Diversity In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales were written and pieced together in the late 1380's, early 1390's.  The author of the book is Geoffrey Chaucer.  When considering the structure of the tales, one can deduce that they were put together using Framework Narrative, a very unique style of writing.  The opening prologue speaks of 29 pilgrims, including Chaucer, who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. All of them are seeking a certain shrine for spiritual cleansing, and relief.  The journey was to be long, but in the end it would all be worth it.  Chaucer's social views and prejudices are revealed through his description of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.

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.

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.

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 introduces numerous characters in the prologue of The Canterbury Tales; each character possessing a distinct personality and lifestyle. Chaucer gives insight into the lives of the characters on their pilgrimage to Canterbury. The Pardoner unfurls his thoughts and feelings giving us extended insight into his own character, by providing us with a tale of his own. In doing so, he contrasts other pious figures who are introduced in the prologue, with character traits consisting of an effeminate lifestyle, avariciousness, as well as hypocrisy.

Loyalty, trust, and respect are key parts in people’s lives. The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer, are two tales both from the medieval literature, the stories, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “The Pardoner's Tale” are both stories based upon on loyalty, trust, and respect. “The Wife of Bath” is primarily about the wants of women and if you treat them right then you will be happy as a man. While as “The Pardoner’s Tale” is about three rioters that set out on a journey, while on this journey they find an elderly man which gives them access to plentiful riches. These men get full of greed and the loyalty and trust of the men is tested and broken, in the end, they are all punished for their greed and they find what they were searching for, which is Death. In The Pardoner's Tale the rioters are basically looking for death and which they succeed to get it. Two stories, “The Pardoner’s Tale” tells a story about the greed and men and how greed is the source

Chaucer did not begin working on "The Canterbury Tales" until he was in his early 40s. Chaucer took his narrative inspiration for his works from several sources but still remained an entirely

Geoffrey Chaucer formed the incomplete work, The Canterbury Stories. It is seen as extraordinary compared to other effortless works in English. Essayist Geoffrey Chaucer was considered around 1340 in London, Britain. In 1357 he transformed into an open worker to Royal lady Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that farthest point with the English court every through hey lifetime. Craftsman Geoffrey Chaucer was considered around 1340, more likely than not at his people's home on Thames Road in London, Britain. Chaucer's family was of the working class, slipped from a well-to-do family who benefitted in the London wine trade. As demonstrated by a couple of sources, Chaucer's father, John, carried on the family wine business. Geoffrey Chaucer is acknowledged to have gone to the St. Paul's Church School, where he probably first wound up evidently comfortable with the intense composed work of Virgil and Ovid.

Chaucer is a famous author from the 1300’s, he wrote many stories such as The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer shows multiple people who we might look up to for all the wrong reasons. He also shows how much stress can be put on one person to do everything. Sometimes it’s hard to be the perfect person that everyone wants but we have to do it anyways. Chaucer seems to be the person looking for the bad in everyone and trying to help them fix it. Obviously, if Chaucer was writing the Canterbury Tales now a days I think he would have three different kinds of characters telling a story.

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’s The Canterbury Tales is a collection of several tales that are all told by different characters and all convey different messages. The story presented in the general prologue is that a group of pilgrims is traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, and during their journey they take turns telling tales and talking about themselves. Chaucer uses the pilgrims to express his beliefs, about religion, marriage, social class, and many other topics. One of the pilgrims is the Manciple, who is a commoner and has the job of providing supplies for an institution and in this case, he is the caterer for a group of lawyers. Through the character of the Manciple, his prologue, and his tale, Chaucer showcases the importance of

After the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, chaotic citizens of England looked to the ruling political entities of the British Monarch, Parliament and the Church, for interior political reform. Post-revolt Parliament rolls from November 1381 reaffirmed the King’s ambition to lead a positive kingdom that promotes the ultimate good and protection of rights for its people, in an effort to restore the goals and actions of an exemplary governing body. Geoffrey Chaucer illustrates a similar call to action for pre-reformation Church authority to lead by example, ideally abiding by the practices they teach in The Canterbury Tales. Through the use of bickering ironic characters such as the Friar and the Summoner, Chaucer juxtaposes these hypocritical examples with the loyal and archetypal Parson’s description in the General Prologue. The Parson is concerned with the same governing leadership practices and responsibilities for his parishioners as Richard II’s post-revolution kingdom. Figures of religious authority emphasize the necessity of protecting followers from all hindrances or harm.

The Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1392, during the medieval period in Europe. Three important aspects, his family’s ties to the court, his schooling and working for royalty (XI), and his love for reading and learning (XII) all combined and enabled him to create his greatest work, The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer includes many different characters, pilgrims, all from very unique walks of life. Although there are not as many women included as men, their stories give some extraordinary insights on Chaucer’s views on the roles of men and women in medieval times. Christianity is the most common characteristic discussed, and clearly very important to Chaucer. The Prologue gives the reader a general over-view of each of the characters; he separates each character by his or her social class, religious life, and morality. The Prioress and The Wife of Bath tales further reveal his opinions on women 's roles and position in society. Chaucer makes it clear that men and women have very different roles and expectations; but they all either serve themselves, or others; and this is the trait that Chaucer uses to characterize a morally “good” or “bad” character, his characterization is not stipulated by social class or sex.

However, one work, The Canterbury Tales, shows significant literary influence from many of his contemporaries. Despite the many influences, Chaucer showed his true expertise in how he was able to blend old literary techniques with his own new ideas. Many scholars have praised Chaucer for creating characters that the average middle-class English individual could relate to. Many of his "tales" are about middle-class individuals such as a merchant or a miller. It is for this reason why this work was so significant among the English in the Middle Ages. Chaucer gave middle-class England a scholarly literary work that the average individual could understand. As a result, the work became well-known among the English citizens, which led to the popularizing of Chaucer's language.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales from the view of a pilgrim journeying with many other travelers who all had tales to tell. I believe that the stories told by the characters in Chaucer's book gives us insight into the individual spinning the tale as well as Chaucer as the inventor of these characters and author of their stories. There are three main characters whose stories I will be using as examples: The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, and The Wife of Bath's Tale.