Chaucer's Use Of Satire In The Canterbury Tales

In “The Pardoner’s Prologue”, especially in the end of the prologue, it clearly show that his teaching and church believe are all corrupted. It really show they are selfish and greediness and also in “The Pardoner’s Tales”, we can see that there are a lot of repeat word that represent the Pardoner itself and the church believe. The Pardoner say the word gluttony and greed many times, he tells that they are bad but the way he act and speech are all ironic. Here are some quote from the tale, “O gluttony, so full of cursedness! O first cause of our trial and tribulation, Origin of all our souls’ damnation till we were purchased back by blood of Christ!”(Chaucer 498 - 501). This quote, the Pardoner all blabbing about the gluttony are very bad and the cause of all bad things. It is very ironic to what he does in the story, the pardoner get drunk and eat while he teaching.The Pardoner said, “A lecherous thing is wine, and drunknness is full of striving and of wretchedness. O drunken man, disfigured is your face, sour your breath, you’re foul to the embrace! And through you drunken nose it seems the sound is “Samson, Samson” that you would expound, Though, God knows, Samson never drank of wine”(Chaucer 549 - 555). This quote really explain what the Pardoner did and how he looks like. All of his teaching are all directly reflect into the Pardoner’s inner self.

being, he begins to poke fun at him. He insists that the Knight was “a

In The Canterbury Tales the author, Geoffrey Chaucer, introduces twenty-nine characters who are taking a pilgrimage to Canterbury. He uses direct and indirect characterization in order to describe the characters’ personalities, as well as to portray the characters either critically or favorably. Chaucer successfully demonstrates his criticism of the Miller and Pardoner’s immoral, deceiving personalities through descriptions of their physical characteristics and actions in “The General Prologue”; he further displays their personalities in the individual prologues and tales. Chaucer views the Pardoner critically, which is shown by Chaucer’s numerous insults throughout “The General Prologue”.

Geoffrey Chaucer used sarcasm to describe his characters in "The Canterbury Tales." It will point out details that are seen in the book that help explain how he used this sarcasm to prove a point and to teach life lessons sometimes. I will also point out how this sarcasm was aimed at telling the reader his point of view about how corrupt the Catholic Church was. Chaucer uses an abundance of sarcasm, as opposed to seriousness, to describe his characters in "The Canterbury Tales."

His first book was ‘The Book of Duchess’ but he most famous for ‘The Canterbury Tales’. He has multiple book including ‘The Wife of Bath’s Tale,’ ‘The House of Fame,’ ‘The Pardoner's Tale,’ and ‘The Knight's Tale’ just to name a few of him many, many books.But before Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, he was (for a VERY small time) a wine vendor. He was trying to continue the family's business.The Family's business was very successful from time to time, even traveling across countries for a small time. But after time he started getting back into

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

It is clear that Geoffrey Chaucer was acutely aware of the strict classist system in which he lived; indeed the very subject matter of his Canterbury Tales (CT) is a commentary on this system: its shortcomings and its benefits regarding English society. In fact, Chaucer is particularly adept at portraying each of his pilgrims as an example of various strata within 14th century English society. And upon first reading the CT, one might mistake Chaucer's acute social awareness and insightful characterizations as accurate portrayals of British society in the late 1300s and early 1400s. Further, one might mistake his analysis, criticism, and his sardonic condemnation of many elements of British culture for genuine attempts to alter the

Chaucer’s use of middle-English (Vernacular) helped readers to better understand more about the rising middle class being that this was the dialect used by the rising middle class at the time it helps to show how they really thought, felt, and lived. When understanding a culture something as seemingly trivial as vocabulary and grammar differences truly effect the views of society and people with in certain settings and time periods. “The Canterbury Tales opens with a general Prologue that introduces the pilgrims,

According to the video The Study of English, Chaucer was the first writer to consciously use English to write his poems, even though he knew Latin and French, which were considered superior to English (Macneil, MacCrum, and Cran). He was an inspector in the London wool wharf, a busy job that only allowed him to write at night (Strohm). Chaucer decided to exile himself after being punished for letting corrupt collectors do as they pleased (Strohm). Chaucer’s exile prompted him to create what is The Canterbury Tales; the creation of an audience that replaced his “small [,] responsive and [personally selected group]” back home (Strohm). Chaucer creates an audience of various people of different social class and functions. Even though Chaucer describes different Characters, which are important to understand the medieval world, I will mainly focus on the Knight.

To begin, back in the days on Geoffrey Chaucer, religion was ruled by one and only one church, the Roman Catholic Church. He never really agreed with the ways of the church so he wrote a series of tales making fun of the people of England and the ways of the church. Even though he was purposely making fun of the church, he had to be careful of the way he said some things. With some of the characters he creates, Chaucer finds himself apologizing in advance for what he is about to say; or what the characters were about to say. By doing this Chaucer is using satire. Satire is when you say something but mean another or the opposite of the thing you say. Most of Chaucer’s tales are not appropriate for high schools, but of

Chaucer held many jobs in medieval society, and was part of the feudal system, which puts him a step above the commoners/peasantry and a step below the nobility. The real-life Chaucer was a bureaucrat, author, diplomat, soldier, and esquire to King Richard III. He was born around 1340 and in 1359 he fought in the Hundred Years’ War in France, he was captured and held for ransom, which King Richard III paid. In 1368 he became one of King Richard III’s esquires. An esquire is a personal assistant/officer for the king. This title, along with the subsequent titles/honors he would gain,

The Medieval period of The Canterbury Tales is held on April 11, 1387. The writing style of tales are literary skilled. “There is clear evidence in them that Chaucer was familiar with a considerable number of the great book of his time, and it is fairly well established that his writings show a steady increase in his literary skill” (Chaucer xxxvii). Chaucer is a writer of surprise. His stories not only come from plots of other writers but also from his lifetime. “There is of course no explaining where or how Chaucer acquired his ability as a great storyteller. However, the fact that he was a man of affairs as well as a man of books, a civil servant who dealt frequently with people from all walks of life, seem to have had great

Geoffrey Chaucer, also known as the father of English literature, is one of the greatest writers in his time. He is still famous today for his publications about fictional characters ranging from all sorts of social classes, including the most luxurious of lifestyles, the pauperized, and everything in between. Being a frequent traveler, Chaucer was able to observe groups of people and develop his own opinions and ideas based on these observations subsequently creating these characters. From his daring opinions embedded in his work, Chaucer easily became one of the most controversial writers. In his literary work, Geoffrey Chaucer conveys his disdain for corruption in the Church, politicians, and societal standards.

Geoffrey Chaucer was a poet, a writer, and of course a diplomat. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the early hours of 1340s to John Chaucer, a vintner and assistant to the king's butler. As a boy, he was a leaf to the Countess of Ulster. (Lombardi) Chaucer was the most famous for writing his unfinished Canterbury tales. (Geoffrey Chaucer) He was born in London, only problem is, the exact date and place are unknown. From his writings Chaucer emerges as poet of love, both worldly and heavenly. No information exists about his early education, although without a doubt he would have been as good in French as in the Middle English of his time. (Bio.True Story) Chaucer pops up in the record books in 1357 he was working for the queen.

Chaucer is generally considered the father of English poetry, and The Canterbury Tales has been required reading for countless students over the generations. The influence of his work on generations of English-language writers is undisputed. Some critics have worried that such wide and shallow exposure of the reading public to Chaucer's work has diluted full appreciation for his complex contribution to literature. Critic Derek Traversi says, “The appreciation of Geoffrey Chaucer has suffered a good deal in the past from his reputation as the ‘Father of English poetry.’ It has been easy to think of him as a ‘naif,’ the possessor of a charming simplicity of outlook which tends to convey itself, for a modern reader, through language considered ‘picturesque’ or simply childish, alternately ‘quaint’ or redolent of innocence for readers who think of themselves as more sophisticated and more psychologically complex.” However, this view is not correct, Traversi argues: “His early poems show him engaged in exploring the possibilities of the English language as an instrument for sophisticated literary creation.” As poet William Blake put it, over four hundred years after the book's first publication: “Of Chaucer's characters, as described in his Canterbury Tales, some of the names are altered by Time, but the Characters themselves for ever remain unaltered and consequently they are the Physiognomies or lineaments of