The General Prologue - The Canterbury Tales
The General Prologue
The most popular part of the Canterbury Tales is the General Prologue,
which has long been admired for the lively, individualized portraits
it offers. More recent criticism has reacted against this approach,
claiming that the portraits are indicative of social types, part of a
tradition of social satire, "estates satire", and insisting that they
should not be read as individualized character portraits like those in
a novel. Yet it is sure that Chaucer's capacity of human sympathy,
like Shakespeare's, enabled him to go beyond the conventions of his
time and create images of individualized human subjects that have been
found not merely credible but endearing in every period from his own
until now.
It is the General Prologue that serves to establish firmly the
framework for the entire story-collection: the pilgrimage that risks
being turned into a tale-telling competition. The title "General
Prologue" is a modern invention, although a few manuscripts call it
prologus. There are very few major textual differences between the
various manuscripts. The structure of the General Prologue is a simple
one. After an elaborate introduction in lines 1 - 34, the narrator
begins the series of portraits (lines 35 - 719). These are followed by
a report of the Host's suggestion of a tale-telling contest and its
acceptance (lines 720 - 821). On the following morning the pilgrims
assemble and it is decided that the Knight shall tell the first tale
(lines 822 - 858).
Nothing indicates when Chaucer began to compose the General Prologue
and there are no variations between manuscripts that might suggest
that he revised it after making an initial version. It...
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...ed if
he does not put people in the order of their social rank, "My wit is
short, ye may well understand." This persona continues to profess the
utter naivety that we have already noted in his uncritical
descriptions of the pilgrims.
It is in this way, too, that we should approach the conclusion of the
Prologue. Here the Host of the Tabard Inn (Harry Bailey, a historical
figure) decides to go with them and ironically it is he, not Chaucer,
who proposes the story-telling contest that gives the framework of the
Tales. He will also be the ultimate judge of which is the best: "of
best sentence and most solas." He is, after all, well prepared by his
job to know about the tales people tell! One model for the literary
competition would seem to be the meetings of people interested in
poetry, known in French as puys, with which Chaucer would have been
familiar.
George Orwell uses power corrupts as a theme for Animal Farm. Orwell defines “power corrupts” as a distortion of ideals and practices to legitimize the power of a particular group or person. Orwell uses the pigs, and specifically Napoleon, to show how power is gained and then corrupted. “By the time he (Snowball) had finished speaking, there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go… Napoleon stood up… uttered a high-pitched whimper… and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn.” (52,53) George Orwell’s message that power corrupts is shown through pigs rise to power, Napoleon’s takeover, and Napoleon’s dictatorship.
Napoleon Starts out as a moral and honest member in the Animal society by trying to benefit society as a whole. “These three (Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer) had elaborated old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism. Several
The influence of religion is so powerful that it had spread like wildfire across many parts of the region. This changed people way of thinking, giving them a second thought to judge their lifestyle they’re living. The renaissance contributed to this new ideology, how there’s more to life than just death. How there’s good in the earth just as there’s evil and the explanation of natural disasters. Some people figured out there’s a force field of good hovering the earth. Leading people to encourage everyone to accept the most good and powerful God; in order to be saved from their evil self. This made sense to everyone. That realization urges people to follow the pathway to heaven .Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales” to describe the system the
In the Canterbury Tales, the Knight begins the tale-telling. Although straws were picked, and the order left to "aventure," or "cas," Harry Bailey seems to have pushed fate. The Knight represents the highest caste in the social hierarchy of the fourteenth century, those who rule, those who pray, and those who work. Assuming that the worldly knight would tell the most entertaining and understandable story (that would shorten their pilgrimage to St. Thomas Becket), Harry tells the Knight to begin.
The saying “history repeats itself” is used quite often, but how many times have you actually seen it happen? The book Animal Farm portrays the idea of history repeating itself. The character Benjamin and the pigs in the story show history repeating itself throughout the book. In addition to these characters within the book, North Korea displays history's repetition outside the book.
5. Setting is a working farm. The setting allows the microcosm of the Animal Farm to be basically undisturbed. Had it been close to a big city or other small towns, then there would have been more interruptions and challenges to Napoleon’s take
Napoleon imbues the animals with his subjective ideologies and indoctrinates them in order to cloud their thoughts and dominate their lives. Napoleon persuades the animals to act in accordance with his ideas and to surrender to his will by constantly bombarding them with persuasive messages of propaganda. Such devious efforts are highlighted by the cows in their statement, “’Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!’” (page 62). In the cows’ words it is clear that Napoleon strives to control the animals by using the influence of reciprocation as conveyed through propaganda. The cows’ testimonial gives the animals the impression that Napoleon is working to help them and in turn the animals feel an obligation to surrender to Napoleon’s will in order to reciprocate the favor. Thus, Napoleon uses propaganda to apply the rule of reciprocity and gain control of the animals. Additionally, Napoleon wields charisma as a tool for indoctrinating the animals a...
Often times in a communist society, a leader’s use of language can lead to abuse of power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the farm leaders, the pigs, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics, and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, implementation of scare tactics, and creation and manipulation of laws, they are able to get away with avoiding laws and convincing other animals into believing untrue stories and lies that are beneficial to the pigs.
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
Power can have the persuasive action in undoing the moral ethics of one’s character. This can be seen throughout history, such as World War II and proven by the actions of Napoleon in the allegory, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. As Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In history what was viewed as a villain or wrong doer is never the same as the perception. A leader does not begin wanting to do wrong, they start with the best intentions, but power is a tricky thing, showcased in Animal Farm as Utopian ideals but with failed practices.
In “The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses satire to make a statement about the nature of humanity. “The Prologue” shows the importance of a historical meaning as it describes the social classes of the 1300’s. However, most modern readers can relate to the hypocrisy being displayed by the first three major characters.
There is a substantial amount of conflicts that occur in this satirical story. Often these conflicts are between the pigs and the rest of the animals. Only a minute portion of the animals didn’t really have some sort of conflict with Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer, or the rest of the dominating pigs. Overall, Snowball was a better leader than Napoleon, yet the animals reacted differently to Napoleon than to Snowball.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a main theme is that power corrupts those who possess it. A definition of corruption is,“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” Orwell develops this idea through the character Napoleon in various ways. Looking back in the book, the animal’s rebellion quickly turned political and revolved around, “Leader, Comrade Napoleon (Orwell 81)”. The power Napoleon possed was executed through lies and selfishness, aided by the lack of intellectual ability in the other animals. The corruption of Napoleon’s power is displayed when he favors himself, along with the other pigs, and eventually the dogs, who all get better rations of food compared to the other animals. Another main demonstration of how power corrupts Napoleon is how he separates himself from the other animals on the farm, displaying his feelings if superiority to the other animals. A ceremonial nature develops towards Napoleon. The last way power corrupts Napoleon is how he acts recklessly; killing other animals and lying about
as brown as is a berry." (P 120 line 211) This shows that the Monk spends
Animal Farm is set on the Mannor Farm, during the chaotic time of an animal revolution.