Medieval literature

When someone brings up the Middle Ages in a conversation or in a history lesson, people usually think of brave and handsome knights fighting dragons and rescuing princesses from castles. Though knights were prominent in the Middle Ages, they were not the most important part of them by far. That honor goes to the authors of the Middle Ages. One of the reasons knight tales are well known is because the authors of the Middle Ages made those tales so grand. They were not just great story tellers,…

Courtly love is falling in love with a person and not being able to confess that love. “The Knight’s Tale” is a part of The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, and is all about this concept. While on the journey to Canterbury, the knight shares his tale conveying the true identity of courtly love; it manipulates the power it has to control and ultimately ruin lives. He show this through the story of how two cousins fall in love with a woman during their life imprisonment. Arcita and…

context of "real life" medieval marriages. When I think of courtly love I think of “Romeo and Juliet”, Romeo went to Juliet’s window at night, climbed up the wall just to be with her because the Caplets and the Montague families did not get along. They had a feud amongst their families, but that never stopped Romeo and Juliet from pursuing their love for one another.…

Geoffrey Chaucer is a medieval writer that undertook the responsibility of expressing his ideological perspectives using different stories in The Canterbury Tales. The author used several people that told various tales within his written document. The irony is one of the primary themes express The Canterbury Tales. The author explores the boundaries of all the types of irony that revolved in his well-known tale, The Canterbury Tales. In the story known as The Wife of Bath, the author introduces…

Geoffrey Chaucer, born in 1342, gained major recognition for his work on The Canterbury Tales. This book of poetry involves a collection of Tales of pilgrims going on a journey to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, as was a tradition at that time. Chaucer’s pilgrims represent people belonging to all the levels of status in the society of 14th century. Chaucer does not discriminate with his characters; rather presents a characteristically true picture of them. His presentation of characters is…

Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio both use frame stories to get a message across through their writing. Money is the root of all evil is a theme seen in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Chaucer, and people make great sacrifices for the ones they love is a theme in “Federigo’s Falcon” by Boccaccio. These two selections contrast with each other because the theme in “The Pardoner’s Tale” shows that people act selfishly out of greed while the theme of “Federigo’s Falcon” shows that people act…

Courtly Love in The Canterbury Tales Courtly love can be described as a medieval conception of love that emphasizes nobility and chivalry. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales depicts some criteria necessary for true courtly love; however, not in a traditional sense. This allows us to compare it to today’s society, since courtly love still exists, but in a non-traditional way mainly through media instead of actual relationships. The media is perhaps one of the…

The Knight’s Tale vs. The Miller’s Tale In the book Canterbury tales, The Knight’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale are a portrayal of love which is greatly romanticized. Both stories are romances, even though The Miller's Tale is not portrayed as gallant like The Knight's Tale. In The Miller's Tale, love is basic and primitive. It is shown to be an impulsive incident of physical desire and the swiftest method of fulfilling it. In a classic romance, such as The Knight's Tale, love is a glamorized,…

Modern day adultery is often resulted in the ones having the affair being punished while the victims of the affair usually end up angry and heartbroken. In The Miller’s tale this is not quite the case. The Miller’s tale is a comical story that was made to be humorous and contains no moral. The Miller’s tale also contains characters that behave ridiculously and do not take bad situations very seriously. This tale contains several examples irony and contains an ending where good is punished…

Geoffrey Chaucer, during his time and even today, is considered one of the greatest English poets of the Middle Ages. Through his diverse characters and confounding morals, he is able to capture and relate to a broad audience. One of his more memorable characters is The Pardoner. The Pardoner is an interesting character as he seems to meet the exact opposite of what is expected of him, purposely by Chaucer, to voice a statement. The Pardoner’s introduction and tale encompasses several themes,…