Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer consists of frame narratives were a group of pilgrims that are traveling from Southwark to the shire of St. Becker in the Canterbury Cathedral, tell each other to pass time until they arrive at their destination. During The Canterbury Tales the reader is exposed to many characters that represent all of the social classes of medieval England and the reader gets to know them from the general prologue to each individual tale. One of these characters is the Pardoner, when the Pardoners is introduced he is described as the stereotypical pardoner of the Fourteen Century. The pardoner is describe as a crafty and a corrupt individual that will do anything to sell his pardons and relics. Nevertheless one of the most important characteristics that the Pardoner exhibits is his frankness about his own hypocrisy and sins. The pardoner accuses himself of fraud, avarice, and gluttony (the very things that he preaches against). During the Pardoners prologue, but most noticeable during his tale, the pardoners preach about how “Greed is the root of all evil”, and how our sins can lead cause our dismay.

Essay topic: With the reference to one of The Canterbury Tales discuss, what means Chaucer uses to create the highly individualized (and often comic) characters and how successful is his creation.

The Canterbury Tales is a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1392. In this poem each character tells four stories, two on the way there and two on the way home, to provide entertainment for the people on the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. One part of Chaucer’s tales that truly stands out is the character prologue where he introduces all of the characters on the pilgrimage and conveys the narrator’s opinions of them using satire and other literary devices. Of characters that Chaucer’s narrator describes, two are the Parson and the Friar. Both of the characters share similarities in their social status and job position however greatly contrast in morals and character. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses contrasting characteristics to convey an idea that teaches that power does not always lead to corruption.

Canterbury Tales is an exquisite literary work for numerous reasons among them being the satirical way that Chaucer is able to get his agenda across. However, as the times change, the areas where we need to provide more discretion change as well. There are a lot of characters in Canterbury Tales that while they were great for their time period are either nonexistent or not relevant anymore. The occupations alone have changed dramatically simply based on the demands that we now have socially or in the work force. In addition, while it is still a mainstay in millions of households, the church and religion don’t hold as big a sway over the current factions you would find in the world. While Chaucer, the father of the English language, does a masterful job when he intricately describes his characters in the general prologue, if the tales were adapted for modern times he would need to add a celebrity, an athlete, and a news anchor.

Geoffrey Chaucer portrayed a cross section of medieval society though The Canterbury Tales. "The Prologue" or foreword of this work serves as an introduction to each of the thirty one characters involved in the tales. Two of these characters are the Kght and the Squire, who share a father and son relation. These individuals depart on a religious pilgrimage to a cathedral in Canterbury. The Squire, opposed to the Knight, goes for a vacation instead of religious purposes. His intent is not as genuinand pure as his father's.

The Canterbury Tales are a collection of literature that depicts the structure of society in the fourteenth century and the corruptness behind it. In this collection, Chaucer becomes a social commentator by communicating his beliefs on many issues happening in his age through his characters. Although Chaucer does not directly state these beliefs verbally, he allows the actions of the characters in his collections to speak for themselves. As one reads these collections, readers can hint that Chaucer knew or came in contact with everyone in these tales.

In The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, each character, such as the Pardoner, Wife of Bath, and the Franklin, epitomizes their spirit and reputation through the tales they tell. The Pardoner uses his tale as a gimmick to make money, because he is a greedy man. The way his tale illustrates each sin, every listener can relate to the three brothers and feel their guilt. The Wife of Bath’s Tale expresses her own values in the way the Knight is given a second chance after raping the young virgin. This greatly undermines her idea of the value of women. Because the Wife of Bath is so sexual, and lacks respect for her self, the Knight’s actions and forgiveness represent her own attitude on men versus women. Lastly, The

    The Clerk's Tale seems to strike most readers as a distasteful representation of corrupt sovereignty and emotional sadism; few can find any value in Walter's incessant urge to test his wife's constancy, and the sense that woman is built for suffering is fairly revolting to most modern sensibilities. Nevill Coghill, for instance, described the tale as "too cruel, too incredible a story," and he notes that "even Chaucer could not stand it and had to write his marvelously versified ironic disclaimer" (104-5). It seems, however, even more incredible that a great poet should bother composing a tale for which he himself had little taste; that is,

Following the fall of the great Roman Empire a new age was born, the age of knights in shining amour and the great kings in stone castles. Yet, it was also a chaotic time, War and plague was a disease upon Europe. Countries fought for land, resources, and above all, the attention of God. The world was young and so was the English Language. Few writers wrote in English, the language of the commoners, as French and Latin was the Language of the powerful élite. Yet one writer dared to speak against the feudal society of which he was born into. Geoffrey Chaucer served most of his life in the employment of the crown, as both a soldier and a clerk. Yet through all of these titles, Chaucer would be forever immortalized as Geoffrey Chaucer the

In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the life of the nobility compared to that of the poor proves to be a much harder life to live because of the many obligations and responsibilities. Chaucer ironically portrays this notion in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, contrasting the easy life of the widow, who is poor, with Chanticleer, a rich rooster. The widow’s life is much easier because she does not have to worry about keeping up with the societal expectations of the rich. Whereas, Chanticleer, the rooster, role and responsibilities in life, which he is very proud of, make his life much more difficult. Because of the way the rich live their lives, Chaucer, in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, ironically implies that living the life of the poor is much easier than living the life of the rich, who have many obligations and responsibilities.

1. What is the most popular time of year for pilgrimages? The popular time of the year is april.

“Chaucer’s career in the royal service began in 1357, when he was appointed to the household of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, and her husband Prince Lionel.” His father sent him to serve as a page for the royals, allowing him to evade becoming a merchant and carry on the family business. The job was a low-level position that

worked these positions, he was able to write multiple works. In this time, he wrote the Book of

At the end of the 14th century, England’s first great poet, Geoffrey Chaucer assembled a collection of over twenty stories into the novel The Canterbury Tales. During the Hundred Years’ War, Chaucer composed these tales in Middle English. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of fictional stories presented by a group of English men and women as they travel along on a religious pilgrimage. The purpose of this trek was to seek the martyred saint’s blessings and to express thanks to the saint for helping them live through such harsh winter conditions.

In Chaucer’s famous novel: The Canterbury Tales, he describes many characters in a satirical way, while others he describes with complete admiration. The narrator (a constructed version of Chaucer himself) is staying at the Tabard Inn in London, when a large group of about twenty-nine people enter the inn, preparing to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. After the narrator talks to them, he agrees to join them on their pilgrimage. Although, before the narrator progresses any further in the tale, he describes the circumstances and the social rank of each pilgrim. There are two characters in these tales of the same social class, but Chaucer’s opinion on them vary greatly. These two characters are the beloved Parson, and the loathed Pardoner.