Geoffrey Chaucer's Use of Characterization

Characterization has been the cornerstone of literature for centuries. Character presentation can attain any work fame or shame. Geoffrey Chaucer, a pioneer of English Literature’s works carried mass appeal. His best known works appealed to those of all walks of life. Chaucer’s work resulted in mass appeal because it used many forms of characterization to present the characters to the reader. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses thoughts and actions, his word, and satire to characterize The Squire and The Wife of Bath.

Geoffrey Chaucer is well known for his use of characterization in his works. A notable work of Chaucer was Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. This piece was notable because it appealed to a diverse base of readers. It appealed to a wide range of readers because of Chaucer’s characterization. Characterization is the process an author uses to develop the characters of a story.

Characters can be developed in many ways. Thus there are many forms of characterization for an author to choose from. Chaucer used many forms of characterization in his work, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Examples of forms of characterization used included the character’s thoughts and actions, author’s word, and satire. Character’s thoughts and actions can be described as how the character thinks as well as acts. Author’s word can be described as how the author directly describes the character within the text. Satire can be commonly described as writing to expose the shortcomings of individuals as well as society as a whole to mockery.

These three forms of characterization were used to develop many characters within Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Examples of these three forms of character development ca...

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...ewer’s manner of describing how The Wife of Bath was a parody. The Wife of Bath was a parody because it mocked how women were ruled by men in society. This displayed parody because it showed a rare case of a woman successfully ruling men.

As Geoffrey Chaucer pioneered English Literature he used many forms of characterization in his works. He notably used characterization in Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer used many forms of characterization to provide a great understanding of the characters in each of his works. In his work Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, characters were developed using their own thoughts and actions, Chaucer’s own words, as well as satire. Chaucer’s ability to build a character right before the reader’s eyes acclaimed his works a great deal of fame. His works amassed great fame because they appealed to a diverse base of readers.