How a person conducts themselves on a daily basis can tell you a lot about their character and motivations. If one were to examine the Knight then they would see he is a humble, brave, and kind man. “And though so much distinguished, he was wise / And in his bearing modest as a maid. / He never yet a boorish thing had said / In all his life to any, come what might; / He was a true, a perfect gentle-knight.”(70-74). The squire, on the other hand is the knight’s polar opposite, “He was embroidered like a meadow bright / And full of freshest flowers, red and white. / Singing he was, or fluting all the day; / He was as fresh as is the month of May.”(91-94) This passage shows how the squire is all about the frill and the fluff and not about any real sort of substance. This is fundamentally different from the knight who is all about modesty and chivalry; he doesn’t waste his time chasing after dames, but rather does something meaningful and important with his life. So despite them being father and son, “He [the knight] had his son with him, a fine young Squire,” (81) they really share no likeness beyond that of blood.
How a person decides to live their life is a sort of compilation of how they conduct themselves on a daily basis. The knight (as has been shown) has decided to live his life valiantly, but not just for a short period or for recompense for some terrible crime, no for his entire life, “There was a Knight, a most distinguished man, / Who from the day on which he first began / To ride abroad had followed chivalry, / Truth, Honor, generousness and courtesy. / He had done nobly in his sovereign’s war / And ridden into battle no man more, / As well as Christian as heathen places, / And ever honored for his noble graces.”(43-50). He has chosen to live his life nobly, and to always be truthful and honorable; this is, once again in stark contrast to the squire. The squire is described as, “A lover and cadet, a lad of fire” (82) and Chaucer says that “He loved so hotly that till dawn grew pale / He slept as little as a nightingale.”(99-100), the squire has chosen a life of lust and personal pleasure, seeking only his satisfaction. While this may be somewhat selfish he does have a pleasant and enjoyable life. While the knight must enjoy what he is doing it seems that the constant fighting would be very tedious and depressing.
So it is quite obvious that the knight and the squire are fundamentally different characters as can be seen by looking at their motivations for battle, their day to day lives, and how they have decided to live their lives. If forced to pick one of the two I would have to say that the Knight was correct for moral reasons, but in the grand scheme of things the squire really had a good peaceful life going for himself that I would pick over fighting and nobility any day.
The Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer. Trans. Nevill Coghill. The British Tradition. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2007. 98-119. Print.