Marxist Lenss In The Canterbury Tales And The Reeve's Tale

The Shipman’s Tale, one of the many tales in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, is exactly suited to the Shipman’s personality and profession as given in “The Prologue.” The shipman is described by Chaucer in the prologue as very sneaky, deceitful, and even pirate-like. The Shipman’s tale matches his personality and profession because The Shipman’s Tale is one of trickery and con. The monk in the tale tricks both the merchant and the merchant’s wife out of their money. He also uses his relationship with the merchant to his advantage, because he knows the merchant would never suspect him of having sex with his wife. The shipman is also portrayed in the prologue to have no sense of remorse or feelings of sorrow.

Throughout the Canterbury Tales, various characters are introduced and tell a tale, each of which tells a different story. All of the tales are unique and address different issues. “The Miller’s Tale” is the second of the many stories and varies from all of the rest. As seen from the “General Prologue,” Chaucer clearly depicts the Miller as a crude, slobbish man who will say anything. This reputation is held true as the Miller drunkenly tells a story full of adultery and bickering. Despite the scandalous nature of “The Miller’s Tale,” the story also displays some of Chaucer’s prominent beliefs. As “The Miller’s Prologue” and “The Miller’s Tale” are told, it becomes evident that Chaucer is challenging the common roles and behaviors of women, and he is also questioning the effectiveness of social class.

The structure and characters of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Shipman’s Tale warp the traditional in order to create a thriving network for exchange. Stylistically, this particular tale utilizes common conventions of the fabliau: sex, trickery, and poetic justice. That being said, The Shipman’s Tale is completely void of an overall moral message—a key element in the genre. Instead, there is a focus on the presence of male and female characters who work to fulfill an individual agenda, and on the “[exploration of] each other’s intentions in cloaked terms… [and the avoidance of] direct commitment” (Finlayson 342). Chaucer rejuvenates the fabliau’s structure, which allows the Merchant, his wife, and the Monk to each “assume the mercantile roles of borrower, lender, seller and purchaser of goods” without seriously harming their relationships (Finlayson 343). As a result, the meaning of the tale is not embedded in the fulfillment of norms of this genre, but in its displacement of these conventions by focus on the exchanges between the characters.

    When Geoffrey Chaucer undertook the writing of The Canterbury Tales, he had a long road ahead of him. He intended to tell two stories from each of thirty pilgrims on the way to Canterbury, and then two more from each pilgrim on the way back from Canterbury. Of these, he completed only twenty-four. However, in these tales, Chaucer depicts both the pilgrims and their stories with striking realism. In "The Nun's Priest's Tale," "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale," "The Friar's Tale," "The Reeve's Tale," and "The Cleric's Tale," Chaucer demonstrates his remarkable insight into human nature. By comparing and contrasting these tales, one can see the universality of human nature as shown by Chaucer.

     Chaucer lived in a time dictated by religion and religious ideas in which he uses The Canterbury Tales to show some of his views. Religion played a significant role in fourteenth-century England and also in Chaucer’s writing. His ideas of the Church are first seen in “The Prologue,'; and he uses seven religious persons to show the influence of the religion in his writing. Although many of his characters appear to portray part of the corruption in the Church, he does give a small example in which one can conclude that he is speaking in praise.

The Merchant in The Canterbury Tales is influenced by the standards of society of the tale. The Merchant acts in interesting ways in response to his background and people’s view of him. Some of the standards of the society cause the Merchant to act in self-interest and that factor propels many of his choices throughout The Canterbury Tales. The Merchant’s portrayal in the story is affected by the role of merchants in society, his pompous attitude, and his unhappy marriage.

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer teaches empathy. Each portrait, colorfully painted with Chaucer’s careful word choice, gives the reader new perspective. The collection of tales explains the inclinations of human nature, the commonality of imperfection, and the complexity of emotion. Through courtly romances, humorous anecdotes, horrible tragedies, and satirical prose Chaucer finds truth within contradiction and hypocrisy. Specifically, “The Pardoner’s Tale” uses contradiction in order to show the complex interiority of a man who has sinned so much that he has become a living death. He proves that when consumed by avarice, identity is lost.

Now it is time to decide which tale in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, rises above the rest. I stated at the beginning of our journey to Canterbury that I would pick the tale that is “greatest moral teaching and in entertainment value” (17). After intently listening to all of your tales, one stood out from the others. Though many of you told stories that were offensive to other pilgrims on the trip or told stories that had little moral significance, I determined that there is one that most fully fulfills the requirements that I have set forth. I have decided that the Nun’s Priest’s Tale teaches the greatest moral lesson while having great entertainment value, making the Nun’s Priest the winner of our competition.

Fables and myths constitute the foundation of nearly every culture, and are passed down through generations, never losing their meaning and allure. Many factors make a story special, including its plot, essence, and characters, but only the storyteller holds within themselves the potential to deliver a narration that will inspire their audience and leave a lasting mark. In a quaint example of metafiction, many novels have been published with a central theme of storytelling. Two such examples following this concept is The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1478, and Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley 1818. Three characters in The

“The millers Tale, is a tale of humor that involves four characters who all search for love in the wrong placer and learn form their mistakes. The tale begins at the house of the carpenter John who is an aged man. Who marries a young girl named Alison who is only eighteen-years old. Chaucer intentionally does this to show that the age difference is a power to be reckoned with. Chaucer himself describes the contrast of age when he says, “She was a girl of eighteen years of age. Jealous he was and kept her in a cage, for he was old and she was wild an young; he thought himself quiet likely to be stung.” Chaucer perfectly describes the youth and its effect upon the character. The other character Nicholas the Galland, is described by Chaucer as, “This lad was know as Nicholas the Galland, and making love in secret was his talent, for he was very close and sly, and took advantage of his meek and girlish look.” Chaucer her foreshadows the relation ship between the two young characters by describing their flaws such as youth and beauty in Alison and Slyness in Nicholas. The other character Absolon is also a young ambitious character who wants to get Alison at any cost an is described by Chaucer as, “Absalon was a

Literature is often times used by scholars as a window into the past. From describing cultural norms to affirming historical events, writing can be used for a variety of reasons. The Miller’s Tale, a story from the internationally renown The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, provides its audience with insight into the workings and views of society in 14th century England. The tale follows the mischief of a carpenter’s wife and her lovers who attempt to gain her affection. The wife, Alisoun, commits acts of adultery which drive the story to its climax, resulting in the majority of the characters, including Alisoun herself, being made fools out of themselves. The array of characters – Absolon, Alisoun, Nicholas, and John – represent four varying classes of society: the clergy, the women, the scholars, and the lower class, respectively. Chaucer’s characterization of these characters reflects their placements in the social hierarchy, providing insight into the social order and beliefs in England during the 1300s.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, various people band together to go on a pilgrimage from England to Canterbury. Their aim is to see a shrine of St Thomas Beckett, the revered Archbishop of Canterbury who had reportedly healed others when they were ill. The pilgrims have a variety of occupations and are divided fairly evenly amongst the three estates (clergy, nobility, and commoners). The pilgrims who are members of the clergy are ironically depicted as the least moral, compared to the nobility and the commoners, creating a negative view of those who are leaders in the Church. The members of the clergy also spend their time wandering, metaphorically demonstrating their purposelessness, while the pilgrimage itself is a direct

Through The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer is able to ironically portray the life friars lived throughout the 14th century. Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1345 and lived in London. (Strohm par 1). He grew up being trained as a civil servant and diplomat. Around 1366 Chaucer married Queen Philippa of Spain (Encyclopedia of World Biography 483). Through being appointed to Parliament, he traveled to many different countries on diplomatic missions and was influenced by the contrasting types of writing (Strohm par 3). These experiences helped Chaucer to gain knowledge about diverse types of people and English writing, which influenced the way he wrote The Canterbury Tales (par 1). When Chaucer wrote, he often mocked and satirized people

Many characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales link to the different social classes in England during the Medieval Period. The Miller is a crude character who tells an entertaining, yet inappropriate tale on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. In the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes the Miller as a bold, garrulous man and shows the morally incorrectness of the Miller. The Miller tells a vulgar but suitable story which classifies him as a man of low social status with an uncouth, shrewd sense of humor. Narrating his tale directly after the Knight’s noble and honorable tale, the Miller tells a tale degrading romanticism and love while exhibiting adulterous relationships. The vulgarity of his tale is one example of the Miller’s low social class.

The decades preceding the 14th century, more commonly known as the Middle Ages, encountered a culture dominated almost entirely by religion. The vested powers in the hands of the Pope and in Christianity were capable of influencing the social standards and moral principles of the society. However, in The Canterbury Tales, a series of twenty-four short stories, Geoffrey Chaucer depicts the rise of secularism. One of the stories, “The Miller’s Tale,” follows three young men – John, Nicholas, Absolon – who are all involved with one woman, Alisoun. Chaucer ignores divine revelation and deals solely with the corrupted, material world of sin and vice, revealing a shift in culture, a movement away from religious principles, and the selfish manipulation