How Does Chaucer Use Satire In The Canterbury Tales

Written by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales utilizes satire to generalize common ideas associated with the norms of English life, society, and people in the 1300s, which is also relevant to present-day. Specifically, the tales of the Physician and the Yeoman, in which both characters share a common love for wealth, support this claim. To this day, people of various backgrounds will engage in extreme measures to fulfill their greedy wants, even if their attempts results in failure. The tales of the Physician and Yeoman satirize individuals who engage in similar corruptive behavior, despite being from diverse backgrounds, to satisfy their greed for affluence by having variances in outward appearances and reality, causing their ultimate downfall. Despite having dissimilar social standings and occupations, both the Physician and Yeoman engage in related unscrupulous behavior to accomplish their personal motives. Even though upon his first impression, the Physician appears to be well respected and morally correct, “the one who seems most honest is a thief” (Chaucer 349). This façade of the true motives of the Physician causes individuals, with no prior experience with his corruptive behavior, to fall prey to his antics. For instance, the Physician was incredibly knowledgeable about astronomy, which he used to his benefit by purposefully …show more content…
Even in present-day, people have diverse backgrounds and societal positions, but in order to gain wealth, they will ignore their normal beliefs and begin to participate in fraudulent behavior. These types of generalizations criticize the societal norms of life, society, and people in the 1300s, as well as present-day, through various characters and tales in The Canterbury