In society, deception, cunningness, and other uses of trickery are quite common. Whether these themes are seen easily or are placed more discreetly, they are found in society often. Simply take a look at any political ad, certain sexual assault cases, or any form of social media, especially dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble. More often than not, political advertisements, sexual assault cases, and social media involve extraordinary amounts of deception, cunning words, and lies to call someone to a certain action. Political advertisements contain propaganda to push a political view. Sexual assault cases frequently begin with cunning, seductive words used to draw someone into an act they do not desire to commit. Social media is possibly the most common form of deception as countless amounts of people edit their photos to attain a desired body image or skin tone, essentially cat-fishing anyone who follows them. Furthermore, deception and cunningness are not only common in society, but is also present in literature in several ways. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic poem, “The Canterbury Tales,” Chaucer uses seduction, craftiness, and trickery as a form of persuasion, revenge, and to prove tricks do not come without consequences. In both “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale,” Chaucer uses deception and cunningness as a form of persuasion. In “The Miller’s Tale,” Nicolas utilizes his cunningness to persuade Alison to have an affair with him. As he begins flirting with her,
The Canterbury Tales “The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales” were told during a pilgrimage journey from London to the shrine of the martyr St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. This was approximately 70 miles to the southeast. These Tales were told by a group of 29 pilgrims, and a Host who met up with them at the Tabard Inn. They left the Inn on the morning of April, 11. The Nun’s Priest Tale was the first story actually told, this was determined by whoever drew the shortest straw.
"The Pardoner's Tale," by Geoffrey Chaucer, makes evident the parallel between the internal emotions of people and the subconscious exposure of those emotions. This particular story, from The Canterbury Tales, is a revealing tale being told by a medieval pardoner to his companions on a journey to Canterbury. Though the Pardoner's profession is to pardon and absolve the sins of people, he actually lives in constant violation of sins such as gluttony, gambling, and, most importantly, avarice. The Pardoner does feel guilt and advocates not to commit avarice; he exclaims, "'Radix malorum est Cupiditas,'" (line 426) as his theme more than once. Because he
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, Chaucer shows both the corruption and the good in the characters through their physical appearance. The appearance of each character has a deeper meaning. The characters morals and character traits are not specifically mentioned in the “Prologue.” This is where the reader has to infer specific morals based on the physical appearances of the characters. Some of the characters have very good morals and others have no moral compass. The reader gets insight on the Knight, Merchant, and Summoner through Chaucer’s description of their physical appearance.
“The Miller’s Tale,” part of Geoffrey Chaucer’s larger work, “The Canterbury Tales,” is a bawdy and irreverent story about lust, deception, and consequences. Chaucer’s work centers around four main characters: John is a dimwitted carpenter, Alison is John’s young and wife, Nicholas is a scholar who resides in John’s household, and Absolon is a priest’s assistant with a romantic fixation on Alison. Throughout the tale, deceptive plots and questionable decisions abound, and no one is completely innocent of wrongdoing. Of course, like with most any other story involving lies and selfish pursuits, every character gets an informal education on natural consequences. It is worth noting that Nicholas is the only character in the story with any
A Pardoner is someone who travels about the countryside selling official church pardons. These were probably actual pieces of paper with a bishop's signature on them, entitling the bearer to forgiveness for their sins. It seems that this Pardoner also does a secondary trade in relics, or pieces of clothing, bones, & other objects one time belonging to long-departed saints. The Pardoner claims to have Mary's veil & a piece of St. Peter's sail. After his story, the Pardoner tries to sell these relics to the other pilgrims, angering the Host, who questions their authenticity.
Chaucer’s Pardoner is a highly untrustworthy character. He sings a ballad with the Summoner and is already undermining the already challenged virtue of his profession as one who works for the Church. He presents himself as someone who is unclear with their gender and sexual orientation and challenging social norms. The Pardoner carries with him on the pilgrimage the tools of his trade. Within his case is a freshly signed papal indulgences and a sack of false relics, including a brass cross filled with stones to make it seem as heavy as gold and a glass jar full of pig’s bones that he passes off as saints’ relics. Visiting relics on pilgrimage had become a tourist industry and the Pardoner wants to gain money from religion in any way he can.
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
The poem, “The Miller’s Tale” by Chaucer, shows an interesting The poem, “The Miller’s Tale” by Chaucer, displays the themes of disloyalty and betrayal all the while showing humor. Chaucer associates a distinctive theme for each character in the tale to clearly portray them in order to help the reader better comprehend their role in the story. The tale is somewhat tragic yet humorous because many horrific things that happen to the characters that they did deserve. The story consists of two love triangles, in which Chaucer depicts each character’s role clearly by giving each character different types of personality. Chaucer depicts Nicholas as sly and very discreet, Alison as young, playful, attractive girl that loves showing off what she has, Carpenter as a stupid fool and old jealous husband, and lastly portrayed Absolon as very trim and proper. The characteristics of each character collide and disloyalty takes place which results in wounding people in different ways and all of them fittingly so except for Alison.
Rwote about in 1386, Canterbury Tales revels the many caracteristics of midieval society. As a religious, medieval society were dependant to God, had divergent attitudes (hypocrisy and sincerity), respected mariage, accepted polygamy and gave a great value to virginity and continance.
Chaucer uses satirization in the descriptions of the characters in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales to reveal the corruption in the Church that was widespread in society during the 14th century. Manny members of the church used their positions for the personal gain of themselves. This can be seen in the Prologue when he describes these characters. Chaucer shows us through the satirization of several characters, the corruptness of the church of England and the lust/sexual corruption through the common people.
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
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.
The Canterbury Tales, a masterpiece of English Literature, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection, with frequent dramatic links, of 24 tales told to pass the time during a spring pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The General Prologue introduces the pilgrims, 29 "sondry folk" gathered at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (outside of London). Chaucer decides to join them, taking some time to describe each pilgrim.
The woman was fair skinned and her body was slim. She wore a stripped silken