Middle Class in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
The middle class during the middle ages was a lot different than what is considered the middle class today. For one, the currency in the middle ages was gold, silver and copper. The economy in Europe during the late middle ages had hit its lowest. The Black Plague hit and killed 1/3 of Europe’s population. Multiple plague and famine caused churches to lose power and the feudal system to disappear. Since, Geoffrey Chaucer--known as the father of literature—lived during the middle ages, he was inspired by these events to write what would become one of his biggest pieces of work; Canterbury Tales. Canterbury Tales is a giant story with little stories within it. Chaucer began writing the tales
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Canterbury Tales is not only important in literature because of its’ size, but also because it is the first piece of work that Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in English. Chaucer usually wrote his work in French because it was the language of those in power, but instead he wrote the tales in Middle English. Though incomplete, the twenty-nine tales that were released, perfectly exemplify what life was like during the middle ages. Each pilgrim tells a tale as they head to Canterbury, England for a pilgrimage. They are all headed to Canterbury because they want to pay their respects to Saint Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Reading the story, the reader is able to visualize what each character looks like because of Chaucer’s use of characterization. What makes Canterbury tales so interesting is that no tale is exactly the same as the next. Each person has their own individual story and it makes the reader more interested to find out the next pilgrim’s tale. There are countless themes throughout the entire story, from a corrupt church in the Monk’s tale to sexual desire in the Wife of Bath’s tale. One thing that Chaucer does in Canterbury Tales is describe the middle class during that time. Geoffrey Chaucer illustrates the middle class in Canterbury