Canterbury Tales Character Analysis Essay

Geoffrey Chaucer is, to this day, one of the most famous Middle-English writers. His view of corrupt societies and how things "may not always be as they seem" was incredibly accurate and has even carried over its accuracy into the modern era. His writings are highly controversial and bring out the faults in the most conservative aspects of society—especially when it comes to sexism and the church. In The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, he speaks about 31 people going on a pilgrimage. The entire selection is heavily weighted and based on one key thing, which is how it is structured. The entire story is split up into sections which entails many to call it a "story within a story." Better yet, it is more accurately described as stories

The direct characterization of this selection involves stating exactly how the character is and what they do. However, when he follows his pattern of indirect characterization by revealing who the characters actually are through expressing the actions or thoughts. In his section "The Pardoner 's Prologue," Chaucer doesn 't say everything about the Pardoner; he lets people figure it out for themselves as they read the selection and realize that the Pardoner is actually a con man who trades money for the "gift of forgiveness" as he, ironically, preaches tales of greed and how it can ruin lives. Chaucer characterizes the individuals both directly and indirectly, giving the reader both the idea and the chance to figure out how each character lives and makes it through their

He sets up his poem as a narrative story by introducing characters. The basic structure of the lines themselves run in a simple rhyming pattern. That rhyming pattern can be described as "aa bb cc dd ee..." and so on throughout the entire selection. His layout can start with an introduction of a character and he emphasizes heavily on their dress. Chaucer is known for his keen eye for clothing and he heavily weights the narrators opinion on their way of dress. This is, of course, the narrators first and initial opinion of the pilgrims from his first impression when he finds out, typically in this order: He will introduce the character, talk about their attire, talk about their personality, then hear what they have to say and subtly bring out their societal fault in one way or another. He sets this prologue up as the main story, The Canterbury Tales, to the sub story, "The General Prologue", then to a story of that sub story, the character, their description, and what they say. Chaucer starts with the most important and impacting characters such as the Knight, the Squire, and the Prioress because they have the largest stories later in the collection. Like all of the others, he describes them in the typical order; then he later on introduces the following