Compare And Contrast Chaucer And John Locke

In the Medieval and Early Modern Period, the most common way to ignite social change was through writing. Political and philosophical authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer and John Locke were often the voice of reason due to certain societal obligations based on the class system. Using moral allegories Chaucer explained the order of his society and its corruption. Contrary to Chaucer’s approach, Locke uses political theories and little pieces of evidence from the Holy Scripture in writing The Second Treatise of the Government to change his society’s view on the amount of power the government should hold. Individually, both authors, influenced by the religion, political state, and social structure in their period, wrote pieces of literature that

In that span of time, Europe saw the church emerge as powerful forces as well as drastic changes in the political climate. The changes in the religious and political climate of the medieval period led to the division of societies into three estates: peasants, aristocrats, and clergy. The peasants were those who worked, the aristocrats were those who fought and the clergy were those who prayed. Each estate, if they followed their duty, was supposed to keep a balanced and organized society. By the fourteenth century, the estates began to fall apart as merchants and intellectuals like Chaucer gained power. Chaucer, a part of the merchant class himself, wrote The Canterbury Tales as a result to highlight the current social and religious climate of his society. In his approach, he integrated himself into the story to show his lack of bias as well as the fallacy of the social hierarchies in his portrayal of typical medieval societies. The tale itself follows the journey of twenty-nine pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Thomas Beckett in Canterbury. Each chapter is composed of a tale told in the point of view by one

At the time that The Second Treatise of the Government was being written, there was a rise in monarchial government which prompted Locke to intensely indicate the main purpose of the state/political powers. In Locke’s opinion, as stated in Chapter VIII, “every man being, as has been shewed, naturally free, and nothing being able to put him into subjection of any earthly power but his own consent…” As explicitly noted in the quote, Locke holds consent as the foundation in any successful civil government. Without consent, the government is illegitimate and therefore does not fulfill the wishes of its own people. An absolute monarchy, frowned upon by Locke, has the potential to be ignorant of its people’s needs because a ruler in an absolute monarchy has no limitation to their power and therefore doesn’t need the consent of anyone. In addition, for a civil government to work well in a society, there must be a social contract that essentially outlines the ability for the people to remove it from power once it no longer satisfies them. It is evident that John Locke’s role in political philosophy is prominent and has significantly aided the development Western government. Overall, Locke believed that if a society could facilitate a government that didn’t violate anyone’s right to life, liberty, health, and possessions, they would all live a life of