Analysis Of The Canterbury Tales

In the late 1300s Geoffrey Chaucer began wrote The Canterbury Tales, a story which follows the religious journey of twenty-nine people, who represent many aspects of Medieval society, to the Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England. While on the pilgrimage the host of the tavern, where all the pilgrims meet, suggests that the pilgrims each tell a story for the group’s entertainment. Chaucer intended for all the voyagers to tell two stories, but he unfortunately died before he could finish the book and only got to write one story apiece. However, the goal of the storytelling contest is to tell the most moral story possible, and the one who wins receives a free meal, which the rest of the pilgrims will pay for. Although some of the other stories have good moral messages, “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” are on different ends of the moral spectrum. “The Pardoner’s Tale” focuses on a pardoner who preaches against greed. While “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” exemplifies what all women want in their relationships: power. Although both “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” demonstrate the value of the opinion of elders, the stories differ in their moral values and their storyteller’s values.

In Canterbury Tales, Chaucer reveals hypocritical qualities in the Pardoner through vivid characterization, tone, and morality. The Pardoner's total lack of respect for the Church's expectations and the congregation allows Chaucer to display flaws in society. Chaucer is able to demonstrate scams and illustrate hypocrisy in the Church, and society in general through the techniques he uses in Canterbury Tales.

Adapting to someone’s piece of art like this is like taking a craft, and altering it or to build off it to produce a new piece of art. Sometimes adaptation mimics the original piece. Other times the resemblance is so slight that it can be considered completely stray from the plot and theme.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales became one of the first ever works that began to approach the standards of modern literature. It was probably one of the first books to offer the readers entertainment, and not just another set of boring morals. However, the morals, cleverly disguised, are present in almost every story. Besides, the book offers the descriptions of the most common aspects of the human nature. The books points out both the good and the bad qualities of the people, however, the most obvious descriptions are those of the sinful flaws of humans, such as greed and lust.

The Canterbury Tales, written and narrated by Geoffrey Chaucer, explores manipulation and dishonesty in the Catholic Church. The Nun in “The General Prologue” exemplifies improper qualities to which a Prioress should have. Along with the Nun, The Friar in “The General Prologue” uses false information to gain customer. In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” the Pardoner uses greedy tactics to wield other pilgrims into buying his relics.In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses the Nun and the Friar in “The General Prologue” and the Pardoner in “The Pardoner’s Tale” to show the hypocrisy in the Church.

In "The Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer has some religious characters who break the vows they pledge for, to get a place in the Church. Many characters in the story seem to have an awkward characteristic that the writer did not notice. Why do the religious characters break the vow? How do they break it? For example, the monk was a primary part of the church, but as you keep reading, the characters start to change in ways you could never imagine. Some character do not interact with each other depending upon their social class level. The vows that the religious characters break are the Vow of Poverty, the Vow of Chastity, the Vow of Obedience, and the Vow of Stability.

In 476 CE, the Roman Empire was overthrown by the Germans, ended its rule in the western Europe for over a thousand years. In the 14th century, one of the world’s greatest cultural movement, the Renaissance, started to emerge from Italy and soon spread to the rest of the Europe. However, the scholars cannot find anything special to mark this transitional period from 5th to 15th century and so called it the Middle Age or the Medieval Era. Nevertheless, the Middle Age is not just an era in between of the these two significant historical events. The unique culture during the Middle Age is reflected on literatures such as The Canterbury Tales. By describing the stories told by pilgrims from different classes, The Canterbury Tales provided overall perceptions of women during the Medieval Era.

“The Canterbury Tale” has very realistic scenarios that many people can relate too, and struggle with everyday of their lives. This tale talks about the lower class characters who have their struggle just like the high end society. Real life scenarios do not always have logical and organized connections. The human brain has been tested but still cannot manage to understand human kind. In “The Miller’s Tale” there was a friendship that turned into rivalry. This is a problem that comes from many years ago, and continues till today. Friends lose contact for many reason, and even for other people. We let other people affect us, and let other people manipulate the way we think. People tend to see the negative over the positive. It’s not all bad, love has a major role. Love is manifested in man ways not just in relationships but also the love for money. In the Miller’s Tale, Nicholas sleeps with Alisoun, right under John’s nose. Alisoun is John’s newly wife and is much younger than he is. Life can teach us a lot of lesion throughout life, no matter what era we 're in it seems to be the same cycle. The human kind makes mistakes over and over again. We can never take anyone serious if their actions cannot backup what comes put their mouth. Human relationships are not the easiest to maintain, with one thing being said and seeing other wise; having women and love mixed together play a major role.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, using his characters as the mouthpiece for his iconoclastic views. Chaucer had serious issues with the hypocrisy of the church as well as, many other sacred institutions. The only reason that Chaucer was not exiled or even imprisoned for his views is the way in which he exposed them. Through the allegorical meanings of this text and Chaucer’s claim that he is simply retelling the events of his pilgrimage to Canterbury as it occurred, Chaucer is saved from extreme persecution. From the beginning of time there has always been issues with challenging the higher order; allowing people to make their own decisions and separate themselves from the way of the church often lead to death. In 1350 the

The Knight, for example, is chosen to narrate the first tale. He is in the highest position from a social standpoint and displays the most admiring virtues for a medieval Christian man-at-arms: bravery, prudence, and honor. In contrast, belonging to the clergy, the Pardoner serves the author’s purpose of criticizing the church, as the character is exceptionally good at faking relics and collecting profits in his own benefit. Chaucer portrays in this tale the disagreement with the excess wealth and the spread corruption in Church at that

Often times we mistake tragedies as major setbacks in our lives, but in reality it can empower us to become successful individuals. I have witnessed these tragedies faced by both my family and friends; however, I identify the unseen benefit for series of unfortunate events. Within our lifetime, we will endure hardships or tragedies that will measure our strength and capabilities. We can ultimately make the decision whether it will dictate our lives forever or will we overcome and conquer it for the benefit of ourselves. In The Canterbury Tales, the Monk underlines that all tragedies revolve on having a devastating effect to the mentioned characters that he narrates.

Chaucer does not only the tale to show off his writing abilities -- it is not simply a display of his incredible versatility as an author.  Chaucer uses this tale to contrast his anti-church sentiments within the Canterbury Tales; it shows his great respect for spiritual beliefs and benefits him in making his argument against the Church.  In essence, Chaucer is clearly defending his anti-secular position by showing his reverence and devotion to spirituality; his problems lie with the Church, not the faith. While very well known for his sardonic criticism of the Church, he is less often acknowledged for his appreciation and respect for the religion itself.

The Canterbury Tales is a story that incorporates a multitude of stories told by a multitude of characters. Written by Geoffrey Chaucer, he devises a novel in which each character has to narrate a total of four stories as part of a competition; on their way to visit Saint Thomas Becket, the characters would tell two stories going and two stories returning from the journey. The perspective changes through each story, and each story is introduced by a general, opening, third person prologue. Though many of the characters got to share some ideas, Chaucer unfortunately passed away before his story’s entirety. As a result, a winner was never officially clarified. Needless to say, it is evident that the clear winner would be the Miller’s Tale.

The Canterbury Tales, a masterpiece of English Literature, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection, with frequent dramatic links, of 24 tales told to pass the time during a spring pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The General Prologue introduces the pilgrims, 29 "sondry folk" gathered at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (outside of London). Chaucer decides to join them, taking some time to describe each pilgrim.

In his description of other pilgrims, Chaucer points out how the lack of morality within the Church is echoed by the rest of society. Several pilgrims have non-religious reasons for going on the pilgrimage. The Wife of Bath, for instance, is looking for her sixth husband, hoping that “Som Cristen man shal wed me [her] anoon” (WBT 54). Many of the characters have little or no regard for others, but instead are focused only on their own desires. The Franklin is so gluttonous that “It snewed [snows] in his hous of mete and drinke, / Of alle daintees that men coude thinke” (GP 347-8). Chaucer even suggests that the Sergeant at Law, a prominent figure in society, “seemed bisier than he was” (GP 324). The corruption of the Church has, according to Chaucer, affected the way individuals act. If the Church is immoral it is not surprising that much of society mirrors the Church’s immoral actions. The Parson cleverly describes the effect of a lack of morality in the leaders of society by comparing the corruption of individuals to the rusting of metals: “if gold ruste, what shal iren do? / For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste, / No wonder is a lewed man to ruste” (GP 502-4). Chaucer attacks not only the behaviour of the Church officials but also the immorality of the laypeople in Medieval society.