Canterbury's speech is intriguing in light of the fact that the Archbishop uses such striking imagery to prove the subservient relationship between the subjects and their ruler. Here, he makes an analogy between society and a settlement of honeybees. Like humans, honeybees have a ruler (in the Renaissance individuals thought that queen bees were male) and the rest of the hive works towards a common goal. As such, Canterbury is saying that the division of individuals into different classes is as natural as a hive of bees cooperating in
