The Irony of Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales

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Recommended: Satirical elements in Chaucer's writing

To begin, I will catch you up on what has happened up until the prologues of the characters. Chaucer introduced to us the characters that are going on this big trip to Canterbury. A number of religious affiliated people went on this group trip. Having the religious people in the group had a major impact on the people. They were able to get to really learn the true attitudes are the way these people really where. So in the general prologue, all the characters introduced themselves and gave a little background on themselves. Now knowing that, you need to know that these people did not exist. The trip itself did not exist, it was all made up. Chaucer was able to use other people to say what he was thinking on the inside. This was a huge. He used satire to manipulate the people. When someone would come and ask about a particular character, Chaucer would say he doesn’t remember their exact names. He would come up with something in order to protect himself in the end. As he went on into his tales that the characters gave, the satire grew much larger. He was lying, but he got his point across, which is exactly what he was aiming for. Therefore, in my essay I will be talking about the satire Chaucer used in his tales of the characters, mainly the Pardoner, and the Wife of Baths.
To start off, here is a general way Chaucer used satire in his work. Chaucer say’s one thing when he means the complete opposite. The reason why Chaucer made this story was because he had an agenda he wanted to make a point to his given audience. What was his point? Chaucer has difficulties dealing with the corruption among the Roman Catholic Church. For example, the Pardoner has a big dealing in the corruption. The pardoner loves to play the game. He preaches o...

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... in his general prologue quit often. The narrator said the following about the Wife of Baths, “And knew the remedies for love’s mischances, and art in which she knew the oldest dances.” This was saying that meant that she knew her way around men. She had been married 5 times so she knew a thing or two about controlling her men. This is what she wanted was to be in control, she did. Satire was used to show that even though men didn’t want women in charge or they didn’t believe they weren’t, women really are.
To conclude, Chaucer used satire in his tales often. He was able to get his point across to the people he attended. Chaucer was able to find loopholes in telling people what he really thought of them. The general prologue, Pardoner and the Wife of Baths contained lots of satire in it. Chaucer was able to manipulate the people in to believing what he was saying.

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