In his portraits of the Knights and the Squire, Chaucer's General Prologue offers two very different perspectives of the knightly class, and the rest of the Canterbury Tales is even more varies, from tales that praise chivalry for establishing societal order, to thsoe that critique its unchecked power over others. This class will study the General Prologue and five other tales in light of chivalry's ideals for itself and Chaucer's fictional critiques of it. Students may read the tales in Modern English, but the course will pay attention to Middle English and the nature of Chaucer's poetry.