Chaucer's description of the knight is a good example of his subversion of the classic Arthurian image that existed in popular literature of the time[2]. In the General Prologue, Chaucer relays his description of the knight: " 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." This excerpt, the beginning of the description of the knight holds true to the classic representation of the knight of valour and honour, but Chaucer goes on to pervert and pollute the fairytale image that he has created: " And of his port as meeke as is a maide" and, " His hors were goode, but he was nat gay. Of fustian he wered a gopoun, Al bismothered with his haubergeoun." In these few lines, Chaucer has destroyed the traditional stereotype of the knight and created a new and almost comical figure. Our knight is not one 'in shining armour', but rather a 'knight in a rusted chain-mail'. The knight does not even have a hyper-masculine representation here either. Chaucer feminises the knight comparing him to a maid. At the end of the description of the knight in the general prologue the only part of the knight that lives up to the readers expectations is his horse, which apparently was in good condition. Although we have only been given a visual representation of the knight, the reader can gather many things from this description, perhaps the knight is effeminate or weak, and he shys away from battle, getting so little battlefield 'action' that his chainmail has begun to rust. It is a device used by Chaucer to convey the character of his pilgrims using their appearance. Thus when the Wife of Bath is described as being "gat-toothed", the reader can assume that she is lusty as it was believed in the Middle ages that this particular physical attribute denoted that characteristic. In medieval times, certain elements of a person's appearance intrinsically suggested something, if not everything of their character.