The Shipman's Tale Essays

  • Theme Of Payback In The Shipman's Tale

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    One recurring theme in Geoffrey Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales, is payback. Many of the tales are fabliaux, so they consist of naughty characters and oodles of payback. The characters each possess multiple characteristics, including caritas and cupiditas. Because of these traits, the characters in Chaucer’s tales are often prone to partake in immoral or moral activities. The activities result in payback dished out and received. The payback can come in many forms, including vengeful, violent, childish

  • Summary and Analysis of The Shipman's Tale (The Canterbury Tales)

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Summary and Analysis of The Shipman's Tale (The Canterbury Tales) Introduction to the Shipman's Tale: The Host asks the priest to tell a tale, but the Shipman interrupts, insisting that he will tell the next tale. He says that he will not tell a tale of physics or law or philosophy, but rather a more modest story. The Shipman's Tale: A merchant at St. Denis foolishly took a desirable woman for a wife who drained his income by demanding clothes and other fine array to make her appear

  • Greed In The Shipman's Tale

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    incorporate this value into his work through the ironic uses of holy men. Chaucer’s “The Shipman’s Tale” and “The Summoner’s Tale” suggests that the monk and the friar have an overactive id which overpowers their superego- evident from the character’s selfish motives and their rejection of their holy vows. The Monk and the Friar’s overactive Id are shown through their selfish motives. In “The Shipman’s Tale,” Chaucer tells of a Monk who seems to be noble and true. Nonetheless, the reader notices

  • Use Of Power In The Shipman's Tale

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

    THE SHIPMAN’S TALE Geoffrey Chaucer used many different tactics in order to prove his point. With every compelling story told on the journey to Canterbury in order to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket, many moral lessons are revealed. Geoffrey Chaucer uses the motifs of wit and the value of entertainment in “The Shipman’s Tale” in order to convey the various ways to use power in relationships. The monetary power held by the Merchant, his wife uses her sexual power, and Sir. John uses his social

  • Canterbury Tales Essay: Importance of the Tale of Wife of Bath

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Importance of the Tale of Wife of Bath Some critiques of Wife of Bath make the claim that the Tale is an anti-climax after the robust presentation of the Prologue. Certainly, the prologue of Wife of Bath is robust. With its unstoppable vitality, strong language ("queynte" etc.) and homely, vigorous vocabulary (eg. the references to "barley-brede" and mice), it is the Wife's personality -- certainly an extremely robust one -- that dominates. There is a certain brash energy to the whole of the Prologue

  • Geoffrey Chaucer's The Shipman's Tale

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Shipman’s Tale The Shipman’s Tale, one of the many tales in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, is exactly suited to the Shipman’s personality and profession as given in “The Prologue.” The shipman is described by Chaucer in the prologue as very sneaky, deceitful, and even pirate-like. The Shipman’s tale matches his personality and profession because The Shipman’s Tale is one of trickery and con. The monk in the tale tricks both the merchant and the merchant’s wife out of their money. He

  • Summary and Analysis of The Man of Law's Tale

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    Summary and Analysis of The Man of Law's Tale Fragment II The Words of the Host to the Company and Prologue to the Man of Law's Tale: The host speaks to the rest of the travelers, telling them that they can regain lost property but not lost time. The host suggests that the lawyer tell the next tale, and he agrees to do so, for he does not intend to break his promises. He says that we ought to keep the laws we give to others. He even refers to Chaucer, who works ignorantly and writes poorly

  • Greed Depicted in Chaucer's The Pardoner’s Tale

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    could relieve someone from their sins. In the case of the Pardoners Tale, the Pardoner expects money for relieving sinners from their sins and for telling a story. The pardoner in this tale is hypocritical, his scare tactics prove this. He says that greed over things like money is an evil thing, and his audience should give him large amounts of money so he can pardon them from their sins. In the beginning of The Pardoners Tale he talks about his qualifications and what he does, talking to several

  • Essay On The Pilgrimage In The Canterbury Tales

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    The pilgrimage that is taken in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer can be similar to something like, a rock concert. The reason for this pilgrimage is for people to visit a religious figure, well so they say. It is also a reason for all different walks of life to come together and have a good time as they take this moral religious trip up to the saints. The types of people on this pilgrimage are all different; there are moral people and not so moral people. There are also fair and straight

  • Comparing Canterbury Tales And The Pardoner's Tale

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    maybe get you killed. In the canterbury tales there are two tales. One of them is the pardoner's tale and the other is the wife of bath's tale. I believe that the pardoner's tale is the better tale. (Geoffrey Chaucer) author of (The Canterbury Tales). In the Canterbury Tales the narrator goes on a pilgrimage and for entertainment he has the people he went on the pilgrimage with tell him tales. And he would reward whoever told him the best tale. The pardoner's tale is about three friends who let greed

  • Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - Biblical Allusions in The Shipman's Tale

    3912 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales, - Biblical Allusions in The Shipman’s Tale There is no doubting Chaucer’s mastery at paroemia; that his adaptations of his many and varied sources transcended their roots is attested by the fact that, unlike many of his contemporaries or authorities, his works have not “passen as dooth a shadwe upon the wal”[1]. Yet while his skill as a medieval author is undisputed, the extent of his subtlety is not always fully appreciated. In The Canterbury Tales, for instance, while

  • Compariing Three Versions of Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pardoner's Tale One of the interesting things about the works of Chaucer is the amount of difference one can find between the different manuscripts of his work. I thought it would be interesting to look at the difference between two manuscripts, using the transcriptions available in the Chaucer Society Specimens of all the Accessible Unprinted Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales. I found a copy that has comparative versions of the manuscripts assigned to us, taking a look at the Pardoner's Tale. While

  • Canterbury Tales Winner

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Canterbury Tales: Shipman VS. Franklin It’s nearing the end of the pilgrimage. The Host has narrowed the contest down to two stories, The Shipman’s Tale and The Franklin’s Tale. Suspense is in the air, who will win? The Canterbury Tales is about a diverse group of people who embarked on an adventure to visit the shrine of Thomas a’Beckett. Along the way, The Host came up with the brilliant idea of commencing a storytelling contest. The contest consisted of the following regulations: each contestant

  • Attitudes Towards Women in Fragment VII of Canterbury Tales

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    in Fragment VII of Canterbury Tales One of the most prominent themes in Fragment VII of the Canterbury Tales is the attitudes of the pilgrims towards women. There are two distinct sides in the dispute: that women are simply objects of lust that must never be trusted, and that women are highly respectable and loving. The Shipman's Tale starts off this debate with his depiction of women, which was less than favorable. The woman who is depicted in this tale is the wife of a merchant. She

  • Naughty Characters in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    of immoral behavior, corrupt religious officials, and disregard of marital vows. Geoffrey Chaucer used The Canterbury Tales to explore his personal views of this dark time. In particular, he crafted “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” “The Prioress’s Tale,” and “The Shipman’s Tale” to portray the tainted society, using women in all of them to bring forth his views. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer depicts women as immodest and conniving beings to suggest the moral corruption of the Middle Ages. The Middle

  • Fabliau In The Miller's Tale

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    A fabliau is characterized as a, “short comic, often bawdy tale in verse that deals realistically and satirically with middle-class or lower-class characters. Fabliaux were often directed against marriage and against members of the clergy,” as stated by the Columbia Encyclopedia. [2] This genre of work began to flourish in France during the 12th and 13th century, where it then continued to move to the English in the 14th century. The fabliau was told by jongleurs that were professional storytellers

  • The Character Study Of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    The character study of Canterbury Tales was approached in two levels. First, the interesting characters which joined the pilgrimage to Canterbury were described. Second, the interesting characters which were described in the tales of those who joined the pilgrimage were also discussed. This was done to present the comparison and contrast of the variety of characters in the tales and their representations in society. Among those who participated in the pilgrim, the following characters appeared interesting: