Essay about geoffrey chaucers use of sarcasm to describe his characters

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Canterbury Tales." Trans. Nevill Coghill. Glencoe Literature, The Reader's Choice, British Literature. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw Hill, 2000. 118-119.

“One may say that pilgrimages are just as much about the journey as they are about the destination.” (Higl) Pilgrimages are very important to religions around the world. They are important for people when they are working on a deeper faith, and these pilgrimages are to places of great importance. It is important to note that people do not only learn when they are at their destination, but also on the trip to those destinations. “The Canterbury Tales”, Chaucer’s unfinished work, was a group of stories about a group on pilgrimage, but the stories did not take place at the destination. These were stories told on the way to Canterbury. They were also very satiric stories. They showed great hypocrisy, and immorality. The stories seemed to have

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.

In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer introduces a variety of characters with a multitude of personalities. From the despicable Summoner to the abrasive Miller, these characters are created with their own personalities and their own human failings. One common fault that characters share is hypocrisy. From pretending to be wealthy to cheating the poor out of money, hypocritical tendencies are abundant in the Canterbury Tales. Throughout the story, Chaucer ridicules the human criticizes the human failing of hypocrisy through the examples of the Pardoner, the Merchant, and the Friar.

In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath’s Tale focuses on women stereotypes and the essence of what it is that women really want. As the Wife of Bath begins her tale, she discusses her past and her lovers in order to give one insight on her life. From the outset, she establishes her self as being experienced in the arena of marriage due to the fact that she has had 5 husbands. She believes that her sexual promiscuity can coexist with the teachings of the bible and she is in no wrong for doing what she did. However she describes how she would use her sexual power to control her husbands. It seems as if Chaucer is stating that women are typically sexually promiscuous and use sex as leverage against men. Chaucer continues his dialogue over women in the tale immediately following. The tale speaks of a knight going on a quest to find what women really

being, he begins to poke fun at him. He insists that the Knight was “a

Geoffrey Chaucer used sarcasm to describe his characters in "The Canterbury Tales." It will point out details that are seen in the book that help explain how he used this sarcasm to prove a point and to teach life lessons sometimes. I will also point out how this sarcasm was aimed at telling the reader his point of view about how corrupt the Catholic Church was. Chaucer uses an abundance of sarcasm, as opposed to seriousness, to describe his characters in "The Canterbury Tales."

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

To begin, back in the days on Geoffrey Chaucer, religion was ruled by one and only one church, the Roman Catholic Church. He never really agreed with the ways of the church so he wrote a series of tales making fun of the people of England and the ways of the church. Even though he was purposely making fun of the church, he had to be careful of the way he said some things. With some of the characters he creates, Chaucer finds himself apologizing in advance for what he is about to say; or what the characters were about to say. By doing this Chaucer is using satire. Satire is when you say something but mean another or the opposite of the thing you say. Most of Chaucer’s tales are not appropriate for high schools, but of

According to the Norton Anthology, "the composition of none of the tales can be accurately dated; most of them were written during the last fourteen years of Chaucer's life, although a few were probably written earlier and inserted into The Canterbury Tales" (Norton, 80).

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer comments on moral corruption within the Roman Catholic Church. He criticizes many high-ranking members of the Church and describes a lack of morality in medieval society; yet in the “Retraction,” Chaucer recants much of his work and pledges to be true to Christianity. Seemingly opposite views exist within the “Retraction” and The Canterbury Tales. However, this contradiction does not weaken Chaucer’s social commentary. Rather, the “Retraction” emphasizes Chaucer’s criticism of the Church and society in The Canterbury Tales by reinforcing the risk inherent in doing so.

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

The aim of any true satirical work is to poke fun at a certain aspect of society, while also inspiring reform to that very same aspect in one way or another. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chaucer satirizes the Medieval Church and those associated with the church. Medieval society was centered largely around the Church. Ideally, the people were expected to understand that earthly possessions were meaningless when compared to the prospect of closeness with God. Man was expected to work until he died, at which time he would receive eternal salvation. This eternal salvation was achieved by obeying God's commandments. This theory, however, was becoming progressively corrupted as hypocrisy began to pollute the Church, particularly at the higher

Irony is an element which is found all throughout the best and worst pieces of literature. This is an element of literature which gives the reader an understanding of the story. In Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, he uses three distinct forms of irony which add to the story. Irony is basically the expression of one’s meaning by using language to signify the opposite. In this story, Chaucer uses dramatic, situational and verbal irony all throughout his story. By incorporating these kinds of ironies, Chaucer is able to paint a picture through his story. This in turn adds to the overall theme of the story.

It was in Chaucer's final phase, which he gained his popularity, The Canterbury Tales (written mostly after 1387). The Canterbury Tales was an unfinished poem. Being his most successful, it consists of 17000 lines. It was one of the most unsullied works in all literature. (Info Please) The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle-English. As a group of pilgrims travels to the shrine of Saint Thomas they decide to tell stories to each other on the way. In a huge list of poems and stories, the Canterbury Tales is Chaucer's most important and visual, and a stacking achievement of western culture and Old English times. While writing the Canterbury tales he use the characters and their lifestyles to create irony and every day events. Describing what the old English church was really like. (Geoffrey Chaucer) The Canterbury Tales were written in Middle English, in the old days, the tone was equivalent to London type style. Although there was never an official copy of the Canterbury tales, Adam Pankhurst made sure that wasn’t true.