to appear as a fearless leader who really was a regular guy underthe uniform.It would be nice to think that a person such as the knight could exist in the twentiethcentury. The fact of the matter is that it is unlikely that people such as the knight existed even inthe fourteenth century. As he does with all of his characters, Chaucer is producing a stereotype increating the knight. As noted above, Chaucer, in describing the knight, is describing a chivalricideal. The history of the Middle Ages demonstrates that this ideal rarely was manifested in actualconduct. Nevertheless, in his description of the knight, Chaucer shows the reader the possibilityof the chivalric way of life....
