The Canterbury Tales

As depicted by the countless sold copies of this sort, tragedies appeal to the pathos of human pity. Having been distinguished from their beginning in ancient Greece, when authors such as Sophocles and Homer wrote rhetorics that are still being taught today. In fact, famous, talented Elizabethan playwright, William Shakespeare is best known for his tragedies including the acclaimed Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, it is no surprise that he exquisitely produced the play “Othello”, illustrating the…

In my essay I will first sate the traits of an ideal knight and then discuss the characteristics of an ideal knight as represented in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight while comparing and contrasting them to the characteristics of ideal knights in traditional texts. Quoting examples from the text, I will then discuss, analyze and come to a conclusion if Sir Gawain has been represented as an ideal knight in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. During the Middle Ages and in many…

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is known as a mock-heroic poem and is considered one of Chaucer’s best works. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale uses elevated language, moral lessons, and stories within a story, devices that authors implement to add richness, detail, and depth to a story. Mock-heroic poems include all these devices as well. A mock-heroic poem describes the accomplishments of great warriors or characters with great talents by using fictional characters and literary devices to describe the hero’s…

While you would be hard pressed to deny/ignore the heavily present humor in the Millers Tale, which earns it the title of a fabliau, it is also critical to consider the ways in which Chaucer contradicts these moments with instances of seriousness. One thing the Miller’s Tale makes absolutely clear is that it’s difficult to discern between what is light-hearted and fun compared to what is meaningful and moral telling. However, identifying that this contradiction exists is only the beginning.…

The upper class started coming down and the lower class started moving up. When they combined they made the middle class.Chaucer is trying to show how the church is corrupt with just saying it and paying the consequences. He tells what people need to know without saying the name of the people that are corrupt this is how he tells that the church and how certain people are looking to help themselves and nobody else. He states that there are people who are good and but they are people us like us…

In the Parson's tale, Chaucer uses satire to criticize certain types of people. People that do things, such as the things the characters in the company have done, and still think themselves as good no matter what. These people seek penitence by confession and repentance, but then go and do sinful deeds/actions again just as before. They then go back to confess, thus starting the cycle over and over again. Chaucer views these people as foolish and as not truly penitent. Chaucer's criticism of…

Throughout the Franklin's Tale, there are many characters that have great characteristics. Each make decisions that reflect the kind of character they are and what they stand for. The character that is the finest gentlemen and makes the best decisions in the tale is Arveragus . Arveragus is a knight in Brittany and he is married to his wife Dorigen. They have a great amount of respect for eachother. The way they show the amount of respect is that they both vow to be loyal to each other and…

Chaucer compliments the Friar’s skill at begging as a form of critiquing the church’s greed, yet he mocks the Clerk’s material poverty to emphasize that the knowledge the Clerk seeks is of more value than money; these characters’ monetary states are meant to show the reader the misplaced values society has by showing a corrupt man with money and a honorable man without it. The Friar is “a worthy licensed beggar” who focuses on spending time with the rich who will give him money, rather than the…

In the text, “The Pardoner’s tale” Chaucer uses a character's external experience to share about the person's inner nature. Chaucer describes each pilgrim. In the medieval period, they judged people based on their personal appearance. Chaucer describes people through external experience to describe their personality and morals. Therefore, the best example can be seen through the Pardoner. Chaucer describes him as, his hair is greasy and yellow as wax. He has bulgy eyes and is very unattractive.…

Throughout the “General Prologue” Chaucer presents a vast majority of characters in the mid 1400’s to represent human's instinct of dishonesty and corruption. throughout all of chaucer's characters that he portrays as the twenty nine pilgrims, three in particular stand out to me because of their interaction with charity. out of these three characters only one exemplifies the true meaning of charity that chaucer is trying to convey, the Parson. during this time period of the mid 1400’s the idea…