Chaucer 's Satiric Agenda:
An Analysis of an Iconoclast
Geoffrey Chaucer is often referred to as the father of the english language, for his decision to write this famous story entitled, Canterbury Tales, in english. Before Chaucer, the english language was a predominately spoken language, not a written language. So when he writes this story, he becomes the inventor of the anthography of the english language. Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories in a frame story. It consists of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury (England). The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury. The General Prologue intends that each pilgrim …show more content…
A Pardoner in the Catholic Church is someone who has the ability to pardon people of their sins. Therefore, people go to him to be cleared of their sins and in return he gets paid to do it. While the pardoner tells his story, he explains how it is only just a game for him. He loves to tell people a story of three brothers in which the ending message received is that greed and money is the root of all people. Of course, this convinces the people to give him their money, in order to not sin because of their greed. Then, the pardoner gets exactly what he wants. He goes on to admit that he is wholly vicious man with a purpose to win, not to clear people of their sins. Through this story, Chaucer calls into question the authority of the church since it reveals the hypocrisy within the church. He gives ‘yokels’ the right to challenge authority; these are the people the pardoner loves to deceive because he considers them stupid and clueless. Not only that, but when Chaucer introduces the Friar in the General Prologue he describes him as a very perverted man who performs many things that are not accepted by the church. He shows this by these lines, “There was a Friar, a wanton one and merry a Limiter, a very festive fellow,” from the General Prologue (Pg. 102, lines 212-213) The satire in these lines go on to call …show more content…
This story was written in the late 1300s, therefore at this time Aristotelian view was very popular and was what most people believed. This just means that on a pyramid, gods were frst, then men, and last were women and slaves. Meaning, society was dominated by men and women belonged to their husbands because they were the last on the pyramid. Chaucer 's satirical approach to this is displayed by the wife of bath. Her story goes on to explain how women are smarter than men, which that in itself is very dangerous seen as it is questioning the patriarchy. The wife of bath goes on to continue that women are smarter because they have the power and they have the ability play head games with men. Women can manipulate economics, this was shown in the wife 's prologue. A very attractive knight was sent to have his head cut off, but the king 's wife convinces him to spare his life as long as he goes on a journey to answer the question ‘What is it that all women want?’ in one year. During that entire year, the knight tried his hardest by asking every women he saw, but realized that they all had a different answer. Then on his way back, he stumbles upon an old woman who gives him the answer, in return for what she wants. Then he is cleared because he tells the king and his wife that all women want sovereignty and to be in charge and he is correct. “‘My liege and
An Analysis of an Iconoclast
Geoffrey Chaucer is often referred to as the father of the english language, for his decision to write this famous story entitled, Canterbury Tales, in english. Before Chaucer, the english language was a predominately spoken language, not a written language. So when he writes this story, he becomes the inventor of the anthography of the english language. Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories in a frame story. It consists of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury (England). The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury. The General Prologue intends that each pilgrim …show more content…
A Pardoner in the Catholic Church is someone who has the ability to pardon people of their sins. Therefore, people go to him to be cleared of their sins and in return he gets paid to do it. While the pardoner tells his story, he explains how it is only just a game for him. He loves to tell people a story of three brothers in which the ending message received is that greed and money is the root of all people. Of course, this convinces the people to give him their money, in order to not sin because of their greed. Then, the pardoner gets exactly what he wants. He goes on to admit that he is wholly vicious man with a purpose to win, not to clear people of their sins. Through this story, Chaucer calls into question the authority of the church since it reveals the hypocrisy within the church. He gives ‘yokels’ the right to challenge authority; these are the people the pardoner loves to deceive because he considers them stupid and clueless. Not only that, but when Chaucer introduces the Friar in the General Prologue he describes him as a very perverted man who performs many things that are not accepted by the church. He shows this by these lines, “There was a Friar, a wanton one and merry a Limiter, a very festive fellow,” from the General Prologue (Pg. 102, lines 212-213) The satire in these lines go on to call …show more content…
This story was written in the late 1300s, therefore at this time Aristotelian view was very popular and was what most people believed. This just means that on a pyramid, gods were frst, then men, and last were women and slaves. Meaning, society was dominated by men and women belonged to their husbands because they were the last on the pyramid. Chaucer 's satirical approach to this is displayed by the wife of bath. Her story goes on to explain how women are smarter than men, which that in itself is very dangerous seen as it is questioning the patriarchy. The wife of bath goes on to continue that women are smarter because they have the power and they have the ability play head games with men. Women can manipulate economics, this was shown in the wife 's prologue. A very attractive knight was sent to have his head cut off, but the king 's wife convinces him to spare his life as long as he goes on a journey to answer the question ‘What is it that all women want?’ in one year. During that entire year, the knight tried his hardest by asking every women he saw, but realized that they all had a different answer. Then on his way back, he stumbles upon an old woman who gives him the answer, in return for what she wants. Then he is cleared because he tells the king and his wife that all women want sovereignty and to be in charge and he is correct. “‘My liege and