Witchcraft In Canterbury Tales

The century of 1550-1650, encompassing a portion of the reign of the Stuart Dynasty, has become known as “‘The Burning Times’ – the crazes, panics, and mass hysteria.” This time period has been recognized as the peak of “witch-hunting” and persecution of witches within early modern England and as well as Europe. By accusing certain outcasts of witchcraft within the villages, it often provided the common people of England a “logical” reason when trying to rationalize unexplainable events, such as a premature death or a bad harvest. This paper will display what sorts of people, mainly women, were being persecuted for witchcraft and the reasoning behind why these women were accused. Women at the time were viewed as more susceptible to evil,

“Have you ever wondered if Magic or witches and wizards really exist in this modern world? Well yes, they do exist, and they are quite active in the modern world. There are more than 10 million witches in the United States, with new practitioners on the rise daily.”(Caine) Being a witch is much different than what you may have seen in the movies. There is real magic to the craft, but witches or wizards don 't walk around turning people into to frogs with a flick of their magic wands. They don 't disappear into thin air, nor do they fly around through the night on broomsticks. They also don 't live in a big castle or mansion. They walk around as normal people and you wouldn 't be able to tell them apart for anyone else. The art of real witchcraft is one of the oldest practices in the world. “The oldest instruments of the real craft that have been discovered date back to 40,000 years ago, while the practice of real witchcraft dates back to paleolithic times. It is very much a way of life, as you may have heard from the modern followers of Wicca. During the middle ages, and in the event known as The Inquisition, the practice of witchcraft became outlawed throughout most of the Christianized world, an offense punishable by death.”(Caine) A witchcraft frenzy broke out in the early colonial history of America in Salem, Massachusetts. Insane torture tactics were put in by the church to draw out confessions. This period of time is often cited as the start of "the burning times."

The notion of witchcraft has been around long before the witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Different cultures have different images and stereotypes on what a witch is and what “magical” abilities he or she may possess. Many people however, did not look at these “magical” men and women as bad until the Holy Roman Empire began to look negatively on those people who were different, and opposed the norm set by the elites. Driven by fear, those living under the control of the Holy Roman Empire would began to blame other people for diabolical actions, or malicious activities. Women and some men, were tortured and tested in cruel ways in attempt of finding evidence or gaining a confession that the accused was a witch. Laws about how which were persecuted

Literature can be described and used as a portal to the past. The historical context written into the many different works of authors showcase social workings of a culture in a specific time period. The Canterbury Tales, which include “The Monk’s Tale” written by Geoffrey Chaucer is no exception to this. “The Monk’s Tale” are a collection of short stories classified as parables, and showcase what readers would consider sinful acts in the 14th century. Most of the passages have reoccuring sinful acts that appear story to story and include greed, desire for power, and a much too high trust in Fortune.

In the play the crucible miller writes about these girls and how they are in the woods dancing and summoning the devil, but they also somewhat commit witchcraft but once they got caught in the woods and committing witchcraft they blame it on other innocent people saying that they were the one's who were committing witchcraft. That same day in court when the people who were blamed for committing witchcraft were trying to tell the court that it wasn't them and they would never do that the court didn't believe them so they hung each and everyone of them that were blamed for it. This relates to our modern day because it's kinda happening now were the law is believing children over the adults because they think that the children is always right,

The Demonology of King James I paired with the influence of the protestant church created a huge wave of what was labeled as witchcraft craft in early Scotland.

In the 21st century, many women have been successful because of feminism. Women empowerment in our current time is a lot strong than in the Medieval period, but it is still weak. In “The Canterbury Tales” by Chaucer it represents strong feminist characters in, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale”. The characters such as a Wife of Bath, an old hag, and also a Queen from “Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” play a feminist character in the male-dominated society during that time. Through these three characters, we see strong examples of feminism.

The Medieval Period in history brought along scores of fables about everything from knights engaging in courtly love to corruption in the Catholic Church. The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer expertly encapsulates many of the great motifs of the era. The Tales are a series of stories and descriptions of characters of all social classes that were composed in the late 1300’s. Chaucer utilizes a multitude of literary techniques to convey his personal views of people, and ultimately, what they represent in society. The author uses such devices when depicting two morally contrasting characters, the Parson and the Summoner, that are documented in the Prologue.

Often times we mistake tragedies as major setbacks in our lives, but in reality it can empower us to become successful individuals. I have witnessed these tragedies faced by both my family and friends; however, I identify the unseen benefit for series of unfortunate events. Within our lifetime, we will endure hardships or tragedies that will measure our strength and capabilities. We can ultimately make the decision whether it will dictate our lives forever or will we overcome and conquer it for the benefit of ourselves. In The Canterbury Tales, the Monk underlines that all tragedies revolve on having a devastating effect to the mentioned characters that he narrates.

* I did not know that much about the Middle Ages at the beginning of this course and Chaucer eather.My only knowledge about it was about some medieval movie characters such as Hercules and Xena. I liked this characters a lot because they acted as heroes showed a little panorama about the medieval religious customs ( Gods and myths). I remember These characters got into constant fights against bad Gods to protect they abbeys and assure the wellbeing of the people. According to my little knowledge about the medieval times I thought this course was going to be based on mythological stories only.So we would be learning about a variety of Gods and the myth ideology behind of it.That is why when we had our first assignment based on a Chaucer reading

“Barna surveyed 718 self-identified Christians from a variety of denominations to find what extent their actions and attitudes line up with Jesus’s. Researchers found only 1 in 7 Christians manages to hold Christ-like beliefs and also act in Christ-like ways” (Steffan). Chaucer depicts a group of twenty-nine diverse travelers on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the grave of St. Thomas a’ Becket. Many of the religious figures from the tales fail to measure up to the actions and attitudes of Christ as well. It is ironic because their attitudes consist of helping people and honesty but their actions show a completely different image. In The Canterbury Tales, the Nun, the Monk, and the Pardoner are rich, which is ironic because they take a vow of poverty.

Literature, along with other forms of art, has always been a great reflection of history. Much of what we know about ancient societies, we know from both fictional and non-fictional works. Barbara Tuchman once said, “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. They are engines of change, windows on the world, lighthouses erected in the sea of time.” A person can summarize the themes and priorities of a given era through the literary works of the time. During the Middle Ages, Roman gods were still fresh in memories while the beginning of the Roman Catholic church was at the center of life. Secondary themes of the period were love, honor, and valor. Moral tales of the Middle Ages sought to teach a valuable lesson of ethics through literature. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of reflections of life in the middle ages and a reflection of the concerns and priorities of the time. One author writes of Chaucer saying, ““….yet Chaucer is also 'the noble philosophical poet of love, preoccupied with questions about love, true nobility, and the Boethian

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 power struggle between man and woman has been tangible since the time of Adam and Eve. In Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, a plethora of characters share stories that reflect their personalities and lives. Several of these stories revolve around the female position and focuses on the role they play in society. Although women are usually seen as subordinate to the male, in Canterbury Tales, they are portrayed as independent human beings. The Wife of Bath embodies her independence through her dominance over her first three husbands in marriage. Additionally, Alison from “The Miller’s Tale” is representative of this strong female character, for her denial towards the males in her lives, manifests how independent she is.

During the Middle Ages in Medieval Europe, the Roman Catholic Church played an important role in practically every aspect of life. It dominated and had a tremendous control over everyone. They specifically had control over the decision of who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell therefore creating a sort of fear amongst people who believed that their souls were the most important thing they had and that the only way for their souls to go Heaven was through the church. For this reason exactly, some religious figures started to take advantage of their position knowing how devoted people were to the church. This led to the formation of stereotypes towards them and triggered distaste toward the church. Chaucer was one mainly affected by religion and the church; it played an important role in his poem the Canterbury Tales where he used religious