Character Rank In Society in The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

898 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: how was the social classes was divided in canterbury tales

The Canterbury Tales can be understood as a Chaucerian satire according many readers. Chaucer sets out to deliberately upset the social order present at that time and to mock the faults present in the characters. Although he baffles about the complexity of the characters, Chaucer also praises and condemns characters for their unique qualities. Chaucer further gives us feedback of what actions the characters are taking in their lives. Many of the pilgrims are headed off to Canterbury, to worship the relics of Saint Thomas Becket. Thomas Becket was murdered by his friend King Henry and soon Canterbury became a pilgrimage site for people to pray for their healings. As for Chaucer, he observed both high and lower social class to get a better perception of how social class made a difference in the character’s lives. Chaucer always believed that true gentility showed what class you fell into instead of judging it on social rank and wealth. To show that true gentility gives a character true rank in society, Chaucer in the “Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales illustrates the variance of life in the eyes of the honest and truthful Knight, the shrewd Merchant, and the good-hearted Plowman.

The Knight is highly looked upon in society because of his unique qualities in truth and honor. Chaucer also expresses in great detail about his characteristics and is most remembered for his “trouth, honour, fredom, and curtisie.” (Line 46) Basically, Chaucer is saying he has ideals of fidelity, reputation, generosity, and refinement which make him unique. Chaucer comes up with these qualities by observing the Knight and also by learning about the Knight’s past history. He fought well as an “illustrious” knight in the Crusades and had battled...

... middle of paper ...

...wealth or material possessions.

When looking back on Chaucer’s life, we can see that he lived in a time period where social rank determined what kind of life you lived. However in Chaucer’s eyes, he didn’t rank characters on wealth but based on their moral values on life. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer displays many of his beliefs on firm faith in God, the virtue of charity, giving benefit of the doubt, and how self-righteousness is sinful. Without these moral beliefs given to us, how would mankind use these principles to gain equality in the world? Chaucer wants us as readers to take in the most important principle of looking at both aspects of a person’s personality. Without looking at the other half of that person’s personality, you won’t know what kind of person he or she truly is. That is Chaucer’s true message in writing The Canterbury Tales.

Show More
Related

  • Flaws In The Canterbury Tales

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    Personalities come in all shapes and sizes, however, they often contrast with ones occupation or societal ranking. Geoffrey Chaucer shows readers this through The Canterbury Tales as he describes the lives and his views of each character. The Prioress, the Monk, and the Friar, all get on the narrators bad side as they try to portray themselves as someone they were not destined to be. An important aspect of medieval societal values is being true to ones ranking among others and these characters are the complete opposite of whom they truly are. Through these characters, Chaucer shows how these flaws can damage the way others perceive someone.

    Read More

  • Naughty Characters in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    The moral compass of mankind has always piqued the interest of authors. The Middle Ages was a time of immoral behavior, corrupt religious officials, and disregard of marital vows. Geoffrey Chaucer used The Canterbury Tales to explore his personal views of this dark time. In particular, he crafted “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” “The Prioress’s Tale,” and “The Shipman’s Tale” to portray the tainted society, using women in all of them to bring forth his views. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer depicts women as immodest and conniving beings to suggest the moral corruption of the Middle Ages.

    Read More

  • Chaucer's Use of Satire to Reach Specific Audiences

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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 a purpose, and to be pointed towards specific audiences. These audiences would most likely have taken Chaucer’s work as a joke at first, but then quickly seen how the words cut sharply into the way that people lived during that time. Using Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, you can analyze his use of satire to reach specific audiences, three of which include the church, the common man, and those married, or intended to be.

    Read More

  • The Canterbury Tales

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the stereotypes and roles in society are reexamined and made new through the characters in the book. Chaucer discusses different stereotypes and separates his characters from the social norm by giving them highly ironic and/or unusual characteristics. Specifically, in the stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer examines stereotypes of women and men and attempts to define their basic wants and needs.

    Read More

  • The Canterbury Tales: Two Character Exegesis Of The Canterbury Tales

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer are a collection of Middle English short stories written about a group of pilgrims telling tales as they journey to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. In this collection of tales, Chaucer introduces a slew of interesting characters representing all walks of life who present intriguing stories of their lives. The character of Chaucer serves as our guide throughout this story. Chaucer’s narration is unique in that we see him both as someone who could be there in the tavern with the group but at other times, Chaucer is a narrator who seems to know far more than he should. With this type of narration, we gain different perspectives on the pilgrims and

    Read More

  • Parody on Chaucer

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chaucer’s book The Canterbury Tales presents a frame story written at the end of the 14th century. It narrates the story of a group of pilgrims who participate in a story-telling contest that they made up to entertain each other while they travel to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Because of this, some of the tales become particularly attractive for they are written within a frame of parody which, as a style that mocks genre, is usually achieved by the deliberate exaggeration of some aspects of it for comic effect. Chaucer uses parody to highlight some aspects of the medieval society that presented in an exaggerated manner, not only do they amuse the readers, but also makes them reflect on them. He uses the individual parody of each tale to create a satirical book in which the behaviours of its characters paint an ironic and critical portrait of the English society at that time. Thus, the tales turn satirical, ironic, earthy, bawdy, and comical. When analysing the Knight’s and the Miller’s tale, one can realise how Chaucer mocks the courtly love convention, and other social codes of behaviour typical of the medieval times.

    Read More

  • The Tale of the Pardoner in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales is a literary masterpiece in which the brilliant author Geoffrey Chaucer sought out to accomplish various goals. Chaucer wrote his tales during the late 1300’s.  This puts him right at the beginning of the decline of the Middle Ages.  Historically, we know that a middle class was just starting to take shape at this time, due to the emerging commerce industry. Chaucer was able to see the importance and future success of the middle class, and wrote his work with them in mind.  Knowing that the middle class was not interested in lofty philosophical literature, Chaucer wrote his work as an extremely comical and entertaining piece that would be more interesting to his audience.  Also, Chaucer tried to reach the middle class by writing The Canterbury Tales in English, the language of the middle class rather than French, the language of the educated upper class.  The most impressive aspect of Chaucer’s writing is how he incorporated into his piece some of his own controversial views of society, but yet kept it very entertaining and light on the surface level.  One of the most prevalent of these ideas was his view that certain aspects of the church had become corrupt.  This idea sharply contrasted previous Middle Age thought, which excepted the church’s absolute power and goodness unquestionably.  He used corrupt church officials in his tales to illustrate to his audience that certain aspects of the church needed to be reformed.  The most intriguing of these characters was the Pardoner.  Chaucer’s satirical account of the Pardoner is written in a very matter-of-fact manner that made it even more unsettling with his audience.  Chaucer uses his straightforwardness regarding the hypocrisy of the Pardoner, suggestive physiognomy of the character, and an interesting scene at the conclusion of the Pardoner’s Tale to inculcate his views of the church to his audience. The way that Chaucer used these literary devices to subtly make his views known to an audience while hooking them with entertainment, shows that Chaucer was truly a literary genius.

    Read More

  • Insight into Human Nature in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, (written c. 1387), is a richly varied compilation of fictional stories as told by a group of twenty-nine persons involved in a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury, England during the fourteenth century. This journey is to take those travelers who desire religious catharsis to the shrine of the holy martyr St. Thomas a Becket of Canterbury. The device of a springtime pilgrimage provided Chaucer with a diverse range of characters and experiences, with him being both a narrator and an observer. Written in Middle English, each tale depicts parables from each traveler.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales examines many important qualities of human nature. Chaucer purposely mocks the faults in his characters, and shows the hypocrisy and deceitfulness ...

    Read More

  • Chivalry In The Canterbury Tales Analysis

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    The stories on The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer often undermine societal hierarchies at the time. The tales Chaucer tells highlight aspects of authority that would otherwise never be questioned. In “The Miller’s Tale”, the notion of a clear useful economic hierarchy is challenged. Chaucer critiques chivalry in “The Knight’s Tale,” testing the value of the authority it provides. In “The Friar’s Tale”, Chaucer questions the benevolence of the church and its position hierarchy. By giving archetypal characters the freedom to act in opposition to their hierarchical roles, Chaucer calls the nature of authority into question.

    Read More

  • The Canterbury Tales: Essay on the Middle Ages

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chaucer’s book “The Canterbury Tales” presents a frame story written at the end of the 14th century that is set through a group of pilgrims participation in a story-telling contest that they make up to entertain each other while they travel to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Because of this, some of the tales become particularly attractive for they are written within a frame of parody which, as a style that mocks genre, is usually achieved by the deliberate exaggeration of some aspects of it for comic effect. In fact, as a branch of satire mimicry, its purpose may be corrective as well as derisive. (Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms) Chaucer, therefore, uses parody to highlight – satirize - some aspects of the medieval society that should be re-evaluated. He uses the tales and the behaviours of its characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of the English society at that time, therefore the tales turn satirical, elevated, ironic, earthy, bawdy, and comical. When analysing the Knight’s and the Miller’s Tale, one can realise how Chaucer mocks the courtly love convention, and other social codes of behaviours typical of the medieval time.

    Read More

  • Power and Corruption in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales is a very popular and well known set of stories, written by Geoffrey Chaucer. This collection of stories is great entertainment and some even provide very good moral lessons; most of these stories show the contempt Chaucer had for the Church of England which had control at the time over most of England. Chaucer’s bias towards the corruption of the Church is best demonstrated in the Pardoner’s Prologue, in contradiction with the Parson’s Tale, and the level of power within the Church structure. These are two of the stories of the many that are in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer uses the Pardoner as a high level leader who is corrupt and yet enables him to convert the sinners even if he does it for personal gain. While the Parson is of lower standing in the Church, he is not corrupt, and gives the message to the pilgrims so that they might be forgiven.

    Read More

  • The Parson In The Canterbury Tales Essay

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales is an in-depth narrative analysis of twenty-nine unique characters and their Host on a collective pilgrimage to Thomas Becket’s shrine in Canterbury. Chaucer paints vivid pictures of each pilgrim through his description of their physical appearance, inner nature, and outward behavior towards others. The individuals are not given names but the reader can identify them by their titles. One of the clearest cut characters in this work is the Parson. Chaucer presents the Parson in The Canterbury Tales to create a stark contrast for the other religious figures by his description of the Parson’s inner constitution, outward actions, and shepherd like qualities.

    Read More

  • Chaucer's Use Of Satire In The Canterbury Tales

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    Geoffrey Chaucer was a on a mission when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. That mission was to create a satire that attacked three major institutions. Raphel displays, “Medieval society was divided into three estates: the Church (those who prayed), the Nobility (those who fought), and the Patriarchy. The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an estates satire.” Chaucer wanted to shed light on the institutions that were taking advantage of the everyday man. Chaucer does this by making up tales about certain people that she light to the undercover world of the institutions. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses satire to attack the Church, the Patriarchy, and the Nobility.

    Read More

  • Chaucer's Society in Canterbury Tales

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales is a great contemplation of stories, that display humorous and ironic examples of medieval life, which imitate moral and ethical problems in history and even those presented today. Chaucer owed a great deal to the authors who produced these works before his time. Chaucer tweaked their materials, gave them new meanings and revealed unscathed truths, thus providing fresh ideas to his readers. Chaucer's main goal for these tales was to create settings in which people can relate, to portray lessons and the irony of human existence.

    Read More

More about Character Rank In Society in The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

Open Document