The Doctour of Physik Essay - 977 Words

Among the pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales we find a Doctour of Physik (line 413). This doctor is the twenty first character mentioned in the General Prologue. He comes after a pirate and before a woman of dubious conduct, thereby making his good qualities appear considerably more honorable than they would if he, for instance, followed the knight or parson. The narrator speaks highly of the doctors scientific abilities and learned knowledge while also emphasizing his aptitude at his trade. There are, in addition, references to the doctors religious competence, or lack thereof. By emphasizing the doctors strengths and showing where his weaknesses lay, Chaucer uses him as the knights equal on an opposite pole.†¦show more content†¦In these lines: A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man, / That fro the time that he first bigan / To riden out, he loved chivalrye, / Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisye. / Ful worthy was he in his lordes were, / And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre, / As wel in Cristendom as hethenesse, / And evere honoured for his worthinesse (43-50), we view the knights cause, fighting for his Lord in Christianity, which contrasts with the doctors cause, healing the human form. We also learn that the knight values thinks any honorable person would find worthy: truth, honor, freedom, and courtesy. This isnt to say that the doctor does not have these qualities at all, but his introduction is oriented less around chivalry and more around practicality. Thus, using a total of sixteen lines, Chaucer has placed both characters loyalties and motivations. The knights are with God, on the spiritual side of the pole, and the doctors are with the body, on the physical side. The benefits and faults of the doctors position are opposite the knights as well. While the knight is quite healthy spiritually, his physical health has been damaged by the many years of campaigning. While the doctor, continuing on in the vein of the physical, keeps himself in perfect health. For example, Of his diete mesurable was he, / For it was of no superfluitee, / But of greet norissing and digestible (437-439). By eating only healthy items and taking care to eat in