Before I delve into my exploration of medieval characters, I would like to acknowledge that the ideas I will discuss may be influenced by a sort of implicit bias. As “The Man of Law’s Tale” does not describe the physical traits of its characters, my theories are shaped only by my background knowledge of medieval peoples.
To begin, I presume that the physical characteristics — such as the skin color, eye color, hair color and stature — of medieval peoples would be comparable to what they are today, as these features are influenced by genetics. As the majority of people do not migrate to distant homes in their lifetimes, the traits they possess and pass down through generations remain in the same geographical region. Thus, when I imagine a person from northern England, I see light skin, light eyes and light hair. Expanding this view to general northern Europe, I see the color of these features begin to vary. Contrarily, when I imagine a person from Syria or the more general Middle East, I see darker skin, dark eyes and dark hair.
Moving away from physical attributes to dress, my insight relies solely on A Knight’s Tale, a film presenting Europeans in the middle ages, and my History 100 education of the Islamic Empire. I image Northern Englanders and Europeans alike to dress fairly modestly, in simple patterns, colors and styles, with a notable elegance radiating through the upper class. I also think that more central Europeans, such as Spaniards and Frenchmen, may have worn more ornate clothing, as they were more attached to the global trade market — and peoples like the Syrians.
I image Syrians and other Middle Easterns to dress in bright colors and intricate patterns. From my history curriculum, I also remember turbans to be of popular style. I believe this more evolved style of dress may spur from the fact that the Middle East attain higher social and intellectual development far earlier than much of Europe.
“The Man of Law’s Tale” exposes personality traits of both the Syrians and the north Englanders (although the traits of the northern Englanders in the story may not match the traits of all medieval northern Englanders, and the traits of the Syrians in the story may not match the traits of all medieval Syrians). A big contrast between these peoples in Chaucer’s story is their response to Constance’s religion: the northern Englanders accept her for her Christianity and eventually convert after witnessing the miracles, but the Sultanesse and her cohort denounce Christianity and plan to murder Constance and all her peoples before they even meet the poor girl.
As for my modern day perception of these regions, I do not view the Middle East to be as prosperous as I image it to be during the Middle Ages. I also note that my background and lifestyle is far more similar to a modern day European than a modern day Middle Eastern.
How did my personal experience help me to understand the “Man of Law’s Tale”?
Upon reflection of the way my personal experience has shaped my disposition towards different groups of people, it became blatantly obvious that my parent’s view of the world is quite different than my own. My parents are the people that raised me — they imprinted their political beliefs and their morals. But in the process of raising a child, they developed a person (myself) that could disagree with their viewpoints and create her own vision of the world. I think this is largely due to a generational gap. While my parents are quite liberal, they often expose implicit biases that are not politically correct. I think growing up in the 21st century provided me exposure and experience to a fluid, vibrant world. We are rapidly destroying categorical bins for people to be shoved in.
I am only 31 years younger than my parents, but my ability to accept and applaud variation exceeds theirs. Chaucer was writing centuries ago, thus his view, knowledge, and understanding of the world was exponentially narrower than both that of my parents and the world. A focus on the time period in which Chaucer was writing helped me to understand the blatant racism in his story.
It’s crazy to think about a time, such as the 14th century, when religion acted as a science. Everyone in the community would have been living by the same set of values and belief — having any other opinion would have been unheard of (especially because there existed no scientific foundation to justify life). Furthermore, a different religion than one’s own would likely appear to threaten one’s livelihood.
butterfly }{ effect 