The Bourgeois Social Class in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Essay

    Chaucer's view of the clergy class is not as positive as his view of the ruling class.  For example, Chaucer describes the Prioress/Nun using a great amount of satire.  He speaks of how the nun has excellent etiquette and manners.  She tries so hard to be respected and viewed as one with higher status.  Her character is best described in the quote:

By analyzing “The Canterbury Tales”, one can conclude that Chaucer did see the merits of the church, but by no means regarded it in a wholly positive light. Whereas some of the clergy are viewed as devout and God-fearing, others are viewed as con- men and charlatans. One can even venture to say that Chaucer was using this story as somewhat of a criticism of the church, showing the flaws of its leaders and the greed that permeated it at the time.

There is no question that contradictory values make up a major component of The Canterbury Tales. Fate vs. Fortuna, knowledge vs. experience and love vs. hate all embody Chaucer's famous work. These contrasting themes are an integral part of the complexity and sophistication of the book, as they provide for an ironic dichotomy to the creative plot development and undermine the superficial assumptions that might be made. The combination of completely contradictory motifs leads to the unusual stories and outcomes that come to play out in the tales. And these outcomes draw focus on the larger universal issues that in many cases transcend the boundaries of vernacular periods to all of

Throughout centuries human beings have evolved, but various traits of human nature remain the same. An epic poem named “The Canterbury Tales” written by Geoffrey Chaucer provides examples that demonstrate traits of human nature that are still relevant in our world today even if this piece of literature was written hundreds of years ago.The Canterbury Tales is framed by having multiple people from different social lives and statuses share stories which demonstrates how these pilgrims think and act, in other words their human nature, on their way to the martyr St. Thomas in a pilgrimage. These characters portray different traits of human nature such as having religious aspirations, falling in love, and thinking in an evil way in their stories which are all still lively relevant in today's society.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales was written during a time of societal change, away from the stability of feudalism and towards an individualistic, mercantile economy. Feudalism consisted of a static, rural economy where every member had a duty to serve those above them. They valued the greater good and were not focused on gaining economically for their own personal benefit. An era of change, however, began as events such as the Crusades opened up trading opportunities which would eventually cause a shift in England, as the economy went from being land-based to money-based. A mercantile class was on the rise as well as capitalism. People were no longer driven to work by a sense of personal duty for the common good, but rather for their own social and economic gain. Corruption of the Church during this time as well increased, as church members were affected negatively by this changing economy. Many were driven by greed as well and took on immoral approaches towards their church positions. Vows and church teachings were disregarded as indulgences and materialism became the main focus of many in the clergy. Through his satirical portrayal of his characters in Canterbury Tales, Chaucer explores issues such as the changing economy and corruption of the church in order to expose and criticize the wrongdoings and values of his shifting society caused by the end of feudalism during this time.

Chaucer is trying to explain how their society was so corrupt and how he wanted to change the society to be better. I believe he is writing this to show the good and the bad in the society and how they have poor and wealthy people and how those people use the money the have or how the people live without money if they are poor.

Written in 1392, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, satirizes the corruption within the church. In the Medieval ages, which took place from 1066-1485, the English society was divided into three classes: the feudal class, the church class, and the town class. Throughout “The Prologue”, Chaucer describes the pilgrims based upon their profession, class, and apparel. While some of the party that travels with him goes for religious purposes, others go simply for a vacation. Geoffrey Chaucer uses the Monk and the Parson, two Medieval religious authorities, to reveal the corruption within the church, and to also show that not all members are unethical.

Geoffrey Chaucer may have offered the most in-depth view of social class differences with his work “The Canterbury Tales.” This collection of stories offers various characters from different social standings traveling together on a religious pilgrimage. Each pilgrim shares a story offering a view of their station in life, their life experiences, language, dialect, education, and perspective on Middle English life. Although Chaucer wrote in 14th century Anglo-Saxon London dialect his word choice provides information about the pilgrims’ social station (Crossref, 2013). The lower class pilgrims, for example the wife of Bath, offer bawdy tales using familiar pronouns, such as thee and thine, while the higher class pilgrims use more polite pronouns,

“The Canterbury Tales” was written during a time of religious unrest. Corruption and greed infiltrated the Church beyond the point of correction. Chaucer would have been well aware of these issues growing up as a diplomat in fourteenth century England. His familiarity of the systems and interactions between high-ranking officials in the court and the church make him a reputable source of criticism of the church and its affiliates. At a time when indulgences and monetary incentives were at a peak in Christian churches, Chaucer used his poetic prowess and political understanding to critique and ridicule how perturbed the Church had

A cross section of medieval society: feudal (the knight), ecclesiastical (pardoner, priest, nun), urban (lawyer, doctor, merchant). And Chaucer's interest in middle class characters, such as a cook, carpenter, miller, lawyer, merchant, clerk, physician reflects the rise of the middle class in the fourteenth century (Collin 1).

The Canterbury Tales, the most famous and revolutionary work of Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection of twenty-four tales presented in the form of a story-telling contest by pilgrims who are traveling from London to Canterbury. In my viewpoint, The Canterbury Tales can be understood as a representation of the English society at Chaucer's time as it documents several of the social tensions of life in the late Middle Age. The choice of setting the tales as part of a pilgrimage allowed the author to cover a wide range of social roles with varying hierarchical positions and occupations. Therefore, the tales depict a number of the evolving themes by that time in many segments of the society, such as the ones presented in The Wife of Bath tale: the

      In the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes the men and women of the Church in extreme forms; most of these holy pilgrims, such as the Monk, the Friar, and Pardoner, are caricatures of objectionable parts of Catholic society.  At a time when the power-hungry Catholic Church used the misery of peasants in order to obtain wealth, it is no wonder that one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages used his works to comment on the religious politics of the day.

Chaucer, indeed, seems to be preoccupied with matters of class distinction in his Canterbury Tales, telling us right at the beginning that not only will he include stories of the pilgrims but that he will also tell us "of what degree"(I: 40) they are , in other words, their social milieu.

Although it was later on in time, the times that Chaucer was living in were still similar to the structure of society from Athens to Rome. The civilitas during his time basically meant that most things revolved around the upper class as well as religion. An interesting quote from the introduction of Chaucer that we read states, “The upper class or nobility, represented cheifly by the Knight and his Squire, was in Chaucer’s time steeped in a culture of chivalry and courtliness” (Introduction of Chaucer reading). In his time there were many fights between the social classes of people. The three classes were the clergy, the nobility, and the

Geoffrey Chaucer, in his novel Canterbury Tales, characterizes twenty four pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. Ranging from knights to aristocrats to the trade class , the descriptive passages depict his opinions on each traveller. These characters in turn reflect Chaucer’s criticism and attitude towards medieval society, an example of social commentary. One character specifically used to reflect Chaucer's views on Scottish culture, the lower class, and corrupt businessmen is the Miler. In the general prologue, Chaucer reveals an overall negative opinion towards the Miller’s appearance and actions, reflecting his disappoint with aspects of the Middle Ages.