The Medieval period was a time of firsts, the first Crusade, the first census, the first manifestation of the modern-day perception of knights and kings alike. The fourteenth century was also full of literary firsts, the most predominant being the shift from scholarly reading to a more universal style of tales written in Middle English, introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer, a timelessly renowned poet. The Canterbury Tales, considered the most important literary piece of the Medieval period written in 1392 by Chaucer, is considered his greatest achievement although the work is fragmented. The Tales begins in Chaucer’s day, the fourteenth century, in a quintessential English town named Southwark. Inside this town is a pub named the Tabard Inn, owned…
The Medieval Ages, a period of time consumed by the established feudal system, was also an era of synthetic moral character among certain demographics. In the British classic, The Canterbury Tales, the author satirizes the lack of authenticity of certain peoples in his society. In order to share his views on the corruption of society, Chaucer creates characters that highlight the issues of different groups, including nobility and the church. Traditionally, the rich and powerful in a medieval…
Those of Importance (An Addition to Canterbury Tales) Around the year 1300, Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales”. In this story, he begins to describe the people that he takes on his adventure to Canterbury. As he begins to describe each person who embarks on this journey alongside him, he tells of who they are and the kind of affect they might have on other people. After he tells of who these people are, he then makes the effort to tell of personal stories from each of the characters. Through…
In the book The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer includes a varied group of people that go on the journey to Canterbury. He includes, in Nevill Coghill’s words, “a concise portrait of an entire nation, high and low, old and young, learned and ignorant, rogue and righteous. . .” Many of the characters in Chaucer’s book can be described exactly by these words, as there are many different personalities, ages, and classes on the journey to Canterbury. To begin, an example of a nation of high and…
The Canterbury tales clearly illustrates that the institutional church was still a very prominent and established symbol of importance in England around the 1400’s. However, a more prominent theme in the Canterbury Tales is that the Church was in a corrupt state. The Institutional church is well represented in the Canterbury tales. The book, in its entirety, is based around religion because the book is a tale of 29 pilgrims, and the stories they tell to entertain one another on their journey to…
In H.S. Bennett’s Chaucer and the Fifteenth Century, Bennett reveals that Chaucer is a close observer to detail. Bennett proposes, “No detail was too small for him to observe, and from it he could frequently draw, or suggest, conclusions which would have escaped many.” Bennett’s assertion is proved in Chaucer’s Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, as it is evident that Chaucer carefully and astutely describes characters through their appearances and behaviors. Although Chaucer describes a…
The pilgrims, or characters of The Canterbury Tales are relatable to the present society in numerous ways. Many of them show traits that are similar to today’s world like greed, pride, envy, and gluttony. The Canterbury Tales consist of a prologue defining all of the pilgrims and individual stories that the pilgrims tell. Each character has his or her own unique personality that is comparable to some well-known personalities. In The Canterbury Tales prologue, there are several characters that…
In The Canterbury Tales, a quite diverse group of people gather together in the Tabard Inn, waiting to embark on a journey to Canterbury. Each pilgrim has a unique personality and aura, which the reader discovers in the prologue of the story. The journey to Canterbury is fairly lengthy, ergo the Host decides to ask the pilgrims to play a game. The game consists of each pilgrim telling four stories: two on the voyage to Canterbury, and two on the way back. The Host also determines two categories…
The Canterbury Tales are the tales told by pilgrims while making their pilgrimage to Canterbury. The Wife of Bath is one of the pilgrims on the journey, she is an exuberant woman who spends her time with her many husbands. Another is the Pardoner, a conniving man who simply preaches for profit. The tales these pilgrims tell gives the reader insight into their thoughts, their personalities, and into the way Medieval Society may have perceived certain things. Throughout The Canterbury Tales,…
Marriage: The Canterbury Tales We read and analyze The Canterbury Tales as if they are isolated individual stories. Yet the lively dialogue is what interconnects each character’s story into a whole comedic affect. It’s interesting to point out that each of the characters are tied into one common theme: marriage. Painting the words he wants to each character to speak, Chaucer displays a critical view on marriage. From each tale the common theme specifically tied to marriage, Chaucer points out…