To What Extent Is The Canterbury Tales Still Relevant Today

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The Canterbury Tales Essay

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.
The merchant makes an effort to carry himself in a manner that makes people think that he is well off when in fact, he is in debt. Chaucer wrote, “This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette; Ther wiste no wight that he was in dette,” (279-280) in regard to how the merchant hid his debt. This type of behavior can be seen in society today on social media. People try very hard to display perfection on their online profiles. They scrutinize every photo and status update to make sure that nothing undesirable is present and that their life appears to …show more content…

He gives penance to people if they pay him. People come to him to feel better about their sins and he takes advantage of their need for absolution by giving it to them in exchange for payment, which could never actually forgive their actions. Chaucer writes of the friar’s transactions, “instead of weeping and [of] prayers Men may give silver to the poorè freres.” (Chaucer 231-232.) These characteristics of corruption and greed are present in certain institutions today. People in positions of power use their influence to their advantage, disregarding moral standards. A therapist, for example, might feed their patient the information that they want to hear just because they are being paid. There is no obligation to actually help, only a desire for personal

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