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Essays on Literary Marxist Criticism
Essays on Literary Marxist Criticism
Essays on Literary Marxist Criticism
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The plot of an underdog overtaking the ruler is a common theme seen across every type of literature and real life. For example, david vs goliath is a culture reference almost everyone has heard of, and everyone has witnessed or heard of an underdog sports team going up against the big bad champs. This theme is further examined via the marxist lens. These plights are viewed as negative and positive in this specific lens. For the situation to be positive, the underdog has to achieve a higher rank from low class or somehow best the higher ranked opposition, and vice versa for a negative outlook. In The Canterbury Tales, the positive side of the Marxist “lens” is applied by the merchant's wife versus the merchant, the little boy versus the Jewish
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.
After kissing one’s arse; or being harassed for money; or having someone demoralize another’s occupation, according to “The Miller’s Tale”, “The Friar’s Tale”, and the tension between The Summoner and The Miller, one might have the motive to cause harm to those who hurt them. This shows the level of maturity in the characters, as well as demonstrating human feelings such as hurt, anger, and animosity. In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer illustrates the pilgrims and characters within their stories as strong, clever, and sometimes even childish. They are often quick to react with revenge to solve their problems, instead of thinking about their actions. However, even if revenge does work to their advantage, it’s not always the most morally correct way for them to fix their troubles.
The Virtue of Men and Women in The Canterbury Tales People never change. In every town you will always be able to find the "rich guy," the "smart guy," the "thief," and the "chief." It has been that way since the first man was swindled out of his lunch. Throughout his life, Geoffrey Chaucer encountered every kind of person and brought them to life for us in "The Canterbury Tales," a collection of short stories written in the 1300's. There are tales of saints, tales of promiscuity, tales of fraud, and tales of love.
Chaucer 's characters appear heavily invested in the belief that the gods and the stars, not their own earthbound decisions and abilities, control their fates. Their steadfast faith in the power and prudence of the gods contrasts sharply with their often visible lack of confidence in themselves. Is this lack of confidence born out of the characters ' deference to the gods? Or conversely, is this obsession with the supernatural perhaps an attempt to rationalize, excuse, and possibly overcome their previous and potential shortcomings of which the characters are so often aware? In a collection of tales in which pride, honor, superlative excellence, and supernatural influence are so prominent, the rampant confusion, self-doubt, and "negative boasts"
“The Miller’s Tale” perfectly incorporates all of the necessary components that make up a winning tale. In Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales, “The Miller’s Tale” fully satisfies every rule required by the Host, in a humorous and intriguing way. He uses the misfortune of the characters to grasp the reader’s attention, and keep him or her interested throughout the story. In the tale, Chaucer includes the idea of religious corruption happening in England during the fourteenth-century. He takes this negative idea and manipulates it into comedic relief by making both Nicholas and Absalom clerks. The actions of those characters, who were supposed to be revered due to their religious position, proves Chaucer’s negative view of the Catholic Church in England at that time. Through Chaucer’s incorporation of fourteenth-century religious corruption,
While literary critics do attempt to elaborate or develop ideas articulated by Karl Marx, it is important and necessary to make a distinction between Marx's specific socio-economic and political agenda and the body of literary theory which emerged years later. Marxist literary criticism proceeds from the fundamental philosophical assumption that "consciousness can never be anything else than conscious existence...Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life" (Marx 568-9). Marxist critics use this challenge to the notion of an innate, prefigured, individual human nature to reexamine the nature of creative or literary authority.
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.
In the process of compiling the literary works I intended to include in this project, I began to notice a common thread that connected the works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry that I generally choose to read. That common tie that binds these books together is that they all seem to center, in one form or another, around the theme of oppression. Perhaps this is because I have some deep psychological need to diffuse the power struggles I experience within myself by gleaning insight from the pages of someone else’s experience. Or, perhaps it is merely because I have a predisposition to “root for the underdog”. Regardless of the reason, be it simple or complex, almost everything I read seems to engage a “David and Goliath” scenario.
This fairy-tale like story not only entertains the readers, it also educates them about the distinctions of the social class system in this era. The author of this poem successfully introduces his audience to a royal king and queen, a prestigious bishop, and a brave and honorable knight. Furthermore, the writer cleverly uses these characters to enlighten his readers to the inner workings of this “pyramid of power” and demonstrates how this social class system effects social interactions in the fourteenth century. While the author of this poem is unknown, there is no questioning the quality of this wonderful work of literature and the value it possess in regard to understanding the social class distinctions of the fourteenth century.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales is presented during a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. The pilgrims on the journey are from divergent economic and social backgrounds but they have all amalgamated to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas. Chaucer uses each pilgrim to tell a tale which portrays an arduous medieval society. The values, morals and social structures of the society can be examined through the fictitious tales, unravelling a corrupt, unjust and manipulative world, a world that is based around an ecclesiastical society.
An interesting aspect of the famous literary work, "The Canterbury Tales," is the contrast of realistic and exaggerated qualities that Chaucer entitles to each of his characters. When viewed more closely, one can determine whether each of the characters is convincing or questionable based on their personalities. This essay will analyze the characteristics and personalities of the Knight, Squire, Monk, Plowman, Miller, and Parson of Chaucer's tale.
Chaucer's society represents every social class. In doing so, it shows what it takes to actually make a society function. The different people carry different stories to share. These stories carry lessons learned in hopes of sharing them with others so that they may not end up in the same predicaments. After all, that is the main point of sharing stories, isn't it?
he does not put people in the order of their social rank, "My wit is
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury to see the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Beckett. All of the pilgrims met at the Tabard Inn and decided to make the trip together. Along the journey, the proprietor of the inn, Harry Bailly, prompts the tale-tellers with questions and interjections that reveal important details about their character and motivations. Despite its age, The Canterbury Tales is still very relevant today; Chaucer’s observations about human nature and imperfection are applicable to people in modern society.
When it comes to The Canterbury Tales, nothing is safe from scrutiny. When the idea of doing a pedagogical project was introduced for this class, my mind immediately began buzzing with ideas of what I should do. One day I hope to have a class of my own, so being able to approach an assignment in a pedagogical way is something I’ve looked forward to for a while. Though we’ve read many great stories in this class, The Canterbury Tales is one that’s become quite a favorite of mine. Since this story covers many different themes and storylines, I decided to focus on Chaucer’s satirical outlook on the class system and his portrayal of the pilgrims’ portraits. The ideal class that I would be teaching this to would be a junior or senior level high