Final Draft

There is a difference between a great piece of art and a good piece of art. A good piece of art dazzles and influences its audience. While a great piece of artwork is not confined to time, but influences generation after generation. Literature is a great piece of artwork. It tends to influence its audience no matter the time period; whether it was written in the middle ages or in the millennium. Literature offers something that is ageless and always applicable. It is a story with an agenda to teach its audiences. After all, as the Nun’s priest says in his epilogue, “For everything written, says St. Paul Is written, surely, to instruct us all.” (Chaucer 218). Literature like the Canterbury Tales gives a reader access to moral lessons that are applicable to life. These lessons include the dangers of flattery and that appearances can be deceiving.

In Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale he attempts to warn the reader about the dangers of flattery. He makes this clear with the statement, “Read Ecclesiatus on flattery; Beware my Lords, beware of treachery (Chaucer 215). In the story Russell the fox uses his charm to deceive Chanticleer the rooster of his ill intentions. Flattery is dangerous because it is used to deceive and trick for selfish purposes. Just as the Bible Says, “To flatter friends is to lay a trap at their feet (NLT Prov.29.5). Once the Russell the fox has deceived Chanticleer with his flattering words, Chanticleer foolishly trusts that the fox is as he says “Good sir, where are you off to? I’m your friend!”(Chaucer 214). The trap the fox sets by the use of flattery causes Chanticleer to be snatched up. “Chanticleer began to flap his wings enchanted by the fox’s blandishments and flattery…Stretching his neck; and with ...

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Literature gives a reader access to moral lessons that are applicable. Literature like the Canterbury Tales give lessons about the dangers of flattery and that appearance can be deceiving. This was accomplished in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale and the Wife of Bath’s Tale. Both stories offered insight into the lessons Chaucer was trying to the reader. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale tells the reader not to be a Chanticleer and be fooled by the flattery of the fox. Instead the reader is told to guard their heart aginst honeyed words. Secondly, The Wife of Bath’s Tale tells the reader to not be so quick to judge something by its appearance. There is a chance that it is not what the reader might first judge it to be. These lessons are not archaic, but revelant to modern day life. They can be applied to everyday situations and remain useful.