The Birth of Equality and the Death of Chivalry
"...And now it's time for girls on trampolines!" Adam Corolla of The Man Show shouts at the end of the insipid program supposedly providing men with "manly" entertainment; "We give men what they want to see." This show involves beer guzzling at its best, childish antics involving midgets and the degradation of women in many forms. It seems as though chivalry may truly have died. In the woman's on-going quest for equality, the respect and reverence they were once treated with has changed.
Technically chivalry is defined as the moral code of knights in medieval times i.e.: dignity, courtesy, bravery, generosity, and gallantry. This was the manner of respect in which women were to be treated, and a knight was to uphold the code always. One can imagine courtly ladies strolling through the court in fine gowns, and having a chivalrous knight lay his cloak over a muddy patch so the ladies shan't muss their shoes. These days should some kind man stand for an extra second at a door to keep it open for an approaching woman, she may be amazed at this display of courtesy.
Hand on door, or cloak in mud, this is and was respectively, the mark of a refined man. "The self-conscious command of fine manners, whether the proper way of hunting, dressing, addressing a superior, or wooing a lady, became a key mark of an aristocrat"(20). In literature, "Despite the limitations of their actual power, women were the focus, often the worshiped focus, of much of the best imaginative literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries..."(18). Though chivalry is connected with the medieval times, Edmund Spencer wrote of a chivalrous knight in The Red Crosse Knight of The Faerie Queene...
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...ved out of fantasyland and into reality. For some this was too far into reality, Swift goes so far as to describe the lady's chamber pot, "...he lifts the lid: there need no more, he smelt it all the time before" ( ). A man of virtue would not dare to embarrass a woman by revealing her dressing room secrets.
With the respect women were just starting to gain as thinkers, the respect of ideal sweet perfection dwindled. No longer was she a mystery to be worshipped. Slowly as men realized that women are capable thinkers, the need to react to her in a manner different from men became less necessary. If women are so equal they can defend their own virtue. By our times most men have figured out women can reason just as well as men, and women hold office in nearly every position that men do. Supposedly we are the equals, which has led to the death of chivalry.
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Swift, Jonathan. “The Lady’s Dressing Room” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ninth Ed. Stephen Greenblat. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. P. 2676. Print
Chivalry began in the 12th century in the form of a knightly code of conduct,
In today 's society women play a number of rolls depending on what area in the world they live in. Here in the western part of the world we are lucky enough to live in a society where women are able to speak freely and to share what is on their mind. If a woman disagrees with a man 's opinion or something that he says she is allowed to voice her disagreement. However, in other societies throughout the world women do not have as much of a voice. They are expected to be submissive to their husband and respectful when in the presence of other men. The female population is thought of as inferior to the male population. This sort of thinking is very similar to that of the mindset of the sixteenth century. Women were thought of
The epic poem, “The Lay of the Nibelungs” (1200’s), set to practice the major pillars in the code of chivalry that the Duke of Burgundy in the 14th century eventually condensed and ascribed to the Burgundian Knights: Faith, Charity, Justice, Sagacity, Prudence, Temperance, Resolution, Truth, Liberality, Diligence, Hope, and Valor. Though values bear merit, “The Lay of the Nibelungs” teaches that true worth and longevity comes from assessing the situation and applying intellect to the code, from submitting to God, and from not cheating the system (the laws and cultural norms of the time that be).
Romantic gestures have been seen as a useful motive to win hearts of women for centuries. However, as society constantly changes, the effectiveness of these chivalrous acts has diminished. In James Joyce’s “Araby” and John Updike’s “A&P”, this theory is explored, both telling the story of a boy whose efforts to impress the girl of their desires fail. As said by Well’s in his critical analysis of these stories, “Both the protagonists have come to realize that romantic gestures—in fact, that the whole chivalric view [sic] --- are, in modern times, counterproductive”. These stories, despite the differences between the two characters, clearly show that the character’s world is changing, with chivalry becoming more obsolete.
Women today hold many roles in society. We are mother, care givers, daughters, wives, bosses, employees, educators, arbitrators and the list can go on and on. In my view we are the glue that can hold a family together and the ethical back bone in a still very male dominated society. Males have been the force behind most of the ethical and moral decisions that dominate our world. Women for much of our known history been subservient, dominated, and treated as second class citizens. We have been told that we are too sensitive and not as smart as men. It was believed and debated for many centuries that a women could only be virtues if she was a mother and a wife. This was her role because of her gender. With all the negativity towards women we
In the tale, The Knight’s Tale, Chaucer made sure not to deviate away from what he saw during his time because some qualities emerged as prominent figures. The Knight’s Tale made sure to exemplify the idea of courtly love and what it truly means to be a knight who follows the code of chivalry. Some of the qualities of being chivalrous is being generous, honest, courageous, and supporting the notion of justice, which the readers can see that Chaucer understood the significance of the noble behavior and how that affected people at that time. Furthermore, the article, “The Canterbury Tales for Poetry of Students” highlighted how the noble life of the chivalry was a momentous part of the tale since the tale was “a comment on the possibilities
Chivalry was a big part of this fourteenth century and it was embodied throughout the men of king Arthurs round table. In General, Chivalry was a set of religious values and moral goals that medieval knights
The code of Chivalry can be described as a brave, loyal, courteous, distinguished courage or ability that is admired for their brave and noble qualities. Chivalry is a system of ethical ideals that arose from feudalism and had its highest development in the 12th and 13th centenry.(Columbia ElectronicEncyclopedia).Respect is an essential part of chivalry. The code of chivalry is a set of rules followed by the knights during the middle ages. The evolution of heroic and chivalry code has changed over time beginning from the Middle ages to now. The three stories Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lanval and Beowulf illustrate what it takes to be considered a chivalrous knight.
Closely associated to the romance tradition are two idealized standards of behavior, especially for knights: courage and chivalry. The protagonist within many medieval romances proved their worth by going on quests, as many a knights went in those times, thus returning with great tales of their travels and deeds. Many modern people think of chivalry as referring to a man's gallant treatment of women, and although that sense is derived from the medieval chivalric ideal, chivalry could be seen as more than that. Knights were expected to be brave, loyal, and honorable-sent to protect the weak, be noble to...
Chivalry dealt with loyalty honor, and service to women on and off the battle field’ (“The Medieval Period: 1066-1485” 76). The Knight in The Canterbury Tales is the perfect example of someone who follows the code of chivalry. Chaucer describes him with much admiration as “a most distinguishable man, who from the day on which he first began to ride abroad had followed chivalry, truth, honor generousness and courtesy” (Chaucer, "The Prologue." 117). While Chaucer praises the knight for ... ... middle of paper ... ...
Throughout Western history it was known to have this Patriarchal system in which the men are the head of the family, and community, during which these spheres between the male and female were divided, each having their own set of roles: the male in the public view and the women in the private view. The men worry about what is going on outside the home like politics, money, control over property while the women take care of what happens on the inside of the home doing things like taking care of the children and doing the house work. With these roles set in place the women have had a hard time being respected because of this Patriarchy.
Men were taught to be superior to women since the dawn of time, whereas females were looked down upon. Ruled by patriarchy, it was hard for most of these women to do more than just be a stay at home wife. In some of the stories we have read, the women were portrayed as submissive, obedient, with no voice. Women have struggled to break out of this mold and find a voice for themselves. However, some managed to break out of these expectations and standards. Women and men have had to fulfill different set standards before anyone had stepped foot outside the womb. For both genders those standards came with different expectations.
The word chivalry comes from the French term “chevalrie” which when literally described meant the warrior attributes of armed knights on horseback. When the word was first used it did not have many, if any, of the moral or social aspects with which were later attributed to it. Reaching the later periods of the Middle Ages there begins to be a consensus opinion on the definition of a chivalrous knight. This knight would be polite, especially to women, loyal to his lord, a devout and humble Christian, and a powerful and strong-willed fighter. While no man could live up to these expectations, an ideal chivalrous knight would demonstrate all of these qualities. Chivalry would begin to fade in the 15th century following the unrealistic disposition of courtly love. From the beginning of the Crusades to this point however, chivalry was not only an important part of the cultural world of the upper classes it would come to define it. Indeed, many of the major parts of life in the Middle Ages including warfare, religion, ceremonies and romance were significantly affected by chivalry. These key aspects of life which chivalry impacted would define the cultural world of the upper classes throughout Europe.