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Essay on figurative language
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An essay of figurative language in conversations
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There are few great literary works that have withstood the test of time to still be well known in the modern era; however, with the use of many advanced literary techniques and styles some authors have managed to accomplish this daunting task. Despite being unfinished, The Canterbury Tales - written by Geoffrey Chaucer - is one these renowned works. Chaucer manages to unify this particular collection of short stories through the use of the Miller, a member of the cast. Chaucer use of figurative language, satire, and tone allow for this works’ unified frame. The first technique that Chaucer uses in The Canterbury Tales is the Miller’s consistent depiction as a fool through figurative language. Chaucer depicts this image of the Miller as a brutish buffoon through this variety of figurative language: Metaphors, Imagery and comparison to other characters. Chaucer uses imagery often in order for the reader to visually understand the aforementioned depiction of him as a fool. He also uses comparison to emphasis the man’s shortcomings.
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Chaucer accomplished this comparison by first describing the knight and his story as being “noble” and “worthy to be called into memory” (93). This positive description of the knight strongly contrasts with the then immensely negative description of the Miller as being of a lower class. This contrast is thanks to Miller’s disruption of the host’s intended order while being drunk. Chaucer shows Miller not “wait[ing] for any[body] out of courtesy” and, despite the host telling him to sit down and listen to the monk’s story, he refuses to not speak “or else he will go [his] way” (94). In this, Chaucer shows the Miller as a stubborn drunk who has to have his way, whereas the Knight is shown in a holy light. This connects back to the point that the Miller’s foolishness is a factor of consistency that helps contribute to the unity of The Canterbury
The narrator is the first element of humor Chaucer uses in his story. The Miller is rude and drunk but generally a jolly fellow. This sets the tone of story as being fun and even a bit coarse, just like the Miller himself. He tells a few jokes before he tells his story: "One shouldn't be two inquisitive in life? / Either about God's secrets or one's wife. / You'll find God's plenty all you could desire"(53). As well, the Miller wants to punish the Reeve, a ...
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are filled with many entertaining tales from a variety of characters of different social classes and background. The first two tales told, by the knight and the miller, articulate very different perspectives of medieval life. Primarily, The tales of both the knight and the miller bring strikingly different views on the idea of female agency, and as we will discover, Chaucer himself leaves hints that he supports the more involved, independent Alison, over the paper-thin character of Emily.
Chaucer utilized satire throughout the Canterbury Tales, and he illustrated as much about his culture, and especially curteisye, with his satire as he did with the stories and characters themselves.
...riting the story. When he writes the story of the Miller the Miller makes references to animals that you wouldn’t think of comparing someone too. It makes the ability to take the story less serious because we cannot get past the thoughts the Miller is presenting us with. One of the characters most argued about is the Wife of Bath she is viewed as either a positive outlook for feminists but at the same time can also be seen as bringing the generation of women back. Chaucer wrote the tales as a collective piece of knowledge that pushes the limits of the traditional times in which he wrote them in.
At times, he appears to be pandering to expectations of modesty, telling the readers at the outset that "my wit is short, ye may wel understonde." On multiple occasions, he breaks the fourth wall, jokingly criticizing his own rhyming abilities (through his own characters, of course) or having others lament that there is no story they can tell that Chaucer has not already told. Before the Miller 's tale, he apologizes for the crudity of the story (giving the excuse that it is the Miller spewing such ribaldry, not Chaucer himself), and asking his readers to "noght make ernest of game " (advice which perhaps his overly competitive pilgrims would do well to heed). Chaucer 's moments of uncertainty arise in his tales as well as his prologues, such as when he inserts himself into the Knight 's Tale after Arcite 's death, saying that he cannot possibly know where departed souls go when they leave the Earth. Chaucer 's proud quest to turn previously foreign classics into informative English poetry is in many ways a quest to prove the extent of his knowledge and abilities, which makes it most conspicuous that he inserts himself into a tale to tell the reader that there is a gap in his knowledge. Perhaps Chaucer 's ostentatious confusion when it comes to pagan theology is a subtle means by which he intends to distance himself from the non-Christian beliefs widespread in the setting of his opening
Although the Knight and Miller's Tales are very similar, it is obvious that they are told by pilgrims of different social rankings. The Knight was chosen to go first because he represented the highest social class in the estates model, which is made up of those who fight. He was a soldier who was fighting in God's name, and for that reason he occupied the highest position in society. He was described as a truly perfect, noble knight: "A KNYGHT ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first bigan, To riden out, he loved chivalrie, Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre, As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse, And evere honoured for his worthynesse" (43-50). The Miller was introduced to the reader much later in the General Prologue and was described as being a big-mouth and a cheater. The reader also discovers in the Miller's Prologue that he is very drunk. In his disclaimer he says that he feels he shouldn't be held responsible for anything in the fabliau ...
The Miller takes his position in Chaucer's stories very well. A large man that likes to wrestle, the Miller is a loud and boisterous person. "At wrestling, never failed he of the ram. He was a chunky fellow, broad of build." The Miller is obviously a large man. Chaucer also goes into full detail when describing the Miller's wart," And broad it was as if it were a spade. Upon the coping of his nose he had A wart, and thereon stood a tuft of hairs, Red as the bristles in an old sow's ears" Chaucer continues to describe the Miller in full detail. Thus far, the author has nothing good to say about the Miller. After Chaucer is done butchering the Miller's physical appearance, he then proceeds to comment on the Millers character. "He could steal corn and full thrice charge his fees;
The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, has gone through many adaptations. Some authors decided to translate the story into verse, while others chose to write the as a narrative in prose. Although all adaptations are based off the same story, they are vastly different and can be the result of opposing interpretations of the original work. After reading a text translated by Nevill Coghill (referred to as Version I) and a text translated into a narrative by a different author (referred to as Version II), it is obvious that for each similarity they share, there are many more differences in language, syntax, and imagery as well.
“The Canterbury Tales” was written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer. These tales constitutes a frame story which each pilgrim has to tell their own story to the Chaucer, the pilgrim; not the poet. As we know, the tale itself is a satire, but the stylistic structure in the tales creates a sense that can be a parody as well. To support this idea of parody, it is need to know the definition of parody and how Chaucer use this style to make his own ideas clear through the general prologue and the tales such as “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Knight’s Tale”.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Riverside Chaucer Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1987. 3-328 Secondary
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.
When Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, he created a great majority of the individual tales by "borrowing" and reworking material from various sources. Most of these stories would have been very familiar to his medieval audience, and the changes he made in the standard version of these tales for his work would have been a form of tacit communication that would have added an extra dimension to each of them. Howard says that "... the tales possess a relatedness of their own within a world of other texts. They can be understood only with reference to shared formulas of language or generic traits..." (448). In the Miller's tale Chaucer parodies the Knight's Tale, which itself was "adapted from a longer tale ... from Italy ... from Boccaccio" (Howard 448), by combining and satirizing highly irreverent references to the life of Jesus Christ with the story of Oedipus to make the tale as bawdy and comical as possible.
When comparing the style and theme of The Knight’s Tale to The Miller’s Tale it is crucial to start by examining the different genres of both tales. The Knights Tale is a Romance which tends to focus on love, adventure, disguise, and flight. Also, the Romance genre was popular within aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe; so they were meant to be read seriously. The Miller’s Tale, on the other hand, is a Fabliau which is a comic characterized by an excessiveness of sexual innuendos. Chaucer gets the style of the Fabliau from the French Tradition. By examining the differences in genre alone, it is already clear that there will be a present shift in meaning from one tale to the other. By examining the style and theme between the two stories, it is evident that genre influences the shift in meaning between the two stories. That is, a shift from a tragic idealized courtly love among nobility in The Knight’s Tale, to The Miller’s Tale which is a comic affair among the middle class.
In his story titled "The Canterbury Tales" Chaucer seems to truly admire some of the pilgrims while displaying disdain and sarcasm towards the others. The pilgrims that he most seems to admire are the Knight, the Oxford Clerk and the Parson. The knight he seems to admire based on his notation of all the campaigns in which the knight has participated in service to just causes. Chaucer makes mention of the knight 's worthiness, wisdom and humility "Though so illustrious, he was very wise And bore himself as meekly as a maid." (67,68 Chaucer). It seems as though Chaucer admires the knights great ability both in warfare and practicing what he preaches. This can be seen in his description of all those he seems to admire in the tale. The Oxford Clerk
The characters introduced in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales each represent a stereotype of a kind of person that Chaucer would have been familiar with in 14th Century England. Each character is unique, yet embodies many physical and behavioral traits that would have been common for someone in their profession. In preparing the reader for the tales, Chaucer first sets the mood by providing an overall idea of the type of character who is telling the tale, then allows that character to introduce themselves through a personal prologue and finally, the pilgrim tells their tale. Through providing the reader with insight about the physical and personal traits of the pilgrim and then allowing that person to come to life and tell an animated story, the reader is more prepared for the story as well as able to relate the physical description to the telling of the story. The physical and personal descriptions of the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the Merchant all aid in the telling of their tales. Chaucer was able to create tales that were perfectly suited for the characters that are presenting them. In having each tale told by someone who has a personal reason or motivation for telling that specific tale, Chaucer creates more of a reaction from the reader as well as provides the entire work with structure.